When the little spring breaks in your Cannon F-1...

SchwinnParamount · Feb 12, 2016

You know that springy bottom battery contact in the new Cannon F-1? Springy because of a little spring that can break. When it breaks, camera is dead. There is apparently no full manual mode in the F-1.
When this happened to me, I bought a roll of thin copper tape and cut off a length to fold into the right shape to bridge the negative contact on the battery with the recessed battery compartment contact.
I put the battery in and wedge that nearly flat wad of copper in under the battery. It nearly worked. The problem is, if I fold the tape over and over, it makes a flat copper wedge. Well, the bottom contact is recessed into the body (because of the broken spring). The solution is to to wad the last winding of copper tape into a little bulge. Slide the copper wedge in bulge side down. The bulge reaches into the recess to contact the recessed contact. Now the camera works.

I've had two Cannon 35mm cameras and the spring broke on both of them. I guess I'm not the only person who's experienced the broken spring?

benjiboy · Feb 18, 2016

I suggest you try Pro Camera Repairs in San Diego they sell some Canon F1 spares http://www.procamerarepair.com/

SchwinnParamount · Feb 18, 2016

the point of my post is that I did NOT need to find a spring somewhere and then crack open the body (or pay someone else to). Instead, I used a little bit of creativity and some cheap copper tape to make the repair myself. I am proud of that.

benjiboy · Feb 20, 2016

That's a bodge not a repair, replacing the spring would be, how long until it goes again ?

SchwinnParamount · Feb 20, 2016

benjiboy said:
That's a bodge not a repair, replacing the spring would be, how long until it goes again ?

Whatever, Mr. wet blanket. I'm not looking for criticism but I guess you just can't help yourself.

I guess my description of the "bodge' I did wasn't clear to you. Either that, or you're too dense to understand. The copper wedge I put in won't 'go again'.

benjiboy · Feb 21, 2016

Sorry, I Made the mistake of assuming I was having a mature discussion with an adult not someone who descends to childish personal insults.

Fixcinater · Feb 24, 2016

The New F1 should operate from 1/2000 to 1/60 without a battery. It won't operate with a dead battery inside, which is confusing. But, if you pull the dead battery, it will go.

I just picked up a New F1 that had the spring loose and it took many tries and adjustments to get it right but now it works with all the original parts as original.

Anyway, glad to see you found a workable solution. Not like you are pulling the battery out very often anyway, so even if it were more wear-prone than the original setup, you could always rebuild it again with what I estimate to be 50 cents worth of copper tape.

Goodonya!

benjiboy · Mar 29, 2016

This Isn't a inherent fault in the New F1, I own four of them I have used regularly for about 25 years and never had this problem with the battery contacts.

frank · Mar 29, 2016

There is a type of epoxy glue that is electrically conductive. You could place a drop on the indented remains of the centre electrical connection and build it up to enable an electrical connection either with or without crumpled foil as necessary.

SchwinnParamount · Mar 31, 2016

frank said:
There is a type of epoxy glue that is electrically conductive. You could place a drop on the indented remains of the centre electrical connection and build it up to enable an electrical connection either with or without crumpled foil as necessary.

I like this solution... mostly because I'll never sell the camera to a finicky collector who values appearance over function and insists on no "hacked" but simple solutions.

SchwinnParamount · Mar 31, 2016

benjiboy said:
This Isn't a inherent fault in the New F1, I own four of them I have used regularly for about 25 years and never had this problem with the battery contacts.

I'll see your 4 data points and raise you two data points of my own (New F1 & AE-1). I guess it isn't as simple as that, is it? Got to take into account actual usage. My cameras have had hard use over the years with frequent battery changes. I don't know about your 4. What was your usage like?

benjiboy · Apr 8, 2016

Since I retired eleven years ago I have used one or more my New F1's almost every day, I use the Duracell PX 28 L Lithium batteries in them that are fairly, long lasting the cameras were between five and ten years old when I bought them second hand at different times around twenty years ago.

benjiboy · Apr 14, 2016

You have to face the fact that all the Canon FD series of cameras are more than twenty five years old and the vast majority of them have never been serviced since they were manufactured, I personally would far rather spend my disposable income on having the cameras I use regularly maintained occasionally by a professional than buy more and more cameras with it.

benjiboy · May 17, 2016

SchwinnParamount said:
Whatever, Mr. wet blanket. I'm not looking for criticism but I guess you just can't help yourself
How happy would you be if a camera repairer you were paying good moneyto

I guess my description of the "bodge' I did wasn't clear to you. Either that, or you're too dense to understand. The copper wedge I put in won't 'go again'.

How happy would

SchwinnParamount said:
Whatever, Mr. wet blanket. I'm not looking for criticism but I guess you just can't help yourself.

I guess my description of the "bodge' I did wasn't clear to you. Either that, or you're too dense to understand. The copper wedge I put in won't 'go again'.

How happy would you be if you were paying a camera repairer good money to fix your New F1, and he had repaired it that way ?, it's a bodge.

cooltouch · May 24, 2016

I've had to do this "bodge" a number of times with battery packs for motor drives and winders. Previous owners had left the batteries in until they burst, corroding the springs. Sometimes the springs were corroded to the point of just being gone. So what I do to restore these packs to usefulness is to fold up pieces of aluminum foil and insert them into the packs such that the batteries are wedged up against them and held into place. This works just fine until I can find a replacement battery pack for the drive or winder in question. Sometimes battery packs are hard to come by and often when I find one on eBay the seller wants as much for it as the entire drive sells for, so I just continue using my "bodge." I'm not in any real hurry anyway, since the drives in question don't get used heavily.

paul ron · May 24, 2016

just make another springie thing or get one from an old flashlight n reform it to fit.

zanxion72 · May 25, 2016

A spring cut from a pen will do fine. You will have to try re-fitting it every time you change/remove the battery, but it is worth it 100%.
Also, a nice and clean battery compartment in an F-1 lasts forever. When corrosion from battery fluids with humidity kicks in this is when the life of that spring starts to count down.

cooltouch · May 27, 2016

How do you guys attach these replacement springs you've made to the battery pack/compartment/whatever? Or do you just let them stay put by compression?

paul ron · May 27, 2016

Said it had a spring.. make the same n it should stay in just like the original? otherwise tack it in with a dab of glue.

When the little spring breaks in your Cannon F-1...

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