EOS 630 Remote Shutter Release Contacts

[obakesan]

wow JP .. <B>nice work</B> there mate.

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you know its stuff like this that keeps me on this forum

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Anyway ... looking at those pictures and taking into account that

 

<UL>

<LI>can't repair the contacts (I'm not sure its even possible)

<LI>don't wish to junk the camera and start again.

</UL>

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I'd suggest you try soldering onto those points. With respect to that

 

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<LI>be really careful with heat dammage this is not like soldering onto a water pipe. Ideally have a temperature controlled soldering iron with a 1mm tip

<LI>those flex boards are very sensitive and so too are the mounting pins, you don't want to drop one of them through (that these are often wave soldered and held in place till after soldering, where the solder then holds them)

<LI>this is your last go at this before its <B>bye bye </B>on that body

</UL>

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So, I'd start with practicing on something first and then go at it when confident

(unless you know a competent electronics technician).

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Perhaps finer wire than your using might be better, but at least start with

the minimum of solder on the wires you're attaching. Pre-solder (called tinning)

the wires and have the leading wire (out of the insulation) shorter than in

your picture (I've put a red line on the figure below showing where I'd trim

to.

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<I>tip</I> Use some longer wires than you have, to allow some movement.

Secure the wire well to the camera body and then solder a contact plug onto the

other end. This will allow the camera to be removed and have film changed without

jerking on the contacts you've made.

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Then ... leave the tiniest blob of solder on the tip of the wire that

you're going to attach to the camera. Put a small amount of solder on the

iron (make sure your using the resin cored solder and get stuff about 1mm

im diameter) now, with the wire held near the contact pin touch the

soldering iron to the wire part. Soldering iron on top, then wire then

contact. Watch carefully, as soon as its melted and then melted through

the first parts of the contact pin remove the soldering iron and <B>do not

move the wire</B> for at least a second. This will prevent the solder

being 'broken up' while solidifying (resulting in what is called a dry

joint).

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lastly, do not use electrical tape for covering the joints, get some "heat shrink"

its a small tube of plastic which looks like a drinking straw. cut a 2cm length of

this and slide it over the wires before soldering. Using the soldering iron, rub

the hot top over the sides of the tube causing it to shink. Work your

way round this to ensure that is tightly around the wire.

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when you've soldered and tested, I suggest covering the whole area in something

like hot melt glue. This will often as not come off as a lump when given some

force, and will protect the wires and stuff while its there.

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good luck

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lastly thanks to JP for the handy reference to the base I've got a few 630's

so this might be a cheap way of making a shutter release for experiments<div></div>

[j_p12]

You've got number of options suggested. If you are *not* going to use the remote on the grip, I would solder to the larger solder points, drill/route/cut into the cover plate and run the wires where ever you want, such as out the front or bottom of the grip as has been suggested. Maybe put a connector in the handle so you can pull it apart later. Easy and clean.

 

If you want to try and get the contacts back, you could try a field surgery technique I've used on other equipment (I don't have a grip to see how the contacts are mated for this application--anyone comment?) You need thin double sided tape, cheap electrical tape (thinner the better), tin foil or metalized mylar, good scissors, tweezers, a few strands of really thin wire, small knife or other scraper (aka, sandwich foil, gum off gaffers tape, paper and a swiss army knife). You are going to make a new foil and wire contact that is held in place with the tape and contacts the flexiboard above where it burned out. The plastic cover plate will compress it onto the top an bottom of the contacts--hopefully. It isn't going to last for lots of make/break connections so be gentle.

 

For each contact that needs repair, do:

 

- Scrape the polymer coating off the flexiboard just above where the contact burned out to expose the wire trace. Hold the device so the removed material doesn't enter the body.

 

- Cut a piece of ds tape to the width of the contact and a bit longer than the length of the opening in the cover plate.

 

- Optional but handy: Cut a few strands of wire slightly longer than the tape (strands from multistrand phone or data cable, or your COs ear buds--thin stuff). Mate up one end with the end of the tape and fold the other end over the tape and down the back--this is the part that will be hitting the scraped contact area.

 

- Cut a piece of foil the same width as the tape and the same length as the wire. Lay it over the wire on the tape, with one end matching. This leaves some extra foil to fold over the top of the tape. Foil doesn't take much current (not that the camera does either), so the wires do the work.

 

- You now have a contact. Place it on the burned out flexiboard so that the folded over part contacts the part you scraped and is partly covered by the cover plate (for compression).

 

- I didn't look, but it is probable that the cover plate has a conductive coating on the inside. If that is the case, you should put a strip of electrical tape across the foil contact(s) at the top and bottom where they surpass the opening. This adds height to the area so make sure the grip fits, but would also make it more stable.

 

- The contact area is a fairly static area so, barring thermal or physical shock, the contacts should be pretty stable.

[steve_ocheltree]

Wow, thank you everyone for your responses. I couldn't have asked for more.

 

I'm going to seek out someone who is experienced with soldering and run this by them. I really don't trust myself, since I have never soldered before (I didn't even to the original solder).

 

I'll keep you posted on the progress, that is if I can get everything to work.

 

Again, thank you everyone for your time.

 

-Steve