Defeated by C-clips! Oh, the pain!

Markster · Oct 12, 2011

Ever not have a C-clip tool, force it open, mangle it, decide you're not ready to go further, so you re-shape it back around its post with pliars just to keep everything together?

Why yes, I did that tonight, however did you guess?!

Every time I think I'm ready to venture further into really gutting a camera, something pops up to stop me!

So what else am I going to need just to disassemble, inspect, and reassemble the basic Canon camera (used A-1 in this case)?

Other than C-clip tools what might I need that isn't found in your regular tinkering tools?

Mike Wilde · Oct 12, 2011

Read Tomasoy - he wrote a number of mechanical camera repair books, and shows how things like needle nose pliers could be ground down to make more specialized tools.

The Microtools sight might give you insight to other tools that have been devised.

My c-clip removal is usually via a forcing with a thin flat blade screw driver. The clip usually survives, but I have been getting better at devising things to catch it so the whole room does not have to be searched to find where it has flown off to.

I no longer fix cameras in rooms with carpet.

I have learned to cover the work bench with a soft old towel.

I vaccuum the work bench and floor first, before screwing inside a camera or flash or lens or shutter.

The gap between the bench and the wall gets sealed with a piece of masking tape.

The bench is entirely cleared off. Select shelves over the bench may be very messy, but the bench is clear before starting.

Place tools back in a logical place while working with them, or the part you are missing will ultimately be found sticking to a tool that you moved just in case the thing hid under there...

All of these are habits that unpleasant life experiences in camera repair attempts have taught me.

Good luck.

Bob-D659 · Oct 12, 2011

Pieces of sticky tape are real handy to stop small parts from becoming airborne when removing, also you can roll a tube around a screwdriver bit to hold brass screws onto the tip.

Markster · Oct 12, 2011

Heh, sounds like some of the lessons I learned building scale model aircraft, as well!

paul ron · Oct 12, 2011

All great experiances with UFOs but as you get older n need reading glasses to do anything you develope a new set of "finding things" methods.

Once something goes airborne, tracking it is over once past your nose, it is out in space never to be found again. I vacum the beench n floor, draged magnets...

I ahve a theory. There is another guy further up in time that travels back every so often. He can take tools n things but has to put em back exactly where he got em with out risking messing up the time contineum. One problem, he's got altzheimers, me in the futre with a lousey memory.

I swear he's working on the same camea, mopdel ship, model plane and he needed the same parts for his n snatched mine. He also takes tools n never puts em back either.

.

Markster · Oct 12, 2011

That is an interesting and very valid theory. I theorize more of a quantum mechanics vortex to a parallel universe, or more along the lines of a mini-Bermuda-Triangle that shoots the parts/pieces into the distant past where you can no longer find them.

Paradoxes are a B!

BrianShaw · Oct 12, 2011

It must be 5 o'clock already in NYC!

paul ron · Oct 12, 2011

I'll bet you I'll find dulicates of everything I have ever done in my future. I'll see 2 Clipper ships on my mantle, an extra model RC plane in hte garage, an extra car engine hundreds of cameras and a ton of the tools I lost just laying all around.

I left him notes to put my stuff back but never got a replay nor saw any of my lost tools put back. The shot into the black hole past may be a better theory.

Maybe it's tomorrow in the future?.. it never comes.

.

Peter Simpson · Oct 12, 2011

It must be 5 o'clock already in NYC!

More like 4:20, judging from the cosmic nature of the speculations above

Markster · Oct 12, 2011

Clocks? Where those parts are going, they don't need clocks....

paul ron · Oct 12, 2011

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaha.

John Koehrer · Oct 12, 2011

I use the c-clip tool. squeeze it too hard and it deforms the clips too.
As far as any other special tools just screwdrivers tweezers and a four pound machinists hammer
I find the using the wedge shaped side first is most satisfying.

Ralph Javins · Oct 13, 2011

John Koehrer said:
I use the c-clip tool. squeeze it too hard and it deforms the clips too.
As far as any other special tools just screwdrivers tweezers and a four pound machinists hammer
I find the using the wedge shaped side first is most satisfying.

Good morning, John;

It is clear from your description that you also have in stock a Number One (1) Harley-Davidson Maintenance Tool.

Markster · Oct 13, 2011

Hey, if "whack it hard" is the fix in a galaxy far far away on space ships, it must be super high-tech, right?

John Koehrer · Oct 13, 2011

Ralph Javins said:
Good morning, John;

It is clear from your description that you also have in stock a Number One (1) Harley-Davidson Maintenance Tool.

That's for critical adjustments. I use the eight pounder for things less critical.
It's not as convenient because you need more room to really swing it.

Remember "use the proper tool for the job"

Dennis S · Oct 13, 2011

A very interesting thread. When I get the urge to tinker with one of cameras I just look at the mechanical part of the operators manual and that usually works. I do not let fear or common sense hold me back. The parts that I lose will be waiting for me in the future so I never panic. Clocks and calendars are only based on past events.

Defeated by C-clips! Oh, the pain!

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