NikonWeb.com

Hi,

I've got my recently purchased bargain-basement DCS 14n into almost nice shape. Fixed the pushed-in remote socket, have now more or less fixed the taped-on multi-selector; used a small piece of thin double-sided foam tape, with a hole drilled in the center for the remains of the original mounting pin. So far so good but we shall see; I'm going to have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't fall off when I'm not paying attention and disappear. It looks fine and functions nicely for the moment, anyway, and I did not have to disassemble the camera.

Last thing is that the grip rubber is held on using gaffer tape. I would like to reglue it, but am somewhat wary--don't want to use glue that dissolves the rubber. My first inclination would be some form of rubber or contact cement, but I know that in the great technical knowledge to be found on this board someone will know what type(s) of glue to use and or avoid using.

Have been taking a few photos with it but have yet to go out for a real shooting session. I hope that will happen next week.

Thanks,
Ross

_________________
Ross Alford
http://www.pbase.com/northqueenslandphotos

Hi,

Things like that are usually attached with a die-cut double-sided adhesive tape. I don't suppose that a new peice could be sourced from Kodak. I recall when such things were available from Nikon for their original D1 series - I bought several at the time - but I understand that Nikon no longer sells just the grip tape. I presume that Kodak does not either.

What I used for prototyping work came from 3M on a roll. One had to trim it by hand, but such is the nature of making prototypes in the first place. As I recall, it isn't inexpensive. I looked it up, and I'm correct - it isn't. Here's a link for the curious:

http://www.shop3m.com/3m-300lse-high-st ... 5x89d.html

The issue you're going to face is that one needs some sort of really sticky stuff to hold the rubber in place, especially if the thing is curved. The adhesive needs to be able to flex while at the same time staying stuck in place. That lets out most adhesives one finds in hardware stores.

I would try the old fashioned contact cement myself. That's about as close as one can come in the non-industrial world. If it works, great! If it does not, it can be fairly easily removed to try something else. I had sort-of good luck with this on a DCS 760 grip, although it does have a tendency to pull loose during periods it sits idle. I can mash it back in place and it stays OK while I'm using the camera. It might work for yours as well.

Oh, and use the old-fashioned variant of contact cement. The stuff that you need ventilation for and uses a flammable carrier - not the new fangled 'safety' stuff. I found that the new stuff isn't nearly as sticky as the old stuff is....

Another thought is a mastic adhesive, like used for sticking floor tiles to the wood sub-flooring. The problem with that is that it's pretty thick. How one would apply it thinly enough for this application escapes me at the moment.

_________________
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

Thanks very much, Stan. I'll see if I can source some old-fashioned contact cement. I'll look for lots of warnings on the label.

Had a look at the tape--the price _is_ impressive. Maybe not quite worth its weight in gold but worth far more than its weight in silver.

Cheers,
Ross

_________________
Ross Alford
http://www.pbase.com/northqueenslandphotos