Cracked cam repair

[Camerarabbit]

Hello! I dropped and cracked my Contax 139 (plastic) body, today, and am wondering if a crack in this area will cause a light leak? Want to head out and shoot with the camera later today but will take another cam along if there's any chance of a leak. Would also like to repair it myself, can anyone recommend a (preferably black) epoxy that could seal this? Thank you!

 

[Donald Qualls]

I can't say for sure on light leakage, but JB Weld (not the rapid, or the putty, just the original) is liquid enough to soak into that crack a bit, is completely opaque after curing, and can even be scraped and sanded smooth after fully set (24 hours). I've got a couple old Bakelite cameras with JB Weld repairs that have stood up for more than fifteen years. In my work life, I've actually performed a repair on a sealing surface in a nail gun, where the repair had to stand up to 120 psi compressed air for hours at at time -- and no leaks, at least for the couple years before I left that job.

JB Weld is the stuff.

 

[John Koehrer]

Nice thing about JB weld if that it can be shaved closely enough that any sanding isn't going to be an all day job.
Some epoxies can be thinned with alcohol, is that true of JB?
Anyhow I'd mask the area with next to he crack so excess doesn't get all over the top cover.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I've never tried alcohol with JB Weld. As far as I'm aware, it's pretty ordinary slow-set epoxy with aluminum powder filler for strength (which also makes it opaque), so it seems likely alcohol would work. Another way to make it flow better after it's mixed is heat -- a hair drier, for instance, which will also accelerate the cure.

 

[John Koehrer]

I've never tried it with JB but adding alcohol gives longer setting time and thins the epoxy..
I think what you're looking for is a more runny glue. As long as you're experimenting,
It may be to you're advantage to take a #11 X-acto blade and run it lightly along the crack so
the JB will have a "V" to provide a bit of reinforcement.

FWIW I never use more than a drop of epoxy doing this kind of thing and then put a dab on the
point of a pin and lightly drag it along the crack.
The mend will be visible so keed the glue light.

 

[Camerarabbit]

Worked like a charm, THANK YOU!