Stuck battery cover

[Manuel odabashian]

I have a yashicamat 124G but the cover of the battery chamber is stuck any suggestions to solve this problem?

 

[Dennis-B]

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.

 

[Manuel odabashian]

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]

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]

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]

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.