Take a good photo of the part, pull it into a photo editing program, annotate it appropriately, and then sent it to them via e-mail. That might help.

dont know why i didnt think of that.. thanks don for handling all the "out of the box" thinking for me.. much appreciated :)

I ran across a February 1998 manual for the XL1 stock lens (manual is Canon part # DY8-1510-310-010). The component with the bayonet is called:

"Front glass ass'y"
part number: YG9-5738-000 000
and it appears to be held inplace by 4 small screws.

thank you very much!! fortunately after 2 weeks of this being stuck it just decided to come off last nite... i had it in the vice for like a half an hour last week and then last nite it just came off in my hands... it was weird.. thats for the info though

A bit like the old finger trap toy.

yes.. exactly.. and then it got stuck on my letus35.. i think ill go with another brand of stepdown ring

What make, model, material is it? Others might want to avoid it if it is a rign issue rather than a lens issue..

i hate to namedrop... but i went through some crazy stress over this little hunk of metal.. IMHO it would not be wise to purchase the Fotodiox Step down ring 72-58mm,72mm-58mm. I bought it off ebay for $5