OM2 Battery cover

[Michael Da Re]

The batteries finally died in my OM2 and now I'm having trouble getting the cap to come off. I don't remember having this much trouble when I put the batteries in the first time. Is there a trick to it?

Mike D.

 

[John Hermanson]

A US nickel should fit perfectly in to OM-2 battery cap slot, though I've seen lots of OM-2/2N battery caps with messed up slots. In general, they are harder to get off than the OM-1/1N. It is possible batteries have leaked and gotten into the cap threads. John

 

[coelacanth]

Try taking off the bottom plate.

 

[Michael Da Re]

Thanks, I never thought of just taking off the bottom. Worked great. No corrosion from the batteries but they were only in for a little over a year. I'm thinking that I may not have the cap on straight. But thanks again for the help.

Mike D.

 

[coelacanth]

Glad it worked for you. Yeah the bottom plate is really easy to take off on OM2.

You might wanna try dropping a tiny amount of oil or WD-40 on the thread and try to take the cap out (do this AFTER you take the bottom plate off the camera!), but if it's cross-threaded, it may not be worth the effort and better kept closed. You don't have to change the battery on OM2 often so maybe it's easier to just take the bottom plate when you do. If you are afraid of losing the bottom plate screw, drop a tiny bit of BLUE loctite on the screw. And be really really sure the screw goes straight!

off-topic: Wrenching motorcycles since I was 13, I had my fair share of damaged threads. 😛 It's a bitch when you strip a thread of floating bowl on carburetor. :bang:

 

[John Hermanson]

Battery cap threads are SO coarse, I doubt they're cross-threaded. Previous advice is good. Remove bottom, apply a drop of (something like) "liquid wrench". Use large screwdriver to remove cap. (Years ago I took 2 big screwdrivers and ground the tips down to fit OM battery cap). Gives you the extra torque you sometimes need. John