Olympus PT020 housing strobe mount damage

[imkennedy 0]

I have an Olympus PT020 housing with 5060 camera and an Inon 2000 strobe with ultralight systems arms. On a trip a couple of weeks ago to the Poor Knights Islands in N.Z. the mount for the strobe arm on the bottom of the PT020 housing was damaged somehow (maybe rough handling by the boat crew but I do not know). The strobe attaches via a screw to a metal plate on the bottom of the housing. After it came lose, I found that the design is very poor. The weight of the arm and strobe, when attached to the mounting plate, is taken by 4 small screws that attach to 4 plastic mounts that are molded into the housing. There is no reinforcement of the plastic mounts, and in my case, the load served to crack at least one of the mounts, making the strobe unusable. It seems to me that this is a very weak setup. The section under the mounting plate should have been molded as one solid piece. Even then, the 4 small screws do not seem sufficient to take any load or shock from mishandling. I have thought of wiring the screw mounts back together and then adding epoxy around the 4 mounts to strengthen them, after exploring insurance and other options first.

 

Has anyone had a similar problem and have any bright ideas for a fix?

[RogerC 4]

Only one of the 4 screw holes is bad? it may still be OK.

 

I try to handle my rig by the strobe arm, so the plastic stuff only has to take the weight and torque of the camera itself. If you hold onto the camera, the strobe and arm can put a lot of torque into that mount.

[imkennedy 0]

That is certainly the best way to handle it. But when it leaves my hands and is taken by one of the dive boat crew, who knows how it might be handled. I have thought of adding a sign on the strobe or somewhere about where to hold the rig, and not to hold it by the camera. I do not know if that would do any good in the heat of the moment as 10 divers come back aboard. I wish it were a bit more rugged.

[reefwalker 2]

I recently had a customer with a broken mount at the bottom of his PT-020 after some rough handling by the owner (promise not to reveal names). We repaired it by removing the chrome plate (undo 4 screws) and filled the void behind the plate with SIKALFLEX 221 sealant and then screwed everything back together. The Sikaflex takes around 24 hours to reach max strength. It was working fine after the one day wait and was in my opinion stronger than before, plus the sikaflex has some flexibility so is unlikely to crack the acrylic again. It was a radical repair, but the housing was un-useable (with a base plate) without it. Its worth a try!

 

[apete 1]

I have the same problem (broke it at home when I was going to fix something that didn't really need fixing) and repaired in a way similar to what reefwalker did.

 

Actually I've repaired it several times. Each repair has only lasted a handfull of dives - except the last one...

 

I've tried several types of glue (not sikaflex 221) but I don't remeber the name of what I used for that last repair. As far as I know you should look for a glue containing a solvent called "diklormetan" or "metylenklorid" (chemical names in Swedish). This is not a healthy substance. In Sweden it is only available for industrial use under a license.

[imkennedy 0]

I have done a web search for adhesives that are compatible with polycarbonate plastic and it seems that an Araldite 2041 or 2042 might be suitable. Check the compatibility chart at

 

http://www.mfcomposites.com/20002.htm

 

They can also bond to primed stainless steel which the metal base plate is probably made of.

[ce4jesus 1]

I'm by no means an expert on this but I've used JB-Qwik Weld from the local automotive store to repair just about everything including the sensor bracket for my depth finder. The stuff is a fast setting epoxy that's as tough as nails. The bracket repair lasted until the sensor hit something else in the water. I simply repaired it again with the same stuff. I've even fixed a car radiator with it and it has lasted about 2 years.

[mikedive 0]

Hi ,

I have repaird this problem several times for my coustomers ...... I unskrew the 4 skrews mill away the fixing tubes and close the holes in the foot drill 2 holes trough put 2 pinns 2 mm ainless steel inside going trough the foot set 4 new M2 skrews with 4 M2 nuts in and filled all up with a epoxi resin long hardener for low temperature so it is imposible to destroy it again ...... I prever not to use any glue which is agressive to the PC material little cracs will apear and this is the end of the housing and PC is s problematic material to glue and the surface is very fine so no adhesive glue will lit a long time if it is a to hard glue you will get probs cause of the temperature movement of PC .... so fix with mechanical and trough form.

 

Michael

[reefwalker 2]

The sealant I used is not actually an epoxy or glue, it is an industrial sealant for bonding metals and plastics that is flexible. It is like a silicon sealant - but higher strength and when dry is like a very hard rubber. Most bus/coach manufacturers use it to hold the panel work and roofs on buses - thats how strong it is! It will not react with the acrylic on these housings and has enough flexibilty and strength to last a long time.

 

[mikedive 0]

Hi ,

I think it is a polyouretane based sealent we kow here in germany sikaflex too and all car frontwindows are glued with such stuff but you have to proof there is no PC harming material inside I can buy it in every camping and mobilhome store.

it is available in different colors most black and white..... next time I will buy one to do some testes about harm and fitting on PC materials

 

Michael

[reefwalker 2]

Hi Mikedive

Sikaflex 221 is not a windscreen sealant. It is a structural adhesive. It is available in most countries. But rarely as a retail sale item. Normally only used in bus & coach manufacture or boat building/construction. The tubes are marked "Not for Retail Sale".

[Larry C 24]

http://www.drwsupplies.com/Bonding/10-105.htm