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Richard Clarke
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 08:54 pm: | 
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Hi- I am trying to remove the top plate on a nikon N4004. I removed all the visible screws, but it still seems to be held by something, on the side with the handgrip (right side when looking at the back of the camera)
thanks |
Vlatko
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 03:44 am: |
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Hi Richard
VERY SERIOUS WARNING FIRST: BY PROCEEDING YOU
WILL EXPOSE THE FLASH CONDENSOR LEADS, THE CONDENSOR MAY CONTAIN MORE THAN ENOUGH ENERGY TO KILL - DO NOT PROCEED UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO SAFELY DISCHARGE THE CONDENSOR WITH A RESISTOR ACROSS THE CONDENSOR LEADS, DO NOT ASUME THAT
THE CONDENSOR IS DISCHARGED, MEASURE THE VOLTAGE
ON THE LEADS AFTER DISCHARGING TO MAKE SURE - DO NOT POWER UP THE CAMERA WITH THE FLASH CHARGING CIRCUIT, CONDENSOR AND FLASH-TUBE EXPOSED TO ACCIDENTAL TOUCH , DO REMEMBER THAT POWERING UP WILL AGAIN RE-CHARGE THE CONDENSOR. THIS CIRCUITRY IS D E A D L Y!!!
I AM VERY CAREFUL, AND I GOT BIT (AS MANY OTHER
CAREFUL PEOPLE DID), SOME ARE NOW DEAD.
APPOLOGIES IF YOU KNOW ALREADY HOW TO WORK (RELATIVELY) SAFELY WITH HIGH-TENSION HIGH ENERGY CIRCUITS, BUT SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW MAY READ THIS - I NOW NEVER GO NEAR A FLASH
CIRCUIT WITHOUT TELLING SOMEONE AT HOME THAT IT COULD STOP MY HEART AND MAKING SURE THAT SOMEONE WILL TRY TO HELP ME IN CASE I HAVE AN ACCIDENT.
IF YOU ARE NOT SURE ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND
DO NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN
ACTIONS, PLEASE DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST AND DO NOT OPEN THE CAMERA.
Yes, there are two screws you need to remove
under the handgrip top-cover, and to reach tHem you need to get this handgrip-top cover off first, this part is glued-on, stick a knife tip
or something similar under the lower edge and work your way around carefully, pulling the plastic away/outwards from the camera brak the bond. You'll see the screws when the cover is
off, one is at the back, one at the front.
Be careful not to destroy the circuitry under
the top cover with static electricity. What's
wrong with your camera? Mine has a broken part
in the mechanism under the speed/f-stop selectors
which I didn't know, so I worked on the bottom
first and managed to get the gears in the
pallet under the winding motor loose and out of phase. Can't get the damn thing out to realign the gears, it appears to be connected straight up to another mechanism which is on top, under the selector dials. There's a screw up there which I wasn't able to budge, but when I try turning it both the disk that the screw is in the center of on the top, and some gears on the bottom of the camera turn. I am afraid to drill the screw-head out, ordered a manual to see what's going on in there. Anyway, I took pictures
as I was disassembling, send me an e-mail and
I can send you a picture of the part you wish to
work on if you think that would help. Good luck.
Vlatko |
Richard Clarke
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 01:05 pm: |
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Hi- thanks for the info. I found out how to open this last night, just started tearing into it until I found out what I needed. Maybe tearing into it is a poor choice of words. The 4004 will not power up, one of the shutter curtains is not visible, mirror locked up, and can't get any life out of the thing. I also have a N4004s with a busted pop up flash linkage; so I was going to use the linkage from the 4004 to use on the 4004s. Decided not after seeing all the wires I would need to workaround to get to the pop up flash. I can use velcro instead. |
Vlatko
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 02:57 am: |
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Ok, glad you managed to open the camera ... what do you mean by 'busted pop up flash linkage', I've got an F-401 which I think is called N-4004 in the US, later they put in a stronger AF motor and changed something on the exposure/diaphragm contol wheels and called this version F-401s/N4004s ... so if you have them both, you know more than I do, but in the F-401 I am looking at the flash head is pulled-up by hand after first depressing two little buttons on the sides ... and pushed down by hand after you're done using the flash ... I see two flat springs on the inside which put some tension on the outside 'release' buttons, and presumably there
is a slot in the part that's not visible, the one between the buttons and the springs which 'locks' the flash-head in the down position ... I hope to get the service manual soon and when I do I can try to better describe this mechanism for you ... what did you intend to do with the velcro? If the control dials are the same on both models, maybe you can solve the problem very easily by just switching the entire camera top covers, flash head and all ... of course you need to desolder all the wires and resolder, but it's not a big deal if you are careful and have an appropriate soldering iron ... and I MUST REPEAT THE WARNING ABOUT THE DEADLYNESS OF THE FLASH CAPACITOR, DON'T ASUME IT'S NOT CHARGED JUST BECAUSE THE CAMERA DOESN'T POWER UP, THE CHARGE REMAINS IN THE CAPACITOR FOR A VERY LONG TIME - AND THE CAPACITOR IN THE CAMERA THAT WORKS IS CHARGED!! YOU WOULD ALSO NEED TO DE-SOLDER AND RE-SOLDER THE WIRES THAT GO DIRECTLY TO THE CAPACITOR - *** DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT *** UNLESS YOU ARE FIRST ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT IT'S BEEN DISCHARGED WITH A RESISTOR, HAVE MEASURED THE VOLTAGE ACROSS IT'S TERMINALS TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE CERTAIN AND HAVE THEN SHORTED THE TERMINALS WITH A SCREWDRIVER SHAFT (BUT THE RESISTOR DISCHARGE GOES FIRST, SHORT CIRCUITING A BIG CAPACITOR IS BOTH DANGEROUS AND DESTROYS THE CAPACITOR MOST LIKELY)JUST FOR PARANOIA'S SAKE. Take a look at the flat springs and see if bending them a bit makes any difference, also see what happens when you press each release button on the prism/flash cover outide, AND shake the cover, if somethin's broken it will probably rattle inside. IF YOU OPEN THE FLASH HEAD - THE FLASH TUBE IS CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO THE FLASH CAPACITOR AND EQUALLY DEADLY.
Now the interesting question, why is the non-working camera jammed? Obviously the wind film- trip shutter - lift mirror - open first curtain, close second curtain - release mirror - wind film - reset shutter cycle didn't complete ... and it wouldn't if the electronics went dead in the middle of this process, so the question is
what's dead ... if you have no sign of (electronical) life, look at the battery compartment and check for breaks in the conducting surfaces ... corrosion from leaking batteries, bent thingies, perhaps wires from the battery contacts became detached on either end ... take the bottom cover off and measure with a voltmeter, you should have battery voltages where the wires end up, and also measure with an amper-meter in series with the batteries, the value of the power consumption will give you an idea about what's going on,zero is a break in the circuit, very high is a short circuit somewhere, I didn't measure but I would expect a camera that operates correctly to draw just a few tens of miliamperes when it's turned on, a few hundred miliamperes when the motors (tens for magnets) are operating, a few amperes when the flash circuit is charging the capacitor, the consumption reducing as the capacitor is filling with charge ... DO BE CAREFUL IF YOU TAKR THE BOTTOM COVER OFF, THAT'S A PART OF THE FLASH CIRCUIT AND THE BOTTOM OF THE FLASH CAPACITOR THAT YOU SEE UNDER THE BATTERY COMPARTMENT IN THE HANDGRIP.
If you can't get the dead cam back to life, please don't throw it away ... dead cams are organ donors.
Good luck.
Vlatko |
Richard Clarke
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 02:29 pm: |
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Hi- I was able to take parts from the non-working N4004 and enhance the N4004s. I took the flash cover (plastic piece that covers the flash tube)and the 2 hinges that the flash in place from the N4004 and used these on the N4004s. Greatly improved the looks of the N4004s. Now I will probably part out the non working N4004
thanks |
Mary Ellen Folsom
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 10:11 am: |
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I have a N4004s that one of the granddaughters has broken the catch on the back door. How can I repair this? Can I get the catch. Do I need the whole door. Are parts interchangeable with 4004? Thank you. |
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