Thanks to all who responded on and off list to my plea for help in
soldering to (apparently) stainless steel. I now have a plethora of
options: acid or paste flux (actually, I've tried paste flux to no
avail), silver solder, JB Weld, TinZinc, conducting glue, Liquid Solder
and manufacturing a new piece. I think I'll try the TinZinc or silver
solder first if I can find it.
For Dirk's benefit: no, the spring contact itself was not oxidized but
the solder(?) blob that I ground off was. Someone else mentioned that
the wire probably needed to be replaced. Indeed, that's exactly what I
was attempting to do. Basically, there was nothing left of the negative
lead except insulation and copper oxide. The positive lead is perfectly
clean.
Also for Dirk's benefit, the reason that I'm working so hard to repair
this poor old C35 is just to learn how to do it. I've already surprised
myself in one way. The filter ring had a pretty nice dent in it and I
figured that I'd never be able to hammer that thing out sufficiently
round that I'd be able to unscrew the retaining ring for the name plate
and CDS assembly. Well, I did it. Not a bad job if I do say so myself
:-). Thanks to John H. who told me to use wooden tools many months
ago. Small diameter hardwood dowels and a soft wood block work just
fine.
Even if I get it working again this camera will still be next to
worthless. Maybe it will go on the block for parts. The meter seems to
be fine.
But, I won't touch my beloved OM's just yet. That reminds me that I
have an OM-1 and an OM-2n that I need to send to John H. for some TLC
before the prism foam eats the silver.
Thanks again all,
Chuck Norcutt
Woburn, Massachusetts, USA
>>
>> I've come to the conclusion that I must be trying to solder
>> to stainless
>> steel. Perhaps that original wire had been spot welded in place.
>> Anyhow, I can't seem to make this wire stick to its battery
>> compartment. Anyone got any advice on how to fix this? I've
>> thought of
>> constructing a new contact from a piece of shim brass...
>> something I can
>> solder to, but maybe there's an easier way.
If it was stainless steel, there wouldn't be any corrosion in the first
place. Maybe some battery goo though. You certainly are trying hard to
save this camera! If you can get hold of some springy copper sheet, you
could make a new contact easily. Stiff brass would work also. The part
of the contact that presses against the battery should be tinned to
prevent corrosion of the brass or copper from interupting current flow.
The tinned area will eventually oxidize also, but since it is so soft,
merely rotating the battery against it while it is installed should
clean it off enough to work fine.
Be seeing you.
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