Drilling a hole in the A1. at DVinfo.net

Allan Black · January 13th, 2008, 05:46 AM

Anyone drilled a hole for the headphone jack in the cap, if so how did it go?
Cheers.

Alan Craig · January 13th, 2008, 07:33 AM

I think you might have a problem drilling a hole through rubber as it is not a hard stable product and I think that the drill bit will distort the rubber all over the place whilst trying to drill it ending up either ripping the flap or having a hole that is just a complete mess. There is possibly one way and that would be to clamp the rubber flap between two pieces of wood to restrict the rubber moving all over the place personally I would not risk it.

Alan

Jan Luethje · January 13th, 2008, 08:39 AM

I did the drilling job ;-) descriptions and foto can be found here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=82943

Alan Craig · January 13th, 2008, 09:28 AM

Nice job jan I would have thought you would have had problems with the rubber seems I thought wrong.

Alan

Jan Luethje · January 13th, 2008, 11:23 AM

Well, I actually HAD problems, that's why I glued that gasket on the hole.
At the end of the day the whole work was a little bit in vain, because I got accustomed to leave the rubberplate open most of time. You actually have to, when you stay on a tripod and use a remote control. Of course one could also drill a second hole. Or cut off the whole thing :-)

Allan Black · January 13th, 2008, 03:20 PM

Thanks for all the tips, especially Jan for the headphone extension cable and Chris for the bracket.

I work around airfields and I need to keep the dirt out of the cam even to taping up the XLR plugs when not in use.
Cheers.

James R. Leong · January 13th, 2008, 10:00 PM

Try a single hole paper punch. It works on most thin plastic.

(you can practice punching holes by using the clear top of a 25 or 50 DVDR pak)

Allan Black · January 14th, 2008, 12:04 AM

Oh.....oh dear.

Peter Wiley · January 14th, 2008, 03:16 PM

I just loosened the phillips head screws around the around the rubber piece that covers all the ports and removed it intact because I needed to use phones + LANC and didn't want to cover dangling about.

Luc De Wandel · May 25th, 2008, 04:38 AM

I punched a hole with a paper puncher and then widened it with a round file that I heated in a gas flame. Works perfectly. Did the same for the LANC-contact.

Philip Younger · May 27th, 2008, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allan Black

Anyone drilled a hole for the headphone jack in the cap, if so how did it go?
Cheers.

I had to drill/make a hole (1/4inch) in a rubber housing on an alarm system, I found drilling was useless especially if you want 'neat'. What I did find was that a hole cutter that a shoe/boot repairer uses did the job because it cuts the hole out rather like a pastry cutter.

Bill Watson · May 27th, 2008, 02:51 PM

Another option is to use a smallish soldering iron and just 'melt' the hole through the rubber.

I do this in webbing straps (which seem to be some sort of soft polyethylene weave) when I want to put in holes for mounting bolts.

January 13th, 2008, 05:46 AM	#1
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,892	Drilling a hole in the A1. Anyone drilled a hole for the headphone jack in the cap, if so how did it go? Cheers.

January 13th, 2008, 10:00 PM	#7
James R. Leong Regular Crew Join Date: May 2004 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada Posts: 81	Try a single hole paper punch. It works on most thin plastic. (you can practice punching holes by using the clear top of a 25 or 50 DVDR pak) Last edited by James R. Leong; January 14th, 2008 at 03:58 AM.

January 13th, 2008, 07:33 AM	#2
Alan Craig Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Warrington England Posts: 143	I think you might have a problem drilling a hole through rubber as it is not a hard stable product and I think that the drill bit will distort the rubber all over the place whilst trying to drill it ending up either ripping the flap or having a hole that is just a complete mess. There is possibly one way and that would be to clamp the rubber flap between two pieces of wood to restrict the rubber moving all over the place personally I would not risk it. Alan

January 13th, 2008, 08:39 AM	#3
Jan Luethje Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 89	I did the drilling job ;-) descriptions and foto can be found here: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=82943

January 13th, 2008, 09:28 AM	#4
Alan Craig Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Warrington England Posts: 143	Nice job jan I would have thought you would have had problems with the rubber seems I thought wrong. Alan

January 13th, 2008, 11:23 AM	#5
Jan Luethje Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 89	Well, I actually HAD problems, that's why I glued that gasket on the hole. At the end of the day the whole work was a little bit in vain, because I got accustomed to leave the rubberplate open most of time. You actually have to, when you stay on a tripod and use a remote control. Of course one could also drill a second hole. Or cut off the whole thing :-)

January 13th, 2008, 03:20 PM	#6
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,892	Thanks for all the tips, especially Jan for the headphone extension cable and Chris for the bracket. I work around airfields and I need to keep the dirt out of the cam even to taping up the XLR plugs when not in use. Cheers.

January 14th, 2008, 12:04 AM	#8
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,892	Oh.....oh dear.

January 14th, 2008, 03:16 PM	#9
Peter Wiley Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Lewisburg PA Posts: 752	I just loosened the phillips head screws around the around the rubber piece that covers all the ports and removed it intact because I needed to use phones + LANC and didn't want to cover dangling about.

May 25th, 2008, 04:38 AM	#10
Luc De Wandel Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Knokke-Heist, Belgium Posts: 963	I punched a hole with a paper puncher and then widened it with a round file that I heated in a gas flame. Works perfectly. Did the same for the LANC-contact.

May 27th, 2008, 02:51 PM	#12
Bill Watson Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Noosa Queensland Australia Posts: 248	Another option is to use a smallish soldering iron and just 'melt' the hole through the rubber. I do this in webbing straps (which seem to be some sort of soft polyethylene weave) when I want to put in holes for mounting bolts.