How do you remove a welded battery cover from an Olympus Pen FT?

[Wayne R. Scott]

I have an Olympus Pen-FT that I purchased from an old gentelman when he was trying to remove the battery cover to buy new battery at the local camera store. He could not get the cover off and I asked him what he wanted for it. Well, I now have the camera and I still can not get the battery cover off.

Any repair gurus out there that can come up with a plan other than drilling it out and gettina a replacement? The camera base plate comes off, but the battery compartment and cover stay with in (on) the camera body. I have tried light doses of vinegar hoping that it would remove the battery "glue", so far; so bad.

Wayne

 

[Rob]

Some Liquid Wrench may help, a hair dryer or heat gun to heat it the area to break it free
may help.

 

[Doug]

Well, one answer is "don't"... The battery cover on my FT is almost impossible to get screwed on straight, without cross-threading it. Heck, I didn't have a replacement mercury battery for it anyway, and I'm not fond of the zinc-air solution, so I've put the battery cover back on for the last time... with no battery. I'd just as soon use a separate incident meter regardless. So you might just leave it alone, and pretend the camera has no meter. Kind of an inconvenient meter at best...

Hey, have fun with that Pen FT; cool little camera! Akalai has one too, an FV, so we can commisserate. And KevinCameras.com has a bunch of lenses for them...

 

[George S.]

I think the vinegar is a good try, and have to disagree with Doug. left alone, that battery will probably find a way to destroy the camera innards. keep trying.

 

[nwcanonman]

Hmmmm, possibly a screwdriver or similar tool with a very wide blade and using an impact driver.
Best of luck.