Minolta 7s Front End: What Shall I do With these 'Studs'

[verybiased]

Hi all,

Haven't posted here for a while, I've settled down with my perfect companion the Minolta 7s. Anyway today i pick it up and notice the front of the lens housing is barely hanging on and so the apeture and shutter rings are prone to slipping. I don't know how this has happened I only used it yesterday and it was fine I don't remember dropping it maybe one of my housemates have bumped it.

Anyway, with a slight tug the front bit of the lens housing comes free. I see that there are 3 stud-like things that attach to the body side of the lens. They have holes in the top for the screws which attatch the two sections.

Below is a photo of the stud and the hole it belongs in. I was wonding if anyone had any experiance in putting these together. I imagine they are not designed to be removed so it may be difficult re-attaching. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

And below is one of the 3 studs that actually stayed in.

 

[FallisPhoto]

How did the front of the lens come off? Did the screws/studs unscrew or were the threads stripped? If the threads stripped, it is probably ruined. You'd need another 7S for parts and if you have another 7S, you'd just use that one.

A am asking because I see some brass filings.

 

[verybiased]

The screw threads are ok, I'm only having trouble getting the studs back in their holes. I imagine the stud initially can fit in the hole and then a tool expands the lip to lock them in position.

My current thoughts are to squeeze the lips back so that the stud will fit in and then apply some solder or JB-weld to the joint. I want to go for broke in getting this camera functional again because i want to avoid spending the time and money to search for another working example.

Here is the rear end of the stud, see how it appears to have been expanded out.

 

[verybiased]

Ok my first attemp has failed. I crushed the lip so the stud fits back in the hole, but soldering failed to hold. The metal plate drew all the heat away too quickly. Tommorow I try some glue like JB weld. This is harder than i anticipated because behind the plate that holds the stud is a moving part, which works the shutter speed settings.

I will keep you guys posted in case anyone is interested.

 

[ebolton]

I'm interested and am watching.

It sounds like the plate is still attached to the camera. The JB Weld is probably the only option that might work if that is the case. That type of stud, or standoff, would normally be applied by putting it in the hole and flaring it from the underside. If you were able to remove the plate, somebody might be able to fix it by staking it back in or silver soldering the standoff to the plate