Canon AL-1 Battery Door Question

[Kirks518]

I know the battery door on the AL-1 breaks. I just got one with a good door, and I want to keep it that way. What is it that breaks? Is it the hinge, the little latch, or what? And what is the best way to keep it from breaking? Thanks!

 

[vsyrek1945]

I know the battery door on the AL-1 breaks. I just got one with a good door, and I want to keep it that way. What is it that breaks? Is it the hinge, the little latch, or what? And what is the best way to keep it from breaking? Thanks!

The little latch. You'd think the best way to prevent breakage is to always remember to hold the latch back when closing the door, but the latch on one AL-1 I had broke from the spring tension of the AAA batteries pressing against it. Posts about the issue on another forum proposed using the camera with a Canon Winder A or A2 as a preventive measure, while others used the lower half of a never-ready case. The issue has also been discussed here on APUG:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

A dozen or so years ago, there were one or more internet descriptions of DIY braces for repairing a broken latch. IIRC, most involved cutting a replacement for the broken latch from sheet metal, bending it to allow pushing the door closed and fastening it to the inside of the sprung part of the door.

 

[Tony-S]

Mine broke because of the spring tension that vsyrek described. I bought two new replacement doors for future repairs.

But the AL-1 is fabulous camera, as far as I'm concerned. It has great autoexposure and great manual exposure modes. It's manual is only matched by the AT-1 in the A series cameras.