If you're using standard superglue it can be removed with nail polish remover, (acetone). If you haven't damaged the surface of your grip to badly you might want to use a soft cotton swab to try to remove the excess glue. At 06:01 PM 9/7/2001 +0100, you wrote: >(Quite long so put the kettle on and sit yourself down with a nice hot >cup of tea...) > >Hello readers worldwide and welcome to another in our series called >Cotty's Clinic. It's an everyday tale of camera modifications that, were >it the law, would see me bound and gagged and dumped into a small dark >room for a long long time. > >This month's instalment covers the Pentax LX and Grip B - and how on >Earth do you hang this lot in the horizontal position when using Strap >Attachments on the camera body. Well, the short answer is that you don't. >Some soldier on, swinging expensive LX gear from their shoulders in the >vertical position, while yet others foam from the mouth at the mere >mention of camera straps. One alternative is to fly to Japan, and scour >every Photo shop in the land for a 'Grip B 2000' which thoughtfully >includes a lug point - those small round metal studs, that you hang the >Strap Attachments from. The very last option available is that you >forsake all sanity and make your own. Here's what I did: > >Telephoned a very nice bloke who works at Asahi Photo in London (thanks >Peter of CamDir in sunny Brighton). Asahi Photo is a Pentax specialist >who do all the usual CLAs and repairs, using ex-Pentax technicians, so >they should know their stuff - anyone with any experience of them?? >(www.asahiphoto.net) For five of my Earth Pounds Sterling, he would send >me a lug nut through the mail. It duly arrived today, so when better than >to practice insanity but now. > >After testing various hole sizes using various drill bits into a scrap >piece of hard plastic, similar in composition to the Grip B (in fact a >distributor cap from a Rover V8 engine I once built, but that's another >Clinic on a different List...), it was time to commence sacrilege. Using >a 1/8th inch drill bit, I drilled a hole approximately 3/16ths inch deep >into the Grib B at a point near the top in the middle, on the right had >face of the grip as you hold it when attached to the LX. More or less in >the same place as on the Grip B 2000 (I had a ref to a pic of this Grip >that someone posted to the list - alas I don't have the URL, but I've got >the pic, if anyone wants it I can email it to you). > >Incidentally, we do use metric measurements in the UK. It's just that my >drill bits are all rusting or broken, or both. So I raided my neighbour's >shed, the contents of which have to be seen to be believed. Of the Old >School of Acquiring Everything Under the Sun and Beyond for a Rainy Day, >he ferrets away all manner of stuff, tools the more popular finds. I'm >going to get a portrait of him in his element one day. I emerged with >several examples of Britain's finest 19th century drill bits. Sort of >like a Victorian 'Tool Time'. > >For those, and they are many, that have never seen a lug nut from an LX, >they are simply a fancy threaded nut that screws into a threaded recess >on the LX body. If you look closely at the lug nut, you'll see two small >indents - these are for a special tool that allows one to tighten and >loosen said lug nuts. Not possessing a tool, or brain, I filed down two >opposing edges slightly so I could get a good grip using an adjustable >spanner (monkey wrench). Using a different nut with the same thread, I >tapped out some threads on the inside of the hole in the plastic, and >tested the lug nut in place - a nice tight fit. Strap attachments on, and >hey presto - it works. > >Hold on, you'll like this bit. Not satisfied with good, simple design, I >can always see a way to improve things in the strength department. When I >was in kindergarten many moons ago, my paper mache creations were always >ample monstrosities built for pure rigidity. Unfortunately, as pieces of >design, it was impossible to tell what they actually were: but they were >very, very strong. You know how some people mail cardboard packages with >a casual strip of tape gently laid across a bulging pair of box flaps? >Well I mail a formless mass of tape, with a box located somewhere inside. >'Nuff said. Strength. Rigidity. > >So the lug nut is on the Grip, but 'just in case' and 'just to make sure' >there weren't to be any expensive mistakes with my newly acquired LX >dancing all over the floor, I decided to lock the threads with superglue. >Out came the LocTite, out came the lug nut, on went the LocTite, on went >the lug nut. Now, as you no doubt know, superglue is very fickle stuff. >It has physics all of it's own. One has to be very careful. I would have >known this, but as recounted earlier, I have no brain. Viz: > >Once the lug nut was back on, I placed the Grip on the bench to let it >dry, and go find the strap attachments. I said, I placed the Grip on the >bench. No - on the bench. Ahh, the Grip doesn't want to stay on the >bench. It wants to stay in my hand. Why is this? (See previous references >to brain.) > >As you have guessed, some superglue managed to seep out and cement bare >flesh to plastic, more or less at the point on the front where the >fingers go. Oh dear-o-dear-o-dear. This is why real Design and >Maintenance people are bright and considered in their approach, and I am >not. Furthermore, far from being able to attach the Grip B permanently to >the LX, the Grip B seemed to be permanently attached to my fingers. Not >an ideal scenario, but one possibly throwing up some interesting >opportunities for those who always like to be 'ready to shoot', anytime. > >To be fair, I had not noticed a small hole in the end of the superglue >tube, the end I was holding, and the inevitable happened. It was probably >not a good idea to be in the garage with me at that point, as the air was >filled with certain expletives calling into question the usefulness, or >not, of superglue and its kind. Not a pretty site. > >In finishing, let's just say that the operation *was* a technical >success. The lug point now adorning the Grip B is safe and strong, and >does its job well. Hanging the camera horizontally is now a fully proven >manoeuvre, and the LX will be on my shoulder like this regularly. As for >cosmetic appearance, let's just say 'could do better', and leave it at >that. > >Tune in next month and read all about how you can surgically implant a >monopod into your leg, how mini-windscreen wipers can be a real help for >big glass in wet weather, and a new device for measuring depth-of-field: >a cantilevered hundred foot long ruler that conveniently folds up and >stows in its own trailer. > >Til then, clickety-cick. >Cotty > >_______________________________________________________ >Personal email traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >MacAds traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Check out the UK Macintosh ads >www.macads.co.uk >- >This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, >go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to >visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
