Help is needed EX3 owner takes apart EX3 body and has too many bits left over.
 

Hi guys today saw me take apart my EX3 as there was dust in the viewer ended up finding it was not the lens or the view finder but it was in fact in the body itself below the filters, so I have taken it apart cleaned the lens and filters whilst I am at it and now I have too many pieces left, see the pictures what a idiot I am. I have one spring a black bit of plastic and a black washer, anybody taken the ex3 apart and put back together again, please can you explain where these bits go, I know it is for the filters to stay in place but cant work it out where to put them. Thanks for your time. The reason I do maintenance myself is I am based in Qatar and no sony dealers so warranty is pretty much a waste of time out here. If any of you have a picture that would be really helpful.

Jonathan

Phone up your local Sony repair centre and pray it won't cost you too much.

another picture of the parts which are left over

i tihnk i can see where it goes =- ill do a quick photoshop mock up

here is my thoughts - the spring and washerare used to keep this pushed tight to the right so ull have to figure how the spring it kept under tension

What happens if you try to move ND filter selector? Does the the filter holder just spin freely without detent. If so this may give you a clue as to what the pieces do. Also what is on the other side of the cover plates that you removed?

All the parts come out the dust fragment was right at the bottom, so removed it all and then put it all back in, have to clean the whole lot now bugger. I believe the parts which are left over are used to keep the NDs in a certain place over the bottom lense, The NDs spin when you use the ND button on the camera but dont click into place like they did with the spring inserted.

There is one cover plate then you get this view.

Did you pull these pieces out or did they fly when you took something off?

Did you also remove and then replace the sector gear (that toothed arm looking thing.) or is it untouched?


My guess is the little arm and the spring hook face downwards as drawn by Mat.

It appears that the assembly order might be, ND filter wheel, the hairspring around the lower pivot point on the arm, then the little roller onto the pin on the arm, then the little arm onto the hinge pin on the metal body of the camera while maintaining the spring on the shoulder around the pivot point, the free end of the spring pushed in over the little raised ridge which should push the arm with roller into engagement on the filter wheel cam profile, then the sector gear re-assembled over the top. You will likely have to have a few tries at getting the positions of the gears and the travel of each part to match.

If you can't push or poke the hairspring over the ridge then you might need to pull it through with a loop of cotton thread. Alternatively, it may be that you have to pull the other end of the spring through past the little hook on the little arm then let it return into the hook.

There is a servicing centre in Holland which publishes images of gutsed-out cameras which might have the EX3 posted for download now. I cannot remember the name but there was a link maybe on the PD150 subforum way back. I will beg others with fast internet to look back for it. I'll be up all night if try it.

Short of having a really close look at the gears, the only things I can see which look like matchmarks are small circular marks with a smaller mark inside. However there are two of these on the filter wheel and two on the sector gear. I imagine they would have to lay along a straight line if the gears are all correctly matched. I am guessing wildly here. They could also be trims left over from the injection holes in the mold. I could probably nut this out on my own kitchen table but it is a bit harder over the distance.

An interesting situation to get oneself into! The photo of the spare bits could be a lot better and I would like to see the other side of the arm. It seems likely that all the pieces (spring, washer and arm) fit on the pivot. Detail that is barely discernible in the "spares" photo suggests that the longer leg of the spring fits into a groove on arm. The short leg rests against the raised edge in the casting (adjacent to the pivot). When you rotate the filter wheel it should be obvious where the arm must locate, which arm I presume to be the detent mechanism. Put the arm on the pivot and use finger pressure in place of the spring. If now the filter wheel operates correctly (with stops) you will see how the spring must act and its necessary position should be obvious. I'm guessing that the washer fits within the spring, although it looks a little too large in the photo. It is always a good idea to make careful notes and sketches when taking apart an unknown mechanism (as you realise, now if not previously).

If you're still unable to resolve the assembly it might help us to see a photo of the arm mounted on that pivot, and also much more detail of both sides of the arm. Also how the spring fits to the arm and whether the washer fits as I've guessed.

Thanks guys for all your help going to give it ago later today, camera still works the filters just don't click into place but rather slid, on another note always a positive where there are negatives, good to know each part of my camera just in case I am in the field and there is a problem, problem started on receiving the camera from B&H it had dirt speck on the prism behind the filters, no pro sony dealer for 500 miles and thats a flight away so had to give it ago. Any advice on cleaning filters and glass under the plate? Used a blower did not work then used micro fibres.

Cleaning the optical elements? You were right to start with the blower. Are you saying that you haven't been able to remove the dust? You have to be very careful because these elements, to which Sony hasn't been expecting user access, may have very delicate coatings. Are they glass?

EDIT: I'm informed (by always helpful official Sony Service guys) that the X3 lens mount (this part has the ND filters and front CCD polariser cover attached) is not to be dismantled in the case of fault, but instead replaced. "I haven't done one before and this is a fairly time consuming repair from the look of things. There are no pic's in the manual relating to the front end of the camera being dismantled (as done in this thread)."

So I guess returning the camera to Sony for a repair will incur an expensive bill and you must have a good go at getting it working yourself. Hopefully critical optical alignments haven't been disturbed and I would be very careful with the next steps. The mechanism revealed looks quite simple and I wouldn't expect any problems in getting that re-assembled correctly, but I would caution about further forays. On the other hand, it is always interesting to see what is inside these things and we could encourage you to delve very deeply and post photos of every stage --- not our camera!

Jonathan,
Thanks for publishing this experience. For the benefit of those prone to fiddling, could you explain what position the camera was in when you removed the cover plate? Was the camera pointing upwards or was it directed horizontally? i.e. without the cover plate were the parts kept in place by gravity?
As an aside it is interesting to note that of the six people contributing to this thread so far three are from Australia and two of those are from the same city.

Johnathan,

Without seeing all the parts, or the under side of the mechanism that moves the filters, or whether there are holes in the banana shaped piece, I would guess that the banana shaped piece pivots on the pin pointed to in the attached photo. Does the black washer fit inside the spring? It would then be the black washer, the spring and then the black bar on top, with one end of the spring fitting on a "hook" on the bar and the other end of the spring against a metal protrusion. The other end of the banana shaped bar fitting detents that click as the filters are turned.

Anyhow, that's my take on it from the limited views you have given.


Duane

We agree on that. Your annotated photo is a useful addition to posts further up..