santino
FSU gear head
What do you think is a good glue to attach the plastic red dot to an M lens? I‘ve got two compound epoxy lying around and would like to fix that dot permanently. Once I got lucky, lost and found it nearby a lake and don’t want to risk losing it again.
x-ray
Veteran
Send an email to Leica, Youxin Ye, or DAG. I’m sure they’ll be happy to tell you what they use.
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
Lots of ideas and suggestions here: (Disregard the wrong red dot image :\)
www.l-camera-forum.com
Looks like a flexible (elastic) adhesive - like E6000 - is the recommendation.
resin-expert.com
Red Dot Glue
What's best for gluing the red dot back onto a lens? Cyanoacrylate? Epoxy? Thanks.
www.l-camera-forum.com
Looks like a flexible (elastic) adhesive - like E6000 - is the recommendation.
E6000 Glue Review and Guide - How to Use E6000 to Fix Anything
What is E6000 Adhesive and Why Is It so Good? ✔ E6000 Glue Compared to Other Leading Brands ✔ Your Guide to Using E6000 Adhesive ✔
resin-expert.com
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Contact cement is a pretty strong adhesive, if you apply it to both surfaces.
Saganich
Established
Where can you source a red dot these days?
raid
Dad Photographer
Some people cover up the red dot while others use glue to get the red dot back on the lens!
Muggins
Junk magnet
Mine was self-adhesive and, though I say so myself, very understated.
css9450
Veteran
That's what I'd use if I was in such a situation. Just a bit on each surface and let it set for a bit (as per instructions) before attaching the dot.
A CA-type adhesive would be too prone to being brittle in cold weather.
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
And if you ever loose one:
santino
FSU gear head
Or a pinhead but it is not flat on one side so modification is required.
Darthfeeble
But you can call me Steve
I just bought the last one in stock.And if you ever loose one:
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
Yes I remember an instructional reference to a DIY version of this:
Here's an Amazon link for the .5mm pins. Heck, make many colored ones. Not sure how easy it is to cut through one cleanly in-half though. Maybe sand it down...
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Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
Double sided tape. The replacement red dots use a similar adhesive.
Richard G
Veteran
A Wetzlar trained tech sent me one for a lens with my M2 serviced camera. He recommended Araldite.
D
Deleted member 65559
Guest
Arldite is 2 part epoxy under another name.
Fuchs
Well-known
I have successfully attached red dots to Leica lenses (and a blue dot on a Zeiss ZM lens) with super glue. After some 7 years they are still all in place.
For the Leica logo red dot on the M6 I used 3M double sided tape (the thinnest one), perfect to detach easily if I ever need to vertical align the RF patch.
For the Leica logo red dot on the M6 I used 3M double sided tape (the thinnest one), perfect to detach easily if I ever need to vertical align the RF patch.
santino
FSU gear head
I finally used transparent two part epoxy.
Harry the K
Well-known
Duosan Rapin also would have been a good choice.
peterm1
Veteran
I am always very reluctant to use cyanoacrylate glue (C.A. glue, super glue) anywhere near lenses. Most of them outgas furiously for the first 24-48 hours and if any of that gaseous compound ends up on glass surfaces they can visibly fog them and is difficult, if not impossible to remove without further damage (e.g. to the coatings). It does not always happen but if it does then its a problem. You can get low outgassing CA glue, but it seems hard to find and only available from specialist providers. The other issue with C.A. glue is that unless you use a highly viscous form of C.A. glue (and this CAN be found - though is somewhat harder to find than the normal runny stuff) normal garden variety C.A. glue is so damn runny and hard to control it almost inevitably ends up going where you do not want it. And if you are really clumsy, it may even end up inside the lens.
If you do it, do it with full knowledge of the risks and use extreme care and at least tape a bundled up tissue over the front lens element. For these reasons, for any lens related application, I prefer a good quality epoxy. Even here be aware that quick set epoxy is much weaker than the slower curing "super strength" ones that take 24 hours to cure. With an application like this where the surface area of the bonded surface is tiny I would use the super strength slow setting one to avoid future problems. But that in turn raises another issue - how to set up some kind of jig to hold the dot in place till curing is advanced enough to no longer need it. A small piece of tape over the dot, holding it in situ may work.
Many years ago I had a dot fall off my Summicron 35mm f2 version 3 (dammit) and not because it was ever dropped, bumped or otherwise abused. I did not find mine but after some thought, I realized that some dress making pins have small spherical plastic heads on them in various colors and can be found cheaply at stores that cater to the trade. I chose a red one, then using a Dremel tool, cut the small round head in half, smoothed the cut flat base by rubbing it on fine wet and dry emery paper and glued that on instead. It looked and performed identically. To glue it I am pretty sure I used the epoxy technique mentioned above. Five years later I sold the lens - the dot was still securely attached and looking every bit like the original. A little innovation and inventiveness goes a long way sometimes!
If you do it, do it with full knowledge of the risks and use extreme care and at least tape a bundled up tissue over the front lens element. For these reasons, for any lens related application, I prefer a good quality epoxy. Even here be aware that quick set epoxy is much weaker than the slower curing "super strength" ones that take 24 hours to cure. With an application like this where the surface area of the bonded surface is tiny I would use the super strength slow setting one to avoid future problems. But that in turn raises another issue - how to set up some kind of jig to hold the dot in place till curing is advanced enough to no longer need it. A small piece of tape over the dot, holding it in situ may work.
Many years ago I had a dot fall off my Summicron 35mm f2 version 3 (dammit) and not because it was ever dropped, bumped or otherwise abused. I did not find mine but after some thought, I realized that some dress making pins have small spherical plastic heads on them in various colors and can be found cheaply at stores that cater to the trade. I chose a red one, then using a Dremel tool, cut the small round head in half, smoothed the cut flat base by rubbing it on fine wet and dry emery paper and glued that on instead. It looked and performed identically. To glue it I am pretty sure I used the epoxy technique mentioned above. Five years later I sold the lens - the dot was still securely attached and looking every bit like the original. A little innovation and inventiveness goes a long way sometimes!
dxq.canada
Well-known
There is only Pliobond.