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[OM] ( OM ) The saga of the "broken" eBay Stylus Epic - continued

Subject: [OM] ( OM ) The saga of the "broken" eBay Stylus Epic - continued
From: "Brian Swale" <bj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 09:23:43 +1300
Hi folks,

Well, the joke's on me.  It  looks as though the Epic is indeed broken, but 
it's not easy to see where.

After putting two 24 exp rolls through it, I can say it actually takes quite 
good 
photos - if you are prepared to live with limitations of DOF. There's very 
little 
vignetting - practically none (compare the XA). It's difficult to hold still. 
It's so 
small. 

However, mine produces light leaks in certain circumstances, and it was 
through analysis of the circumstances that revealed the "broke".

I was able to figure out that the light leak was contaminating each frame 
when the next shot was in the frame window. The leak is actually on the front 
side of the take-up spool chamber - on the side away from the seal to the 
back that is so visible.

The front of the camera is fastened to the middle section of the body (the 
rear section being the file door) by long machine screws at each corner. 
("Long" is a relative term in such a small camera). There is probably a 
gasket in that joint. I could see that there was a variable amount of 
movement between front and middle, and I thought that probably the screws 
had worked loose over time. So I began tightening them. And I found that the 
bottom left screw didn't tighten no matter how much it was turned.

On very close examination, I found that what look like small scratches in the 
"paint" finish, are actually small cracks, and there is a tiny segment that is 
broken free (but is still there). So it seems to me that the camera has been 
dropped and landed on the left bottom front corner. And even though I cannot 
see it if  I try shining light through, there is some light getting into the 
take-up 
film chamber.

I wonder if anyone can tell me what traps there are for the unwary, if the 4 
screws holding body front to body middle are removed? What spring-loaded 
things will pop out; what fiddly bits move to create huge re-assembly 
problems, etc.

I am trying to decide whether I should disassemble the body and glue the 
broken bits with Araldite, or just squeeze the body parts together (no pun 
intended ;-)   ) and hold together with a dark self-adhesive tape on the 
outside?

Brian

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