On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 16:51:09 -0400, Scott Schuckert wrote:
> The battery doors are uniformly fragile on almost all digital cameras;
> the Nikons you mention are perhaps a little bit worse than average. I
> have experience with the 3100; with careful use it can be made to hold
> up. But as you mention, the stupidity is that the door is not designed
> to be easily replaced.
I found this wonderful thread while looking up how to fix my son's Nikon
Coolpix 3100 battery latch door camera body broken problem.
I latched onto the paperclip idea but nobody said which glue to use. I
bought Locktite superglue and Locktite epoxy but I think one or both of
those glues melted the camera body a bit. The camera body plastic is pitted
slightly and indented where the glue was wet but now has dried.
Does anyone know what the camera body plastic is made up of? The package
insert says not to use the Locktite Quick Set Epoxy on "polyethylene" or
"polypropylene".
Also, the articles didn't say WHAT SIZE drill bit to use so I used a #55
(0.052 inh) drill bit which seemed to work to drill the holes in the ribs
in the inside of the Nikon Coolpix camera body to hold the long legs of the
paperclip.
In addition, nobody said which dremel bit to use, and I munged up the
camera body by using one that was too large and unwieldy.
You can see a dozen step-by-step photos of my operation to recycle my son's
Nikon Coolpix 3100 camera at http://usera.imagecave.com/coolpixfixer/
On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:54:59 +0100, BIC wrote:
> you have just been unlucky...........or heavy handed.
It's a VERY common problem BIC. Google for the Nikon coolpix battery door
latch and you'll see many people have the same problem. For every one you
find, there are hundreds who don't know about the usenet or the forums.
Even Nikon's own forums are fraught with sorry sad little coolpix owners.
Look at the design in the photos of the notorious Nikon Coolpix 2100 and
3100 series cameras. You, like most others in this thread, will have to
conclude the little flimsy plastic loop is bound to break under almost ANY
circumstance.
Did you actually look at the pictures?
> the Nikons you mention are perhaps a little bit worse than average. I
> have experience with the 3100; with careful use it can be made to hold
> up. But as you mention, the stupidity is that the door is not designed
> to be easily replaced.