Oxidation/corrosion spots in mirror box

shutterfinger said:

I can take any piece of equipment regardless of how fragile that anyone has vacuumed and declares free of debris and blow out some more debris with compressed or canned air.

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Kind of reminds me of a car I restored. Stripped the body to bare metal with sandblasting. 20 years later I still get sand piles on the carpet after a drive, no matter how much I blew with compressed air or vacuumed when it was a bare shell before being built back up.

paul ron said:

because you dont have the skills or understanding to do what has been recomended, doesnt mean these methods are wrong... perhaps in your mind, but not in the hands of a skilled individual.

how long have you been in the business repairing cameras?

if you cant dance, become a critic?
shake your head!

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A skilled well trained individual would never recommend what you have.
You've made my point.
'Bye.

never mind.

Craig said:

Kind of reminds me of a car I restored. Stripped the body to bare metal with sandblasting. 20 years later I still get sand piles on the carpet after a drive, no matter how much I blew with compressed air or vacuumed when it was a bare shell before being built back up

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Proves you've never been taught the proper technique.

There’s no reason not to be civil here, folks!

Everyone made their suggestions, ALL of which I appreciate, and I’ve chosen a course of action based upon a combination of those suggestions and my own personal experience. There’s no longer anything to argue about.

I’m more than happy to continue to learn from others’ shared experience, but not at the cost of common courtesy. Let’s agree to disagree respectfully, can we please?

Thanks again, everyone, for their input!

Pentode said:

Let’s agree to disagree respectfully,

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I thought I was.
I rent my sledge hammer for $100 + shipping.

shutterfinger said:

Proves you've never been taught the proper technique.

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What is the proper technique to clean hidden box sections in a bodyshell? Short of a torch to cut them open that is.

Craig said:

What is the proper technique to clean hidden box sections in a bodyshell?

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chemical dip aka ultrasonic cleaner with 90% isopropyl alcohol.

shutterfinger said:

chemical dip aka ultrasonic cleaner with 90% isopropyl alcohol.

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I didn't know there were ultrasonic cleaners big enough to put a car into and could strip paint! There are chemical dips available to strip paint, but I'd never do that as the chemical gets in-between spot welded sections and oozes out years later. Been there, done that...

https://www.homedepot.com/p/CRC-11-oz-QD-Electronic-Cleaner-05103/205021975
for in body cleaning. An aerosol does not have to be used full pressure from the can to be effective.

I've seen some car shows on Velocity where they dip the car body in a chem tank that removes the rust and paint, a second tank to neutralize the first tank chemical, and a third to protect the metal.
If sandblasting I would find a way to induce vibration into the object at various frequencies and positions to dislodge any trapped sand. May not be practical for DIY in the home garage.

shutterfinger said:

I've seen some car shows on Velocity where they dip the car body in a chem tank that removes the rust and paint, a second tank to neutralize the first tank chemical, and a third to protect the metal.

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Nasty stuff, it's a caustic. Had a friend restore an Alfa Romeo and the chemical was still oozing out from places where the sheet metal was overlapped and spot welded 8 years later. Eventually he had to strip the car and start over, as the caustic took the new paint off in places. The neutralizing bath isn't 100% effective for overlaps on a body.

Pentode said:

I have flat black enamel railroad model paint in the house (for just this sort of thing) so it won’t be any problem to cover them over. I don’t think any sanding will be required as the spots are not raised significantly.

It’s interesting that my other, older XD-11 doesn’t have this issue. I have no way of knowing how they were treated before they belonged to me, though, so I guess it’s not that odd. My older one’s been with me over 20 years. This new one with the spots might have spent those years in a wet basement.

Thanks for the tips!

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I’ve noticed the same issue on an XD-11 I inherited a few years back. How did painting work out? I haven’t used enamel paints before (or any fine painting work really). I’m wondering if this issue is merely cosmetic or if it’s going to give me trouble in the future. Sorry for the thread necro!

I have 3 XD11's. One I bought new when they first came out; it never developed that problem. The other 2 I bought used 8 or 10 years ago, both had or developed those spots. I clean both with a 10% bleach solution on a cotton swab, then rinsed with a water moistend swab. The spots never came back.

I do love the XD11.

MinJeff said:

I’ve noticed the same issue on an XD-11 I inherited a few years back. How did painting work out? I haven’t used enamel paints before (or any fine painting work really). I’m wondering if this issue is merely cosmetic or if it’s going to give me trouble in the future. Sorry for the thread necro!

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The paint worked fine.

So I just went through the same thing with my XD11. I am fortunate enough to know the history of the camera, as this was my dad's old camera.

First off, the side plates are not metal, so please don't sand them! Also, the white caps are more of a powder, so please do not just paint over them! I'm not sure what material they are, but they are glued/stuck on rubber or plastic. If you look at the diagram in the service manual (which you can Google search) you can see for yourself. After staring at the camera and the manual for a while, it finally became apparent to me that this was not metal, and eased my mind on the next steps to take.

I had assumed the white caps were salt deposits (as I know my dad used this around the ocean a lot), but I hadn't considered it may be mold! This is why I say to not paint over it. Mold spores don't just die if you paint over them. Eventually they will show again.

What I first did was wipe with a water moistened cloth. Afterwards, I used new cloth to wipe with 99% isopropyl alcohol. After several passes, the white was completely gone. Use a clean cloth for each pass. You will know if you got it all after it completely dries. After the second and third pass it looked clean at first, but after time it turned a cloudy white...because I was reusing the same cloth. Also, don't use cotton swabs. You will get a million tiny fibers left behind on the raised bumps. I'm fairly certain those bumps are manufactured. My Pentax 35mm's use the same material, and they are bumpy as well, but never got the white stuff.

If you're wondering how the mirror is locked up, I just used bulb mode to hold it up. You can easily lift the mirror and hold it up by hand too.

I hope this helps. Take care