Bought a new lens and have a repair question.

[Battou]

I bought another Vivitar 400mm 5.6 on the C/FD mount and the rubber grip on focusing ring is uber loose, Loose to the point where when the adheisive finally breaks under it, it's going to slide right off and the grip on the barrel is bubbling up and will be in the same condition before long.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to shrink that back down to proper fit?

 

[Mitica100]

Unfortunately I am not aware of any rubber shrinking methods. You might want to consider cutting the rubber and sticking in place some sort of rubberized material which has glue on one side. Worst case scenario, buy some leather from CameraLeather.com and cut to the size, stick it on.

 

[Battou]

Well....hummmm, I had considered taking a hair dryer to it, but I am not sure if that is advisable for the glass elements inside the lens, additionally I am not sure if it would work as I am sure it's a different material than the shrink wraps I use on car wiring.

Worst case scenario I guess I could get out some of the DS tape from my auto body supplies and refit it. I am kinda hoping to avoid removing it though.

 

[KD5NRH]

Worst case scenario I guess I could get out some of the DS tape from my auto body supplies and refit it. I am kinda hoping to avoid removing it though.

If you're going to do that, use a feeler gauge or similar to finish loosening it up, roll it to one end or the other like a condom, and put some adhesive under it before you unroll it back. That way it doesn't get stuck before it's in the right position.

With luck, the tape might be the right thickness to snug it up a bit as well as holding it on.

 

[Battou]

If you're going to do that, use a feeler gauge or similar to finish loosening it up, roll it to one end or the other like a condom, and put some adhesive under it before you unroll it back. That way it doesn't get stuck before it's in the right position.

With luck, the tape might be the right thickness to snug it up a bit as well as holding it on.

Well, I understand what you are saying here, but I have two types of DS tape in the cabnit, one is paper thin and the other as thick or thicker than the grip is self. I'll likely use the thin tape for the cosmedic accuracy.

This leaves me with two options that I can think of:

1) the "Golf Club trick", whitch is basically similar what you where going at minus the rolling (I'd prefer not to roll it as I have had a couple rip doing that) but with the assistance of mineral spirits to prevent premature adheasion.

or

2) Cut it down the seam and re wrap it right in place snugly and remove the access.


However, both of those have flaws. One it's loose enough that I may not be able to get it all to the tape and the other if it shrinks after it'll rip itself to shreads and be completely toast.

 

[Mike_E]

Have you thought about building up underneath with dbl sided tape and just putting the rubber grip back over the top of that?

Or taking the ring off and building up the inside with a silicone adhesive?

 

[Josh66]

Personally, I would cut it off and replace it with a new piece of rubber (or something similar). I would either glue it on or use double sided tape - depending on how permanent I wanted it to be.

You could just paint some rhino liner on there (that's actually not a bad idea...). There would be no going back after that though...

 

[Battou]

Have you thought about building up underneath with dbl sided tape and just putting the rubber grip back over the top of that?

Yeah, the afore mentioned "Golf Club trick", I don't want to build it up though. I have DS tape that would do that on it's own at nearly an 1/8 inch thick. But this would cause the grip to protrude and create an unneccessary snagging edge.

Or taking the ring off and building up the inside with a silicone adhesive?

My experience with silicone adhesives has me running as far and as fast as I can away from that idea. Form my experience they are quite soft and have some give to them, I assume this could result in the grip turning on the focusing ring when trying to focus and in cold wether around here the focusing rings can get that stiff to where that would be a problem on a manual focus lens.

*EDIT*

Personally, I would cut it off and replace it with a new piece of rubber (or something similar). I would either glue it on or use double sided tape - depending on how permanent I wanted it to be.

You could just paint some rhino liner on there (that's actually not a bad idea...). There would be no going back after that though...

If I had the equipment to spray Rino Liner that would not be a bad Idea actually, I'd have a lot of masking work to do but....

 

[Josh66]

Just had another idea-

You could wrap it with some fusion tape. It will look kinda ghetto (if you took your time you could probably make it look half way decent), but it will work and it will be easy to remove later if you wanted to (just cut it off).

 

[Battou]

Just had another idea-

You could wrap it with some fusion tape. It will look kinda ghetto (if you took your time you could probably make it look half way decent), but it will work and it will be easy to remove later if you wanted to (just cut it off).

Hummmm, not my style, but I'll keep it in mind if all else fails.

 

[Battou]

When I do go threw and do this I'll photograph every step of the way for anyone else who gets ambisious enough (anal retentive enough) to want to do this as well.

 

[Josh66]

I think the rhino liner would be pretty cool. I would assume that you could buy it in a small quantity (like a pint can or something), but my google-fu is not strong enough...

I don't think you would nessecarily have to spray it. You could probably just brush it on. Mask everything off, of course. I have it on my truck bed, but I've never actually applied it myself. Spraying would probably look better (no brush strokes), but I think you could still make it look good. Do a test piece first.

You might be able to talk someone into spraying it (prep work already done by you) while they're spraying a truck. I think that is certainly the most durable option - you'll never have to fix it again.

I like Mitica's idea of wrapping it in leather too. That would look good.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you post the results! I plan on keeping my gear for a very long time, so your experience will help down the road. I'm sure others would benefit from it too.

 

[Battou]

I think the rhino liner would be pretty cool. I would assume that you could buy it in a small quantity (like a pint can or something), but my google-fu is not strong enough...

I don't think you would nessecarily have to spray it. You could probably just brush it on. Mask everything off, of course. I have it on my truck bed, but I've never actually applied it myself. Spraying would probably look better (no brush strokes), but I think you could still make it look good. Do a test piece first.

No, Rino Liner requires specialty equipment to spray, that is why you can't get it done at any run of the mill body shop, (though I'v heard there are a growing number of shops that are spraying it now) It's just too heavy to put through the standard guns, it'll gum them up in seconds.

You might be able to talk someone into spraying it (prep work already done by you) while they're spraying a truck. I think that is certainly the most durable option - you'll never have to fix it again.

Well, that is definately a sound suggestion, the only problems are I would need to have a connection with the tech for that sort of favor, and there are no places that do it here locally, I would have to travle ruling out any chance of pulling a favor.

I like Mitica's idea of wrapping it in leather too. That would look good.

Yeah, I have not ruled it out my self, but as of right now I do want to try to get'er done with what I have on hand and not have to wait for ordered stuff to arrive.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you post the results! I plan on keeping my gear for a very long time, so your experience will help down the road. I'm sure others would benefit from it too.

With out a doubt.

 

[Battou]

Well...It's been a couple days and I got a few suggestions but I have decided I am going to go a head and remove it and tape it down. I'll get started on it over the next couple days and it should be up and running before I get back in on Saturday night.

I did get an idea here, I decided to go down to Wall-Mart this afternoon and pick up a different type of DS tape. Everything I have is all automotive repair supplies and not the kind that Autozone carries. Since this is going to be a DIY repair and I am going to explain the process I figured I'd get stuff everyone can get.

For this DIY repair I will be needing

Lens for repair - Obviously
Common Hobby Knife - to cut away grip material
Golf club grip tape - To readhear grip material to barrel. This type of tape is specifically designed to hold rubber to a metal or fiberglass surface to be swung like...well a golf club, the focusing ring on a camera lens is light work in comparison. This can be bought at any major golf pro shop, most sporting goods stores and in the sporting goods section at Wall Mart (most Wall Marts don't carry the tape by it's self but it is included with replacement grips)

*Not pictured
Hands
Mineral Spirits (Paint thinner) - just incase one messes up - also available at Walmart, Home Depot and many more.

I'll have the full rundown on the process on Saturday as well as comparison photos for cosmedic accuracy as well as wether it works or not.

 

[Paul Ron]

Now you're talkin. Slit it straight down with a razor knife. Remove the old crud. Before re-installing the old rubber, dry fit it n remove the excess off the razored edge at the overlap so when it fits back on it'll make a nice clean seam. Apply the thin DS tape all the way round the lens barrel n stick on your rubber grip.

Just a sugestion to modernize your lens' look... I've used the very thnik neoprine light seal material as grips. It really looks nice, a beautiful deep black matt finish n grippy feel makes it a very modern looking lens. Not everyone likes this look, I do.