plastic tip replacement for Minolta SR-T series

David Lyga · May 25, 2018

Ever gone is that plastic tip on the film advance lever. That is SR-T's Achilles' Heel. Does anyone have a handy workaround, easily obtainable, that will look decent, preferably be a 'slip on' piece of plastic or rubber?
I know that a narrow band of gaffers tape will work, but I wondered if anyone had 'found' a better alternative. - David Lyga

BradS · May 25, 2018

Buy a parts camera that has not lost the tip and swap levers...

AgX · May 25, 2018

Take a piece of plastic, thick enough, or hardwood, cut and grind it into shape and glue it with epoxy cement onto the lever.

John Koehrer · May 25, 2018

Or, I could send you a whole lever.
PM your mailing info.
John

Truzi · May 25, 2018

John seems to have the best solution, lol.

I was going to suggest Sugru. I've been wanting to play with it, but it's a bit pricey.
https://sugru.com/

Some plastics, like what yogurt comes in, can be "melted" and molded via solvent. I forget the solvent, and it may not be a path you'd want.

Pentode · May 25, 2018

John's solution is, of course, ideal.
I was able to find mine so I epoxied it back on. If I hadn't found it I was going to sculpt a new one out of epoxy putty.

bdial · May 25, 2018

Heat shrink tubing would likely work well, and is cheap, but needs a fair bit of heat to shrink it to shape. If you can remove the lever you could shrink it over a stove burner. Otherwise, you'd likely need a heat gun to get enough control to avoid cooking the camera.

3M makes a rubber tape for electrical work, it has no adhesive, the rubber sticks to itself when stretched. It wouldn't be smooth like the original or something like heat shrink or Sugru, but might work well otherwise. Home center stores like Home Depot stock it, it's 5 or 6 $'s a roll.

Best solution, of course, is John's offer.

ciniframe · May 26, 2018

The holes in the wind lever are perfect as is for tapping with a 2-56 thread. Then I fashioned a tip from angle aluminum with holes for two 2-56 screws to attached to lever. This was for a SRT MCII I found at a second hand store for $10 and that included tax. It has the standard 50mm f1.7 Rokkor-X attached. I don't know for sure what model the MCII was like but probably had the same features as a SRT201 or perhaps the SRT200 model.

AgX · May 26, 2018

Truzi said:
I was going to suggest Sugru. I've been wanting to play with it, but it's a bit pricey.
https://sugru.com/

I wanted to suggest Sugru too, but

-) it needs investment (something David sure wants to avoid)
-) it is a rubber compound, which may not be benefitial at this part (I do not know of any rubber transport lever), and I am not sure how well it would stand, how resilient it is (I never had Sugru in hand).

Aside of the grinded piece of hard plastic or hardwood, the at once solution would be a piece of PVC or rubber tube of apt diameters. The PVC tube likely has to be heated to adapt.
Or textile adhesive tape, but David already hinted at such himself.

Or... just grinding the edges and corners of the lever to yield some comfort (I do not know the lever in question).

Truzi · May 26, 2018

AgX said:
I wanted to suggest Sugru too, but

-) it needs investment (something David sure wants to avoid)
-) it is a rubber compound, which may not be benefitial at this part (I do not know of any rubber transport lever), and I am not sure how well it would stand, how resilient it is (I never had Sugru in hand).

Aside of the grinded piece of hard plastic or hardwood, the at once solution would be a piece of PVC or rubber tube of apt diameters. The PVC tube likely has to be heated to adapt.
Or textile adhesive tape, but David already hinted at such himself.

Or... just grinding the edges and corners of the lever to yield some comfort (I do not know the lever in question).

I agree - I've not played with it because it's expensive, even though I can afford to drop $20 - $30 into the garbage. Maybe some day I'll have a reason to try it out.

David, what is your priority? Something functional, I am sure, but how decent do you want it to look? Merely nice, or like it was made for the camera?
You could probably snip and rework an old 35mm canister to make a thumb-rest, drill a few holes, and attach it to the lever. You could use screws from a discarded computer hard-drive (though would need Torx bits to unscrew them).

Staying with the discarded hard-drive idea, you might be able to adapt the internal actuator arm to be a new lever. It believe it's a non-magnetic metal that can be filed and drilled to fit (I want to say it's aluminum, but am unsure). It would not have a plastic thumb-guard, but should be smooth enough to be comfortable.

I replaced a small rubber "roller" in a Super 8 projector with a piece of vacuum hose, but it's internal and no one has to look at it.
Another slip-on idea would be a "vacuum cap," like you would find at an automotive parts store, though I don't know how easily the lever would eventually cut through it.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/c4/vacuum-caps/-49996419

Looking online, it seems the lever is thick enough to not bother your thumb, and that the plastic attachment gives a small but needed extension to the lever.

AgX · May 26, 2018

By the way, the worst ever "lever cover" I found on a Zenith E (though it may vary by manufacturing plant). Such a pointed corner that one could use it as a weapon...

(To be fair, I now western cameras, with perfectly worked accessorie shoes, but with corners cutting like a knife.)

Poisson Du Jour · May 26, 2018

Scout around hardware stores (or eBay... later edit: see below for link) for a tin of plastic dip: here in Australia this stuff in myriad colours is used to dip bare metal and allowed to dry, leaving a solid, comfortable and colourful plastic coating. It is used for pliers/tools, screwdriver shafts, insulating tweezers, scissor loops... and by camera repairers applying it to the very application you are talking about -- as a replacement covering for a wind on lever. After the first dip, you can build up the thickness with a couple more dips.

THIS: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PLASTIC...518501&hash=item5d78f0c566:g:XZUAAOSwk1haNJ17

(That listing is in Orange, CA).

David Lyga · May 27, 2018

Truzi said:
David, what is your priority? Something functional, I am sure, but how decent do you want it to look? Merely nice, or like it was made for the camera?

These were very interesting replies, especially the one from AGX who seemed 'to know' that I did not wish to make an 'investment'!!! (I wonder how he knew? Hmmm!)

That Sugru stuff seems ideal and I will look into it, for that and other things as well. John's offer is not being taken up because, now I will dlsclose....

I am really 'obsessed;'with certain cameras and I collect ('hoard' is more appropriate) both the SR-T series, the Spotmatic series, and its predecessor, the H (or S series). So, this is an ongoing problem whereby I might have a need for many. I have to get many of these damn plastic things. Why so obsessed? The engineering quality of these cameras really enthralls me, as I have, over the years, done many many minor repairs to cameras and these are tops with build quality, except for professional caliber ones. Now you know and now you know how crazy is David Lyga. - David Lyga

Truzi · May 27, 2018

If this is something you'll likely need many of, then focus on a solution in which you construct some sort of jig or mold, so it's easily replicated... but I'm sure you already know that.

I've no idea how well this would work - but perhaps you can approach it as if making a rosette or inlay for a musical instrument. Some sort of stock made of wood, plastic, etc., that already has most of the dimensions/shape you need but is far longer. When you need one, slice off an appropriately sized piece, and do what little finishing is needed to complete the installation.

Pentode · May 28, 2018

The epoxy putty I mentioned in my earlier thread is inexpensive, available at any decent hardware store and, once cured, can be machined, tapped, filed, etc....
I believe it could do much of what the Sugru could do for you at a considerably lower cost. I think I've even seen it in black, although it can be painted, too.
If you take Truzi's idea of making a mold for it you could crank out a couple of dozen lever tips from a single tube of putty. Just my $.02.

AgX · May 28, 2018

I like my own idea of that hardwood piece, it might look niece.
As a solution to a common problem, of cameras showing up without that lever cover, the moulding idea seems ideal. Mold a dozen in advance and you shall have a stock for all those crippled samples finding their way into your hands to glue on.

I have not tried it, but for such simple piece the mold might even be made from common caulking silicone rubber. Maybe someone can comment on this. (I know there are two versions of such caulking rubber based on different hardening systems, acid and non-acid.)

BradS · May 28, 2018

David Lyga said:
.... now I will dlsclose.... this is an ongoing problem whereby I might have a need for many. I have to get many of these damn plastic things.
- David Lyga

If that is the case, then I guess I'd find some way to buy the OEM replacement part from a distributor. (assuming that they are still available, which is, of course, not likely given that the SRT line had pretty much run its course by...35~40 years ago or so? )

David Lyga · May 29, 2018

Yes, you offered a plethora of responsible replies and I certainly appreciate all the effort here. I only hope that I am not the only one who has been helped. That plastic tip was the ONLY engineering deficiency that is tethered to the almighty and highly successful SR-T series. Thank you. - David Lyga

plastic tip replacement for Minolta SR-T series

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