| Author |
Message |
    
Jim Murray
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 23, 2005 - 02:16 pm: | 
|
I recently replaced a missing screw on an older
Minolta flash. It is one of two machine screws that
hold the hot shoe to the body. I mistakenly assumed
that it was metric because it was made in Japan.
I also mistakenly assumed that contacting Minolta
would help. They no longer had records for this
model, and if they did they could only tell me a part number, not a size. I don't know if this holds
true for camera hardware, but the moral to my story
is- assume nothing. btw- it is a model 'Auto 28'
and the screw size is 2/56x1". Jim. |
Peter Wallage
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 23, 2005 - 04:02 pm: |
|
Ihagee factory parts and repair manuals quote both part number and size for all the screws.
Peter |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 06:53 am: |
|
wow.... i've never seen a 2-56 screw on a japanese product of any age. |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 08:15 am: |
|
2-56 screws are pretty close to a metric M2.5 thread. Also, many manufacturers used their own metric screw dimensions such as M1.7 or so. You will hardly find anyone selling such screws but these thread dimensions are standard metric dimensions. In many cases you can screw an 'inch' screw into a metric thread without much difficulty. It will not have much strength but for camera parts it will be sufficient. (and sometimes you have to use a metric screw in a bore with an 'inch' thread, if you work on a british camera for example and loose some screws...). |
rick
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 09:36 pm: |
|
some larger sizes happen to be very close too: a 10-32 screw is nearly identical to an M5 x .8
: ) = |
Jim Murray
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 04:09 pm: |
|
Jim again, responding to your comments. The re-
maining screw was original, and screwed smoothly
into either hole. I miked it at 2.2mm and .4 pitch.
The smallest metric sizes I found anywhere are-
1.6, 2, and 2.5mm. That is why I tried sae. The
2/56 matches perfectly with the original. So unless
this flash was assembled with custom or proprietary
hardware, at least part of it came non-metric.
btw, the flash has never been anywhere the screws
could have been replaced. I dunno, screwy huh. |
Dan Mitchell
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 05:50 pm: |
|
I've long suspected that before anyone was allowed to design cameras they had to take a secret oath requiring them to use as much as possible odd size screws, miniature rivets, and hidden, impoosible to reach connectors. That way it was always cheaper to buy a new camera rather than have the old one repaired.
It's just a hypothesis.  |
