Stuck battery cover

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Apr 18, 2019
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London
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DSLR
I have a yashicamat 124G but the cover of the battery chamber is stuck any suggestions to solve this problem?
 

Dennis-B

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Southeast Michigan
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Without damaging the cover, you can try using a thin piece of rubber to assist in getting traction on the knurled edge. I don't recall if the cover is made of plastic or metal, but if it's plastic, you want to avoid most solvents to assist in loosening the threads. You could consider using a hair drier, and focus on the camera body. It might expand just enough to allow the threads to loosen. You can also consider using an ice cube on the cap; it'll contract a bit, allowing it to come loose that way.
 
OP
OP
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Apr 18, 2019
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London
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DSLR
That's very interesting considering something like that happened when I could not remove a filter. The weather cooled and I was able to remove it. The cover is made of plastic by the way
 

GRHazelton

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Since the battery cover on my 'Mat is also stuck, I was hoping for a definitive solution. Guess I'll keep using a hand-held meter.
 

Kino

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A large rubber stopper or lens tool, pressed down on the surface of the cover, should give you enough friction to open the cover without damaging it.
 

Dennis-B

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Jan 18, 2018
Messages
484
Location
Southeast Michigan
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35mm
Since the battery cover on my 'Mat is also stuck, I was hoping for a definitive solution. Guess I'll keep using a hand-held meter.
I've used these methods successfully on both metal and plastic caps which were bound due to over-tightening. Metal caps react more quickly to temperature changes. I once put a Vivitar 450-SLD in a warm (110 degree) oven for around ten minutes, then used a frozen coin to engage the battery cover slot. The cover came off with no problem at all.

If your 'Mat is a 124, it has a metal battery cover, and the above really works well.

Also, if you can lock your 'Mat down to keep it from moving, you might try putting a coin in a pair of vice grips to extend the leverage of the coin. Push down, and turn counter-clockwise; that also works well.

MAT 124-G models have lots of plastic in them, and while lightweight, have some drawbacks.
 
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