Handgrip loose

[Pietro Jona]

I'm torturing my EX1 here in Baghdad. Dust and shocks are my main weapons of camera destrucion.
In the last few days the handgrip is getting more and more loose. The rotation and position control is ok, the problem is its connection with the camera itself. Did any of you ever remove it and found a way to get it tight again?
I still have a long week of shooting, run and gun, camera inside cars and other stressful activities, thanks for helping.

pietro

[Toby Heslop]

did you fix this

[Pietro Jona]

Nope..
Back home they told me they should change the whole optic toghether with the handgrip and asked me to pay 1600 euros. Seems crazy to me so no fix. I'll use it till it fall apart and then i'll throw it away..
Sad, but no point in spending so much money for such a used camera.

[Lukas Hribik]

Piero, maybe you can sell it for parts then...

[Pietro Jona]

Mmh I don't feel like killing a camera that served me well for years when it is still working. I'll use it as a second camera when needed.

[Eugene J. Kulak]

Pietro, it's been awhile but I dropped mine a couple of years ago and had to send it out because it needed a new lens. I requested all the old parts be returned to me so I could play around with it. I believe the outer shroud of the hand grip has about 5 or 6 small screws. When you remove these the shroud can be removed and inside there is a nut with a wavy type of washer. This nut probably loosened up a little and needs to be re-tightened. Don't hold me to this Pietro because I am going on memory. Good Luck. Gene...

[Zoran Vincic]

I have changed the plastic cover on my grip and I attached instructions from the service manual on how to remove it.


My EX1 also has a loose handgrip. If you manage to tighten it I would appreciate if you shared how you did it.

edit:
I can't upload the pic here as I have already uploaded it in another thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...rip-issue.html

[Pietro Jona]

Gene and Zoran

I remember working on the handgrip with my Leatherman only, I could reach the "wavy tipe of washer". The problem was not there but on the other side of the grip's pivot that, according to Sony, is inside the back of the lens. A loose nut, a quite simple problem apparently with no solution.
I gave up.
Thanks anyways!

[Juan McFarland]

I have taken apart the hand grip on my EX1 a few times to temporarily tighten it.

The main problem is that the 3 screw heads that hold the rotating assembly together(tight to the camera body) are INSIDE of the camera body and NOT accessible from the handle. However it is possible the reach the butt side of each machine screw from inside the handle once it is opened up. If you use a precision flat screwdriver and can get a purchase on the butt of the 3 screws you can tighten it a little to snug up the assembly. It's a real pain in the ass to do and once you do it a couple times you will probably not be able to do the process again because you will have worn down any rough areas on the butt of the screws that were providing traction. Maybe use some thread locker the 1st time and hope for the best. Also it's impossible to get the screws tight doing this because there is not enough traction between the blade of the screwdriver and the butt of the screw. Snug is the best I could do.

If you attempt this be prepared to go slow and anticipate frustration. Pay attention to what you are doing and don't burr the female threads.

Has anyone seen instructions on disassembling the camera body? It is the only way to get to the screw heads as far as I can tell.

[Peter Eggleston]

Thank you Juan !

The service manual is available free at SONY PMW-EX1 VCL-EX0877 SM Service Manual free download, schematics, eeprom, repair info for electronics (click on "Get Manual", not the various green sponsored-download buttons).

Reading it suggested that virtually everything has to be dismantled, even laying bare sensitive glassware such as the ND wheel the prism and the back of the lens, just to get the right hand side off. I'd want a clean-room to do that in! Close examination shows that even then you don't get to the back of the grip rotation mounting, so I just dismantled the handle instead (easy 11 screws).

I managed to tighten the loose screws holding the ring from behind as Juan suggested, using a watchmaker's screwdriver and plenty of pressure. I then applied thread lock fluid and waited for it to cure.

The toothed casting with the wavy sprung washers behind is fiddly to re-fit as the washers have to be compressed while making sure the 3 lugs are correctly located.

The handle is much firmer now, but of course the improvement might not last long for the reasons Juan gave.

[Juan McFarland]

Glad the info helped you Peter. Hopefully it holds!

[Peter Eggleston]

Followup:

Juan's fix kept my EX1 going for another year, but now the lens grip is loose again.

I tried tightening the screws from the back once more, but there was not enough purchase on the burred ends.

I Googled for any solutions which may have turned up in the meantime, but found nothing new.
Also I still couldn't find a service manual which showed how to dismantle the part of the lens case with the hidden screws.

I tried a different approach:

If you remove the plastic front of that part (2 screws), you can see the lens servo board and gears. Looking deep inside, you can see the heads of the 3 loose screws. I disconnected the white 15-pin connector from the board (it connects to zoom rocker in the rotating handgrip). Then I could reach the knurled heads of the 3 screws and tighten them a few degrees at a time using a surgical clamp. Anything similar to very thin pliers would be suitable, but it needs to be 4.5mm thick or less. The top and front screws are about 60mm inside the case but I couldn't reach the back one.

It is essential to protect the components on the servo board with a tough but thin piece of plastic whilst doing this as there is a huge risk of damaging the board!

This could presumably be done without removing the outer case of the lens grip, but as I had already dismantled it, I was able to watch the inside ends of the screws slowly rotating anticlockwise until I couldn't move them any more. Looking inside again, the spring washers were compressed.

I'll add thread lock fluid again (protecting the board from any drips) and then hope that it lasts another year!

[Andy Wilkinson]

Very useful. Thanks for posting info like this :-)

[Dean Sensui]

Thanks for the advice. It's very helpful.

I did the same thing, using a pair of hemostats to snug down the screws that could be reached. Only two of the three could be snugged up.

Before I did that, I applied some epoxy resin to the gap between that flange and the camera body. I let the epoxy flow in to fill the small gap before snugging down the screws. I then re-assembled the grip, being careful to apply blue Loctite to the three screws that holds the aluminum part that allows the grip angle to be changed and set.

I figured that there's no reason for the flange to ever be removed. It may as well be REALLY locked to the camera body.

The epoxy should be allowed to set for at least 48 hours before any stress is applied to ensure it develops a solid bond.

Originally Posted by Peter Eggleston

Followup:

Juan's fix kept my EX1 going for another year, but now the lens grip is loose again.

I tried tightening the screws from the back once more, but there was not enough purchase on the burred ends.

I Googled for any solutions which may have turned up in the meantime, but found nothing new.
Also I still couldn't find a service manual which showed how to dismantle the part of the lens case with the hidden screws.

I tried a different approach:

If you remove the plastic front of that part (2 screws), you can see the lens servo board and gears. Looking deep inside, you can see the heads of the 3 loose screws. I disconnected the white 15-pin connector from the board (it connects to zoom rocker in the rotating handgrip). Then I could reach the knurled heads of the 3 screws and tighten them a few degrees at a time using a surgical clamp. Anything similar to very thin pliers would be suitable, but it needs to be 4.5mm thick or less. The top and front screws are about 60mm inside the case but I couldn't reach the back one.

It is essential to protect the components on the servo board with a tough but thin piece of plastic whilst doing this as there is a huge risk of damaging the board!

This could presumably be done without removing the outer case of the lens grip, but as I had already dismantled it, I was able to watch the inside ends of the screws slowly rotating anticlockwise until I couldn't move them any more. Looking inside again, the spring washers were compressed.

I'll add thread lock fluid again (protecting the board from any drips) and then hope that it lasts another year!

[Andrew Smith]

Gaff tape can also come in handy for EX1s.

Andrew