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How much to fix broken ED50 mounting socket? (1 Viewer)

M

MacGee

Well-known member
The threaded mounting socket on my ED50 has come unsprung for some reason. I can't get it fixed under warranty because the 10 year guarantee isn't transferable and I bought mine on eBay. I can get a quote for the repair, but those lovely people at Nikon UK say they'll charge for the quote if I don't then get the work done. Does anyone know how much this repair costs?

Michael
 
MacGee said:
The threaded mounting socket on my ED50 has come unsprung for some reason. I can't get it fixed under warranty because the 10 year guarantee isn't transferable and I bought mine on eBay. I can get a quote for the repair, but those lovely people at Nikon UK say they'll charge for the quote if I don't then get the work done. Does anyone know how much this repair costs?

Michael
Click to expand...

needs a new helicoil fitted, you can get them and fit them yourself , or a engineer will fit one for you. the coil itself is cheap enough. but the fitting kit is not.
 
If the issue is that the metal helicoil has come unwound from the plastic threaded socket, I'm fairly sure you can fix it yourself for about $1.50 by removing the metal bit completely, then replacing it with a 3/8 to 1/4 inch thread adapter insert (available from most camera stores).

--AP
 
Thanks to you both. I'll try taking it into my local camera shop and see what they say, though it is a Jessops. I took a couple of pictures to illustrate the problem. In close-up it looks like it's been blown up.

Michael
 

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Ugh, that looks a bit worse than I was imagining, but my solution might still work. If it won't...well, I know Nikon charged quite a bit for this repair in the past in the UK. By now it has been firmly established on this forum to be a design flaw that should be fixed under warranty, but you say you got it used, and I guess you also don't have the no-fault coverage (regardless of whether original owner) that we have in the USA. If you're at all handy, rather than paying someone for repair, I'd suggest finding a 1/4 inch female threaded insert and using a high quality epoxy to bond it in place.

--AP
 
It's hard to work out what has happened to it. I assumed it was just the metal helicoil which had come out but it appears to be more complex than that. I will have a look at mine some time to see if I can make what has gone wrong.

Michael. It would be useful for the rest of us ED50 owners to know the circumstances in which the mounting came adrift. Were you carrying it on the tripod at the time or did it come out when you were attaching it? It does seem to be a flaw in the design.

Ron
 
Jessops didn't have an adapter, but I've ordered one on the Internet. Could conceivably arrive on Saturday, or more likely Monday. Now I discover the disadvantage of only having the one telescope.

Alexis, I'm not in the least handy, but if the adapter fails, I'll give the epoxy a go. I had been thinking along those lines already. Glue is usually my only strategy when something breaks.

Ron, I was picking the tripod up by the legs, so that the scope was exerting the maximum leverage when it sprung. I have an old, rather rickety, tripod which tends to gradually unscrew itself from the scope. Maybe that contributed, or the fact that I often have to tighten it. I don't really know.

Michael
 
I got one of these, but it seems too big to fit into the socket on the scope. Is this the wrong adapter, or am I doing something else wrong?

Thanks for all your attempts to help me and sorry for being so dim.

Michael
 
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MacGee said:
I got one of these, but it seems too big to fit into the socket on the scope. Is this the wrong adapter, or am I doing something else wrong? The other thing I've seen is the third item down, under 'Small Adaptor.' Is that what I need?

Thanks for all your attempts to help me and sorry for being so dim.

Michael
Click to expand...

No, I don't think you're being dim--I've probably given you inaccurate advice. I've had some photo items in the past (and I think several from Nikon) that are converted from 3/8 to 1/4 inch threading using a helicoil or similar, so my assumption has been that that is how the ED50 socket was constructed. If the adapter doesn't thread correctly into the socket after removing the silver colored metal helicoil, you'll either have to buy a helicoil installation kit or pay someone to do it. Or drill out the hole a tiny bit and use epoxy....?

--AP
 
The metal insert in the Nikon ED 50's base is, as far as I am aware, a helicoil-commonly used in engineering to repair stripped threads in soft metals such as aluminium alloys.

The thread conversion adapter in Alexis' thread is not the same thing unfortunately, and is designed to convert 3/8" threads to the smaller 1/4" sized threads, commonly found on scopes and cameras. They are designed to be removable, whereas helicoils aren't.

It's a shame Nikon designed their 50mm scopes in this way, as it has been found to be a weak spot in the design (several posts on here over the past year or so about helicoil inserts coming out). It would have been better if they had designed the scope with a threaded metal foot IMHO. I believe some people have found that they can just screw the insert back into the housing, but in this case it looks to be more complex.

If it were me I wouldn't be considering a botched repair with epoxy resin or a DIY helicoil repair. If you get it wrong you could be looking at a new scope! Perhaps better to bite the bullet and get a proper quote from Nikon. If it turns out to be beyond economical repair, would a claim on the home contents insurance be impossible? (You would only need a new body as I presume the EP is fine). If so, get a confirmatory letter from Nikon stating the problem.

Steve.
 
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SteveClifton;1390633It would have been better if they had designed the scope with a threaded metal foot IMHO.[/QUOTE said:
The mistake seems to be in putting a helicoil into a plastic foot. The tripod socket of all the Nikon Fieldscopes and many Nikon lenses etc use these helicoils, yet are reliable--but those helicoils have been installed into aluminum alloy feet, not plastic.

--AP
Click to expand...
 
I had a look at my scope but I can't make out what the black collar at the top of the helicoil is. I think it might be some sort of insert to take the helicoil but I don't know how it is fitted into the foot. It would be nice if it were a 3.8'' thread and could be unscrewed so that the metal converter could replace it but I bet that is not the case!

I am inclined to agree with Steve. If it were my scope I would be loath to start drilling holes and using epoxy which would reduce the future resale value of it severely. I would rather pay to get it fixed properly, provided the cost was not extortionate. I suppose that brings us back to your original query about how much it would cost for a professional repair.

Ron
 
NoSpringChicken said:
I had a look at my scope but I can't make out what the black collar at the top of the helicoil is. I think it might be some sort of insert to take the helicoil but I don't know how it is fitted into the foot.
Click to expand...

The whole plate surrounding the tripod mount hole is made from plastic and is held on to the foot by a few dabs of glue unfortunately. Mine has popped off a few times when removing it from my Gorilla pod!

Rick
 
Update

I accidentally dislodged the plate on the base of the shoe and it looks as if the shoe is attached to the scope by one large central screw and 4 small ones. This made me wonder if there could be an easy fix after all. I discovered that Nikon has a repair centre in Glasgow and I decided I would phone the place today and ask about it. My idea was that, if they said that they could replace the shoe easily, I would try the drilling/gluing procedure, knowing that if it failed, I could still take the scope to Glasgow for a repair.

So last night just before going to bed, I made preparations for doing the job, ready for the morrow. Then I thought what-the-hell, and set about doing it there and then. Late at night, dog-tired and not thinking straight. Clearly ideal conditions for a tricky repair.

I very gingerly drilled out the socket using a brace-and-bit. Any damage to the shoe could be fixed by replacing it with a new one, but drilling into the scope itself might be fatal. Gluing the adapter in wasn't too easy, because it's all thread and no flat surfaces, but did my best. Then I taped and rubber-banded it to hold it together while it set for 16 hours.

Tonight I tried it out. I screwed the connector in and out a few times and tried it on the tripod a few times and it seemed to be pretty solid. I'll have to see how it survives being used. It may even be stronger than the wimpy part it replaced, but I don't think I'm going to be as fearless with it as I was with the original. Not for a while anyway.

Michael
 
Brilliant work, Michael, I´d have gone for a similar DIY solution. Since reading your thread, although I´ve never had any problems with my ED50 tripod adapter, I´ve put a loop of Duct-Tape around the body to secure the tripod-plate in place. It doesn´t look pretty, but it stops anything from coming loose.:t:
 
From your photo, looks as if the top thread or so has pulled out which suggests that the screw was only engaged a turn or so. The insert is, in the end, only a length of wire and does not spread the load into the hole unless the scew has decent length of engagement.
Conventional wisdom is 3 full threads minimum.
Might be worth checking/improving to avoid repetition, whether damage to helicoil, insert, screw or whatever.
 
pluvanut said:
From your photo, looks as if the top thread or so has pulled out which suggests that the screw was only engaged a turn or so. The insert is, in the end, only a length of wire and does not spread the load into the hole unless the scew has decent length of engagement.
Conventional wisdom is 3 full threads minimum.
Might be worth checking/improving to avoid repetition, whether damage to helicoil, insert, screw or whatever.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Paul. I do screw in the quick release insert fully, but it does tend to unwind itself. Maybe that's another reason for getting a new tripod? Mine is probably about thirty years old.

Michael
 
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Sancho said:
Since reading your thread, although I´ve never had any problems with my ED50 tripod adapter, I´ve put a loop of Duct-Tape around the body to secure the tripod-plate in place. It doesn´t look pretty, but it stops anything from coming loose.:t:
Click to expand...
Thanks, Sancho. I had the scope out on Saturday for its first proper trial. I didn't go as far as putting duct tape on it, but I did connect it to the tripod with a sort of cord contrivance, so that if the socket were to catastrophically fail, the scope wouldn't crash to the ground. In fact the scope worked perfectly and I even got a lifer— the Green-winged Teal that's been causing much excitement in these parts.

Michael
 
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Update

In fact my first glue job wasn't good enough. The tripod screw wasn't screwing all the way in—just a couple of turns—because the adapter was too deep in the socket. I was also aware that, trying not to gunge up the adapter thread, I had been a bit scanty with the epoxy. I was convinced it would fail, probably at the worst possible moment. So I screwed my courage to the sticking place and screwed in the quick release thingy with some force and sure enough the whole thing came free.

Plan B. I glued a plug into the socket, then glued the adapter on top of that, using a liberal amount of epoxy.

I've been using the new improved version pretty heavily for almost a month now and it's held up well. One bonus is that the scope stays firmly seated and no longer gradually unscrews itself as it used to in the days of the helicoil. I've come to have confidence in the repair—though I haven't taken the safety cord off yet.

Michael
 
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