Nikon F4. fixable?

[BradS]

Sure, but as I say, you have nothing to loose. The worst that will happen is...nothing.
The vinegar will not have any effect on the plastic. It will barely have the desired effect on the corrosion.

 

[Pieter12]

CAIG Laboratories DeoxIT contact cleaner.

 

[Kino]

CAIG Laboratories DeoxIT contact cleaner.

That's what I use...

 

[shutterfinger]

I have never seen DeoxIT in my area. I use CRC QD Electrical Contact Cleaner. https://www.crcindustries.com/products/qd-174-electronic-cleaner-11-wt-oz-05103.html

 

[Pieter12]

I have never seen DeoxIT in my area. I use CRC QD Electrical Contact Cleaner. https://www.crcindustries.com/products/qd-174-electronic-cleaner-11-wt-oz-05103.html

https://www.amazon.com/DeOxit-Clean...AIG+Laboratories+DeoxIT&qid=1602636680&sr=8-3

 

[vlasta]

You may also buy a cheap chinese pocket dmm to comfortably experiment with this holder at home. It's under 10e.
Very useful piece of equipment in every household.
And remember, MB-20 is the most expensive battery holder for F4.

Applying alu foil is adequate before further dismantling holder for cleaning with chemicals, which in this stage of investigation is absolutely unnecessary !
End if it works you may leave it.

 

[Wolfram 1]

i will look into it

 

[Bikerider]

If cleaning the contacts the normal way does not work then more, but light abrasion may do the trick. Turn to the world of railway modelling where you can but what look like small paint brushes with a flat eand where the hairs should be. This is usually fibre glass and the sole purpose for this is to rub on electrical pick up points and remove a build up of a sometimes invisible grime that stops power from flowing from one point to another. It will not damage metal but is a sure way of removing dirt on small components.

 

[Wolfram 1]

If cleaning the contacts the normal way does not work then more, but light abrasion may do the trick. Turn to the world of railway modelling where you can but what look like small paint brushes with a flat eand where the hairs should be. This is usually fibre glass and the sole purpose for this is to rub on electrical pick up points and remove a build up of a sometimes invisible grime that stops power from flowing from one point to another. It will not damage metal but is a sure way of removing dirt on small components.

i hadn't thought of that but u are right that involves a lot of fiddling with electronic miniatures, i even know someone personally who has a huge modelbahn, i will try to ask for help there in this regard.

 

[blockend]

If cleaning the contacts the normal way does not work then more, but light abrasion may do the trick.

A Dremel would be useful. Accessory kits include wire brushes, grinding tips of various weights, to the lightest of polishing brushes. As ever, gently does it, and little and often is better than attacking the thing.

 

[Pieter12]

A Dremel would be useful. Accessory kits include wire brushes, grinding tips of various weights, to the lightest of polishing brushes. As ever, gently does it, and little and often is better than attacking the thing.

A. If you don't have or have access to a Dremel tool and accessories, it will likely cost you more than what you are repairing.
B. Such a tool can do a hell of a lot of damage if you don't know what you're doing. And even if you do.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Harbor Freight has a Dremel-like tool for a whole lot less and almost as good.

 

[Wolfram 1]

i will certainly not do anything i think might damage the camera with, some things might also need skills i do not posses yet, but hearing about the different approaches gives insight in all the options, thanks for the input

sadly i wont be able to do much until the weekend

 

[Arvee]

A simple solution would be to make a solution of baking soda (1 tsp) in 200ml of water and thoroughly scrub the innards of the battery holder with a common toothbrush. When the bubbling stops the baking soda has neutralized the acidic leakage from the batteries; rinse with clean water. Wipe or blow dry and take a pencil eraser to the contacts both in the battery holder and inside the F4. The baking soda solution won''t harm the plastic or the terminals other than remove any coating that might be causing an insulated contact blocking current flow. That should rule out the battery holder/F4 contacts as problematic. If the problem still exists, it is probably something else that has failed.

This procedure has salvaged several cameras and a couple of exposure meters that were "broken/not working" because of leaking batteries.

 

[Wolfram 1]

I am worried that there might be something else wrong but i lack the experience to tell, i am mostly worried because the "blendenkupplungshebel" aka. Aperture coupling lever does not move when i press on the "schärfetiefekontrollknopf" aka. Depth-of-field preview button which i believe it should, could someone tell me if that one is entirely mechanical or if it has electrical components?
Because unlike with the battery compartment, if there is something wrong on the inside, even if its just the grease getting stuck after all this time i'm not sure it can be repaired

 

[Wolfram 1]

great news, i cleaned it again this time with baking soda, on all contacts, put in the aluminium foil, and lo and behold it works

 

[Wolfram 1]

the shutter is slow as hell but i think thats because of the aluminium foil instead of the proper contacts, i will get help fixing the contacts properly and that should do it

the mirror moves

 

[Wolfram 1]

i have removed the foil and tested it, it still works, and the aforementioned "Aperture coupling lever" does move when i press on the "Depth-of-field preview button" so it does have a mechanical and electrical component!

the mirror still seems to have a slight problem as it takes its time to come back down after each exposure

 

[Arvee]

the shutter is slow as hell but i think thats because of the aluminium foil instead of the proper contacts, i will get help fixing the contacts properly and that should do it

the mirror moves

Try without the foil; the foil may be shorting out half the supply voltage.

 

[Arvee]

i have removed the foil and tested it, it still works, and the aforementioned "Aperture coupling lever" does move when i press on the "Depth-of-field preview button" so it does have a mechanical and electrical component!

the mirror still seems to have a slight problem as it takes its time to come back down after each exposure

May be the foam bumper at the top of the mirror chamber has deteriorated and become sticky and is slow to release the mirror. Or, maybe you just need to exercise it if it hasn't been used in a while!

 

[Wolfram 1]

so i tried it without the foil and it seemed slow, so i wanted to see how it looked on the inside while firing off and it seems it works normal without a lens and slow with a lens. It should be mentioned i tied it with 2 different lenses, Af Nikkor 20mm and AF Nikkor 28-85mm. Both Auto Fokus lenses that probably take up some of the voltage even in manual mode.

the foam doesnt seem sticky i checked, thanks
any ideas?

 

[Arvee]

with the possibility that the foil was shorting half the supply, you may now have a weak set of batteries. Judging from the photos you put up and comparing the battery holder with mine, I didn't see the need for a foil bridge.
a foil short will run the batts down pretty quick!

 

[Wolfram 1]

i only put that in for a few seconds

i think the camera is just rusty and i might have had it set on af , as i said im new to all this, i have been testing all the settings now and it works nicely, i still think i should probably clean it a few times more but it seems fine now

i'm so happy and thank u all for the great help

 

[Arvee]

i only put that in for a few seconds

i think the camera is just rusty and i might have had it set on af , as i said im new to all this, i have been testing all the settings now and it works nicely, i still think i should probably clean it a few times more but it seems fine now

i'm so happy and thank u all for the great help

The other possibility is that the cleaning was only partially successful with some high resistance crud still present creating a voltage drop under load. I strongly suspect that the supply voltage is low based on the symptoms you have described.

 

[Wolfram 1]

yea, u are probably right, i will contact my realtive with the "modelbahn" im sure he has all the tools and experience to help me take care of fully restoring that battery compartment, i dont think i have enough experience to do that myself