Hi, Early versions of this flash do not swivel 270degrees, as later models do. The head only turns 90degrees each way from straight ahead. This is how to modify it to get more turn.
CAVEAT: I AM NOT RECOMMENDING ANYONE TO DO THIS WORK. I AM ONLY EXPLAINING HOW I DID IT. The stops for the head swivel are in the handle part of the flash. I dismantled this by removing the camera bracket clip, undoing the two screws in the bottom plate, removing the grip skin from the back half of the grip (stick it to a piece of glass, so that it is not covered with cat/dog/child hairs when you want to put it back) and removing the two screws under there and removing the two rearmost screws hidden under the head. I needed to lift the head to 90degrees to get at those. This allows the back of the grip to be moved away from the rest of the flash. Various wires still attach it but I managed to do the work needed without disconnection. The whole of the handle is taken up with an electrolytic capacitor. There are no markings but I am sure that this will deliver fatal amounts of electrical energy, or at least enough to cause serious burns, if one was to touch the contacts when it is charged. I left the flash for almost a week to let this discharge and then shorted it through a high power resistor before continuing. The pawl for the pivot detent is covered by a metal plate. This comes up against abutments in the plastic body to limit pivot angle. I used a good quality knife to cut away the plastic until the metal plate cleared it and allowed more pivot. The head now pivots about 300degrees before it comes up against the other abutment. I left this in place so that the head cannot be spun around until the wires shear. As all the movements and detents were abnormally stiff, I then dismantled the head by undoing the three screws nearest the flash tube under the head, removing the distance calculator on the back of the head (I prised it out with a very fine screwdriver) and removing the two screws under there. Removing the other two screws under the head leads to hours of further work........ I cleaned off all the plastic and other dust (it must have been used in sandy conditions at some time, as the plastic on the moving parts was quite abraded - would hate to see what this person's cameras were like) and then applied some household wax to the surfaces. Reassembly is the reverse of the above. I inserted and started all screws before finally tightening them - I have found that doing them up fully immediately usually leads to the last one or two being out of alignment. There are a number of wires to avoid trapping and various switches to align with holes. Once rebuilt, I tried it in as many combinations of angles as I could (flashing lights in an upstairs room at night = some very puzzled neighbours the next day. I told them to use their imagination....) and found no problems. Only time will tell if this puts more strain on the wires leading to the head than they were designed for. All I need to do now is deal with the base plate. The threads are not in the best of order and there is no cover plate, so I will need to get one of those. So, if you have an irrepressible urge to flash behind yourself but don't have the equipment to do it, that's how it is done. mike
