Olympus seals - not the door ones!!

[jesse1dog]

I've taken the plunge, or rather the screwdriver, and had a look inside one of my Olympus Trip cameras.
I haven't been brave enough to look inside my 35EC yet but I suspect the basic construction won't be too different, and this query could well apply to other Olympus cameras
The reason for taking the camera apart was twofold.
First the flag seemed to be jammed - well, fixed that!
The second was a floating piece of 'dead' foam against the shutter blades. I thought it was probably from the door seals but now I am not too sure.

On removing the guts of the camera from its metal casing I found that the two had a foam seal between them and that this was disintegrating. For those who haven't looked yet the seal is best described as rectangular with rounded corners so if foam strip is used its going to have to be overlapped in some way.

Someone else out there must have found this seal, so, please has anybody any ideas about its replacement, better, any experience in the replacement?

 

[ChrisN]

Not sure about this particular seal, but the seal replacement kit that Jon Goodman sells has sheets of several different materials that can be used to create seal of almost any shape and size. Jon trades under the ebay seller name "interslice". I can't see him listing any kits at the moment, so he's probably taking a holiday break.

Jon is also a member here, under his own name, and last posted a few weeks ago in this thread. You could PM him for a kit and advice (perhaps after the break). Good luck!

 

[jesse1dog]

Thanks ChrisN,
Pretty obvious answer under my nose and I didn't think of Jon's sheets - I even have the stock in a box on my work bench.

I guess I will make a paper former first and then do a transfer onto the foam.
Keep me busy and a change from flushing out yet another Trip.

(I bought 2 on eBay for 99p each because they each had a lens cap and I was short of those. Good value for the caps and then I find one camera a 'worker' and the second one with a dodgy flag now unstuck - got a hand strap as well!)

 

[ChrisN]

Good buying! Good to find cameras with the caps, too. Many old Trip 35s don't have the cap or the case, and sitting out in the light kills the selenium cells (they need to be stored in the dark). I've got two dead ones.

 

[jesse1dog]

ChrisN
Thought one of my Trips was dead too - that is what got me into an investigation of the insides. Used some 'lighter fuel' pretty haphazardly and the needle of the cell started reacting to light. Did a few checks and it looked pretty responsive. Even left it for 24 hours and it still worked - and it still does.
Might be worth a try on yours.