Mamiya U, battery question

[Doug T.]

Hi All,

I got this little Mamiya a while back, and have been working on it off and on for quite some time.

It takes 2AAA batteries, and of course the previous owner left them in.
What a mess
I managed to get them out, and noticed that one of the contact coils was rotted off.

The coils are located under this board, ( which I re-attached so I wouldn't forget where it goes . I also put a small piece of tape on it to keep things in place.
I can get another by destroying a dollar store radio or flash light, but my question is this.
Is there an alternative to soldering? It's a pretty tiny area to work on.
I'd also like to know if anyone has an idea as to what I can replace the missing shutter button cover with. The original was red, but they always crumble away.
I'd like to get it up and running again as they are pretty rare.
Thanks!!

Doug

[lloydy]

www.circuitspecialists.com/8331-14g.html

Silver Conductive Epoxy - I have used a similar product with excellent results. but it isn't cheap for a one off job.

[Stephen]

Soldering would be the best way, the idea of using the cheap flashlight contacts is good, but before soldering "Tin" the wires with solder, off the work, so that they bond quickly when the solder wire is added to the joint, work with a hot iron with a small tip.
If possible add a dash of electrical grade flux to the joint before adding the iron, the pre fluxed solder wire will work as well, but if you have older lead based solder, even better! latest solders are lead free and melt at higher temperature.
Stephen

[oinori]

For the missing shutter button cover on my Mamiya U I got a set of foam "Ninja" blow darts from the toys aisle at Dollar Tree. Each of the darts has a red suction cup on the tip. I cut off one of the suction cups with an X-Acto knife and then trimmed it to fit in the hole on the top of the camera. If it's trimmed to the right size it will bounce back up after you release the shutter button, just like the original probably did. It functions well and looks pretty good aside from the rough spot in the center where I cut it off the dart.

[daveh]

Welcome, oinori.

I keep all sorts of thing in the hope that they might prove useful at some stage. Now I know what to use all those old suction darts for. I just need the right camera to use them on now!