Broken S3 2000 spring catch - Repair advice?

[kjoosten]

The heads of two out of the three screws holding the spring catch on the lens mount seem to have sheared off. Any recommendations on repair options?

Thanks.

 

[Tom A]

Kent. you will have to drill out the broken off part (the part of the screw that is still stuck in the thread). Unless you have a small "micro drill press) leave it to a qualified repairman. I had a similar incident with one of my S3 2000. The actual spring caught the flange of the lens and bent sufficiently that it jammed the lens on to the camera - and broke off one of the screw heads. Yes, it was at infinity! I had to shape an old dentists "scraper" and go in through the back and push on the spring to get it to release and by sheer luck, enough of the screw protruded that I could file a screw slot in and undo it. Nikon did "cheapen" the lock spring on the S3 2000 - it is plated brass rather than spring steel!

 

[kjoosten]

Thanks, Tom.

Just to make sure I understand, there are really two screws that are supposed to be holding the spring on, correct? The third one (nearest the cutout) is meant to poke through the hole on the spring when the lens is mounted?

Anyway, that's not something I'm equipped to fix. Any advice on how to get it done?

Thanks a lot.

 

[kjoosten]

Either get 1.2mm pan head thread screws or cannibalize a Kiev lens mount.

Yet - there are two screws holding the spring catch on the lens mount, not three. The third screw is an headless grub screw which doesn't hold anything, this is just a guide for the spring catch to go forth and back when you mount/dismount the lens.

Yep, figured it out. Thanks for the screw spec. Getting the broken one out is the challenge.

 

[kjoosten]

It may come off very easily by turning it ccw with a very small screwdriver pin once you've figured out where to grab the screw axle with the pin (in general there is an irregularity in the metal which helps). The tightening torque is the screw head job. Once the screw head has gone away, there is no torque any longer. Unless the screw has been secured with threadlock fluid at the factory, it will come off easily. Especially if you remove the spring catch to perform this.

During my camera repairs I have encountered lots of broken screws heads. All screws remnants could come off eventually.

From what I can see without removing the spring, it looks like it broke at a pretty oblique angle, so there may be a way to unscrew it. Will give it a try.

Thanks.

 

[raid]

Good luck. It stinks that Nikon cut corners on durability.

 

[kjoosten]

If you remove the spring first (onwards from now, all what you have to do is to unscrew the other screw...) this will be easier for sure. I'm pretty certain you can do it with no problem.

Thank you, sir. That's exactly what I did and the broken screw did come out quite easily (it broke at the slot, so half the head was still there and I could unscrew it with needle nose tweezers).

Any idea where to get a replacement?

 

[aoresteen]

Try Don Goldberg at DAG Camera.

 

[Tom A]

Look in the local "Yellow Pages" for a company that supplies fasteners (screws) and check with them - or even better, if they are within driving distance, go there and show the un-broken one. Check that they supply metric thread though. You might have to buy 10 or 100 though - but they are cheap. Try to find high tensile stainless ones - better than brass or mild steel. 1.2 mm is tiny and they can snap easily - particularly around the slot. If the slot is cut too deep, it weakens the head. These screws are spat out of a machine and there is really no visual inspection of the head at any time.

 

[kjoosten]

What you need is there... 🙂

Polishing the new screws heads with a felt disk mounted on a turret will make them shine as much as the original ones. And those steel screws will be more strong than the original ones.

Replace the two screws.

If you can live with Phillips heads instead of slotted ones you also have something nice there.

Cut them to length with Dremel?

 

[kjoosten]

Look in the local "Yellow Pages" for a company that supplies fasteners (screws) and check with them - or even better, if they are within driving distance, go there and show the un-broken one. Check that they supply metric thread though. You might have to buy 10 or 100 though - but they are cheap. Try to find high tensile stainless ones - better than brass or mild steel. 1.2 mm is tiny and they can snap easily - particularly around the slot. If the slot is cut too deep, it weakens the head. These screws are spat out of a machine and there is really no visual inspection of the head at any time.

Just to follow through, it turned out to be cheaper to buy a beater Kiev and have it shipped halfway around the world. 😱 S3 2K is back in operation.