EL 10x42 – I want fixed eyecups! (2 Viewers)

[Limanda]

Hey guys, I have a problem with my EL’s that I’m sure someone else must have encountered.

I use my eyecups on the second to closest level (2/4). With my use I see a lot of rain, sea spray and general debris, so I tend to keep the rainguard on between most uses. When I lift the guard off, often one of the eyecups is twisted outwards. This is quite a nuisance, as the differently adjusted eyecups disturb the often brief bird sightings.

I don't want to use the BGP bino guard, as it does not have enough debris protection. So I ordered a spare set of eyecups and tried to fix them in my preferred setting with soldering. However, the clearance for adding material on the inside of the eyecup was minimal with regards to screw thread contact when reassembling, and with my soldering gear and competence I had to give up on this. I have also tried Loctite super glue, but it did not bind well to the eye cup body and the joint slipped. The glue amount had to be small due to mentioned clearance problems. Further, for a long term solution I am skeptical about glue as quite a bit of torque is put on the joint when unscrewing for cleaning.

Has anyone attempted to fix their eyecups in place? All tips and suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance


PS: I will add one partial solution: I also had the problem of one or both eyecups getting knocked all the way in (my bino use often involves hikes, climbs, river crossings etc., so small body impacts and the like is frequent) I solved this by adding suitable rubber bands right below the top rubber ring, so that the eye cups are barred from twisting in beyond the second level.

 

[Mike Crawley]

I had a different problem with the eyecups on my 8x32 ELs.
My local optics shop replaced them free of charge. I recommend going to a local Swarovski dealer or contacting Swarovski wherever you live for replacements.

Fixing them in place makes no sense, they’re removable to enable cleaning

 

[Limanda]

Mike, my wish is to lock/fix the twist-out mechanism of the eyecup so that it cannot slide in and out. I would of course not lock the eyecup to the binocular body.

 

[Limanda]

To make this clearer, I tried to lock the eyecups from the inside. If you screw an eyecup off, inside you see the twist-out mechanism where a round metal knob is sliding in a track with four levels/ tiers/ detents. If you add too much material inside here to try to stop this mechanism from moving, the eyecups will not screw back on.

edit: I attached a picture sent to me the Swaro dealer who sold me the pair, it indicates where you would "put something" it you wanted to lock the eyepieces in the furthest position. He suggested I try small pop rivets. As I tinkerer I absolutely love the idea. Actually, the current metal knob propably IS a type of rivet.

 

[Mike Crawley]

OK, I assumed that your eyecups were faulty in some respect.

 

[Tringa45]

The mention of soldering and Loctite sent a shiver down my spine!
Perhaps you should approach the problem from the other direction. I consider the hinged plastic rainguard Swarovski supplied with SLCs and EL Swarovisions an abomination, and have a Leica Ultravid rainguard on my 10x42 ELs and a Zeiss FL guard on my old SLCs. They are interchangeable.
If your EL is a Field Pro it might be the rubber protrusions on the inside of the rainguard that are making it hard to get on and off.
Ideal were the old Zeiss oval-style rainguards or you could look at what's available from Opticron.

John

 

[Limanda]

Thanks John, optional rainguards is something I will look into. I don’t think I want epoxy up near my eyes, but I don’t understand why soldering would be a bad idea if I could make it work. I always tweak and customise things to suit me. I don’t see why I should live a long life with a bino that has an unnecessary, bothersome feature. Locking any two pieces together should be possible.

 

[Grando]

What about putting enough rubber o-rings underneath the eyecups to prevent them from being able to be pushed down? (That's obviously only a potential solution if you never want to lower the eyecups...)

 

[GrampaTom]

Hey guys, I have a problem with my EL’s that I’m sure someone else must have encountered.

I use my eyecups on the second to closest level (2/4). With my use I see a lot of rain, sea spray and general debris, so I tend to keep the rainguard on between most uses. When I lift the guard off, often one of the eyecups is twisted outwards. This is quite a nuisance, as the differently adjusted eyecups disturb the often brief sightings.

I don't want to use the BGP bino guard, as it does not have enough debris protection. So I ordered a spare set of eyecups and tried soldering them in place. However, the clearance for adding material was minimal with regards to screw thread contact when reassembling, and with my gear and competence I had to give up on this. I have also tried Loctite super glue, but it did not bind well to the eye cup body and the joint slipped. The glue amount had to be small due to mentioned clearance problems. Further, for a long term solution I am skeptical about glue as quite a bit of torque is put on the joint when unscrewing for cleaning.

Has anyone attempted to fix their eyecups in place? All tips and suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance


PS: I will add one partial solution: I also had the problem of one or both eyecups getting knocked all the way in (my bino use often involves hikes, climbs, river crossings etc., so small body impacts and the like is frequent) I solved this by adding suitable rubber bands right below the top rubber ring, so that the eye cups are barred from twisting in beyond the second level.

The EL rain guards on my EL 1042s were too tight and caused the eyecup setting to change, to include the whole thing coming all the way up, off and flopping onto the ground one time. Solution however is just around the corner.

The NL rain guard!

The NL guard seems to give the same problem with NL binos, but is just smaller enough to be easy on/off when on the EL. I have had not one issue since changing. This after 2 years, several days a week of use....

SwaroNA is very helpful here. Not sure there.

 

[Limanda]

Grando: as you can see from OP I already did this. It is not perfect as it is interacts with any ocular cover going on and off, but it has been a net positive.

GrampaTom: I am pleased to hear someone has dealt with the exact same thing, thank you for your suggestion. I will go and try these. However, it does not change my desire to lock the eyecups up forever and make them... perfect

With regards to Swaro support, they were the first I contacted. I explained the problem and my request in detail, and after a couple of emails back and forth, the support person suggested I try adhesive tape. She did not specify exactly where this tape would go, but it is obviously not a durable solution to my problem in any way. She absolutely refused to put me in touch with anybody in technical/ mechanics, and our conversation ended with the following passage from her:

“There is technically no chance to fix this according to our technicians. They also propose to fix it with a tape.”

This left me pretty disgruntled, having heard other users rave about Swaro support.

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

I have mentioned it before on this forum, but rainguards that are too tight or not very convenient disappear in my case immediately in the dust bin. In the course of time Swarovski and Zeiss and also other companies have supplied rainguards that are much more useful than some of the newest ones, so these are used on our binoculars, the useless new ones become part of our collection of badly designed or useless accessories.
Gijs van Ginkel

 

[GrampaTom]

GrampaTom: I am pleased to hear someone has dealt with the exact same thing, thank you for your suggestion. I will go and try these. However, it does not change my desire to lock the eyecups up forever and make them... perfect

With regards to Swaro support, they were the first I contacted. I explained the problem and my request in detail, and after a couple of emails back and forth, the support person suggested I try adhesive tape. She did not specify exactly where this tape would go, but it is obviously not a durable solution to my problem in any way. She absolutely refused to put me in touch with anybody in technical/ mechanics, and our conversation ended with the following passage from her:

“There is technically no chance to fix this according to our technicians. They also propose to fix it with a tape.”

This left me pretty disgruntled, having heard other users rave about Swaro support.

Limanda,
"This left me pretty disgruntled, having heard other users rave about Swaro support." I get it after others and my experiences. The trick with SwaroNA wasn't much of one. I described my issue with the EL rain guard and the lady offered to send both the SLC and NL versions for me to try. I offered to pay, but they wouldn't take my money. Wonder if you could email with SwaroNA?

 

[Gdavis248]

Grando: as you can see from OP I already did this. It is not perfect as it is interacts with any ocular cover going on and off, but it has been a net positive.

GrampaTom: I am pleased to hear someone has dealt with the exact same thing, thank you for your suggestion. I will go and try these. However, it does not change my desire to lock the eyecups up forever and make them... perfect

With regards to Swaro support, they were the first I contacted. I explained the problem and my request in detail, and after a couple of emails back and forth, the support person suggested I try adhesive tape. She did not specify exactly where this tape would go, but it is obviously not a durable solution to my problem in any way. She absolutely refused to put me in touch with anybody in technical/ mechanics, and our conversation ended with the following passage from her:

“There is technically no chance to fix this according to our technicians. They also propose to fix it with a tape.”

This left me pretty disgruntled, having heard other users rave about Swaro support.

Playing devils advocate here. What were you really expecting them to do though? Throw together a team of their best engineers to design a solution overnight in response to your complaint ala Apollo 13? I mean yes, it's an inherent issue with adjustable eye cups that they move but Swarovski, as a multi million dollar international manufacturer can't possibly engineer a solution for each and every complaint they receive, can they? I mean, I get it, you want your eye cups fixed in place because they move a little bit when you remove the rain guards. It's a slight annoyance inherent in the adjustability of eye cups but you're basically asking for a custom made one-off solution from a company that probably receives hundreds of emails a day for a laundry list of issues.

I just don't see the need to bash a company's service who did their best to help you. You just can't expect them to drop what their doing and seemingly design, engineer, and produce a solution to your specific issue.

Anyway, not trying to be disrespectful but I'm trying to show some perspective on the issue.

 

[Rg548]

I don't like these twist eyecups on my Swaro CL's OR my Meoptas. However I make do as the rest of the bino is so good!
I much prefer a 3 or 4 position click stop like I had on my Conquests.
I've never needed the infinate adjustment of the new style, and always managed just fine with click stop designs.
Over complicated crap in my opinion.

 

[quincy88]

Glue will work. I know you've tried this already but give it another shot. Rough up the area to be glued with a small sanding stick or something. Then use a thinner glue that will really work into the little nooks and crannies. I have every confidence that this can be done.
I use Bob Smith Industries super glues. The Insta-Cure is very thin and will get in to the little crevices pretty easily. This'll allow you to use more glue and get more adhesion.

Insta-Cure | Super Glue | CA

CA adhesive great for balsa wood and ceramics.

bsi-inc.com

 

[quincy88]

Or maybe start with the eye cups in a different position, apply glue, and quickly move the eyecups into the desired position. That could get you more surface area.

 

[Limanda]

Playing devils advocate here. What were you really expecting them to do though? Throw together a team of their best engineers to design a solution overnight in response to your complaint ala Apollo 13? I mean yes, it's an inherent issue with adjustable eye cups that they move but Swarovski, as a multi million dollar international manufacturer can't possibly engineer a solution for each and every complaint they receive, can they? I mean, I get it, you want your eye cups fixed in place because they move a little bit when you remove the rain guards. It's a slight annoyance inherent in the adjustability of eye cups but you're basically asking for a custom made one-off solution from a company that probably receives hundreds of emails a day for a laundry list of issues.

I just don't see the need to bash a company's service who did their best to help you. You just can't expect them to drop what their doing and seemingly design, engineer, and produce a solution to your specific issue.

Anyway, not trying to be disrespectful but I'm trying to show some perspective on the issue.

Your sarcasm is misplaced, and you overall message seems to be “Limanda don’t bother Swarovski with petty customer feedback, they have a lot to do”.

A small part of our correspondence entailed me asking if they offered customization. This would be a standard service ticket asking for the attempted fixation of two pairs of eyecups charging their hourly repair rate (which I believe is 30€). I did not in any way expect them to offer this service, and my email did not insinuate it.

My disgruntlement stems from unanswered/ avoided question (eg. material specs), bogus answers (“our technicians recommend adhesive tape”) and generally bad dialectics. Simple answers like “we can’t help you” would be better received than voluminous, unfocused replies. Low tier customer support “trying to be helpful” is not I want from a premium optics dealer.

Also, this is not a Swaro bashing thread. It is a thread asking for DIY experience/ tips.

On that note... impermanently locking the bridge/ IPD, anyone?

 

[Limanda]

Glue will work. I know you've tried this already but give it another shot. Rough up the area to be glued with a small sanding stick or something. Then use a thinner glue that will really work into the little nooks and crannies. I have every confidence that this can be done.
I use Bob Smith Industries super glues. The Insta-Cure is very thin and will get in to the little crevices pretty easily. This'll allow you to use more glue and get more adhesion.

Insta-Cure | Super Glue | CA

CA adhesive great for balsa wood and ceramics.

bsi-inc.com

Thank you for the tips and encouragement! I see that railway modelling dealers in my area have good Bob Smith assortments. One of them is actually called "welding power", which is pretty much what I'm looking for here. Will make sure to try a thin variety.

 

[Rg548]

Thank you for the tips and encouragement! I see that railway modelling dealers in my area have good Bob Smith assortments. One of them is actually called "welding power", whis is pretty much what I'm looking for here. Will make sure to try a thin variety.

I would be more tempted to go with Black silicon sealant, as it can always be peeled off later.
You could well destroy the potential 2nd hand value of your bins ??
Failing that, perhaps a different brand, ie Leica, Zeiss which won't give you the same problem.

 

[Limanda]

I would be more tempted to go with Black silicon sealant, as it can always be peeled off later.
You could well destroy the potential 2nd hand value of your bins ??
Failing that, perhaps a different brand, ie Leica, Zeiss which won't give you the same problem.

Rg, the eyecup is a replaceable unit. If I manage to lock it in the second level permanently, I can still screw it off and put an unaltered one on. I would keep a spare pair for bino swapping etc.

My dealer gets these eyecups for free from Swaro, and he encouraged me to try to DIY it as he would willingly send me new ones if I messed them up. Non-original purchasers can buy them for about 10€ a piece.