June 1, 2017

Nikon lens repair

The following information applies to the repair of all brands and kinds of lenses.

This is not for the faint of heart. This kind of precision work requires patience and a certain aptitude, not to mention skill and experience. Most people would be best advised to find someone with skill and experience and let them take care of your problem. But I am not most people, and perhaps neither are you.

It is said of people who take up watch repair that they should expect to ruin at least the first watch they work on. This may well be true also of working on camera lenses. Learning as much as possible first, and getting the proper tools will improve your chances of success.

There are excellent resources for those who want to learn. This fellow, Richard Haw has a lot of excellent information, and is being generous with what he is learning.

Stuck screws

I was having a terrible time trying to loosen the 5 screws holding the mounting bracket on the back of my Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens. I tried heating them with a soldering iron to no avail. Then I saw this photo:

Well, I have a lathe and a lathe dog handy, so I clamped one on the screwdriver I was trying to use along with an extra long bolt to tighten it, which provides extra purchase. Now it is possible to really lean on the screwdriver to make sure it doesn't slip, and to put a lot more twisting force. The risk now is breaking a screw or tearing up a head if this slips. You do not want to try this unless you have a screwdrive that is an excellent fit into the head. Then before trying this in a serious way I got tweezers and put a drop of acetone on each screw. I went around three times re-juicing each one (everything is metal and the lens optics has already been removed). Then with the improvised tee wrench, the screws all came out, but it was frightening how much force was required. Really what you want here is a jumbo sized tap wrench of the proper sort.

After getting this lens apart, I discovered that xylene dissolves the adhesive used to secure the screws almost instantly, whereas acetone had virtually no effect. The next time I will put a tiny drop of xylene on the screws and see if that changes the whole game entirely. Note that Richard Haw says that he uses a micro butane torch to heat the screws. I don't have one of those (maybe I should get one?). I tried heating the screws with a soldering iron, but that was no help at all.


Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Digital Photography Info / tom@mmto.org