Aarrgggh ! Disaster ! ED3 - The left eyecup rubber has come loose - solutions ? (2 Viewers)

[Chosun Juan]

Well, ten years faithful trouble free service and it has come to this ! Some steamy Borneo type weather has seen the left eyecup rubber pop off stuck inside the ocular guard.

It looks like it is just an interference fit on the twist up tube with maybe a small lip to fit over the end closest to the binocular body. The trouble is that this rubber seems a bit stretched in the diameter dimension, and now pretty much just spins on the twist up tube, instead of gripping it to twist the eye cup up.

Not really an issue for me, as I'm always wearing glasses. Short of a rare as hen's teeth replacement part - is there anything I can do to permanently shrink the size back down for a tight fit ?

Or should I just chuck a massive tanty and smash the whole thing up against a brick wall ?!?! 😲😤😬





Chosun 🙆

 

[Troubador]

CJ
I used to be in the rubber industry and if one of our rubber seals was stretched for a fairly long time it became permanently stretched but this surely doesn't sound like what happened to your eyecup rubber. This sounds like a sudden one-off event and unless it was a really catastrophic stretch there is hope it will recover. I would gently remove it taking care to not stretch it further and let it rest for a day or two. Don't forget that this rubber component has lived through this kind of event already as it had to be slightly stretched to be fitted on the bino originally and it tolerated this event and then gripped OK. Give it a rest then try it.

Lee

 

[Alexis Powell]

Would it be worth using some rubber cement, or a piece of VHB adhesive transfer film, to bond the rubber to the tube? Both materials are removable/reversible.

--AP

 

[jgraider]

Chinese quality at work. Get rid of the piece of junk like I did.

 

[Steve C]

Alexis is right. All that there is on almost all rubber eye cup rings is some contact cement used to hold the rubber to the metal. Pry the rubber ring out of the rain guard, get some contact cement and apply a small dollop in about three places and re-glue.

 

[Ries]

Glue it back on? Did it with my vanguard endeavor edii which constantly lost an eyecup.

 

[Patudo]

With all due respect to jgraider, a rubber eyecup coming adrift after ten years is hardly a valid reason to "get rid of the piece of junk", especially after it had given good service for ten years. The Swarovski NL that NZ binodude tried developed far more serious issues after a fortnight!

I'd do as Troubador/Alexis/Steve C suggest.

 

[Chosun Juan]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. 👍

The eyecup rubber is currently cooling on a cold sink.
I will add some adhesive before reattaching - I will just check that it can handle the 50°C+ Temps in the summer sun out here, first.

The twist up tube is a finely grooved black anodized aluminium with three opposed brass grub screws protruding through the three diagonal slots with the one intermediate position.





Chosun 🙅

 

[Troubador]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. 👍

The eyecup rubber is currently cooling on a cold sink.
I will add some adhesive before reattaching - I will just check that it can handle the 50°C+ Temps in the summer sun out here, first.

The twist up tube is a finely grooved black anodized aluminium with two opposed brass grub screws protruding through the two diagonal slots with the one intermediate position.





Chosun 🙅

Make sure it is compatible with rubber CJ. Both oils and adhesives can do nasty things to rubber................

Lee

 

[Chosun Juan]

Make sure it is compatible with rubber CJ. Both oils and adhesives can do nasty things to rubber................

Lee

Lee, I will see how it goes just with an interference fit first.

I'm in too much pain for some ridiculous reason (l-o-t-s of swearing today !) to be thinking straight enough to have a detailed look - but if there was any adhesive prior, then it's not obvious to me.

That might not mean much - I can't even work out how the twist-up mechanism works at the moment ! 😁😢

Will see about some pics - maybe next week, after a decompression treatment or two (me - not the bins ! 😁 ) ....



Chosun 🙅

 

[Troubador]

Sorry to hear about the pain CJ. Hope it will reduce soon.

Lee

 

[jgraider]

The "disintigration" of my ED3's started the same way.......eyepieces, then it worked it's way around to the rest of the armoring, which pretty much just started peeling away from the body. No amount of glue and cold water could hold mine together.

 

[Troubador]

The "disintigration" of my ED3's started the same way.......eyepieces, then it worked it's way around to the rest of the armoring, which pretty much just started peeling away from the body. No amount of glue and cold water could hold mine together.

Sounds like some Swarovskis JG, so maybe this issue isn't confined to binos from China.

Lee

 

[dries1]

Are we really comparing a Swarovski to a Zenray?

Andy W.

 

[Steve C]

Are we really comparing a Swarovski to a Zenray?

Andy W.

What he is saying is that anything man made can and will fail at some point

 

[dries1]

Understood Steve, as well as some Zeiss, Leica, Meopta, Nikon etc. etc.

Andy W.

 

[jgraider]

Sounds like some Swarovskis JG, so maybe this issue isn't confined to binos from China.

Lee

That's laughable at best.

 

[Patudo]

Sounds like some Swarovskis JG, so maybe this issue isn't confined to binos from China.

Lee

Not just Swaros. Imagine the reaction if the following comments had been made about a year-old Zen-Ray...

I've noticed that water can sometimes can either get close to or will actually seep under the rubber armor surrounding the objective lens during a hard rain. I noticed this when I was cleaning off rain and saw more water appear from the edges. When I noticed this, I tried maneuvering the flexible end to see if my eyes were playing a trick on me and I noticed I could have very easily pulled back the rubber armor.

Chosun - if the rubber armour does start coming off your binocular and can't be glued back, you could get them re-covered as this gent did with his 7x42 Dialyt. Faux croc leather would be hard-wearing and lend the binoculars a great outback vibe!

 

[Troubador]

What he is saying is that anything man made can and will fail at some point

Understood Steve, as well as some Zeiss, Leica, Meopta, Nikon etc. etc.

Andy W.

Exactly. If it can happen to the best it can happen to any brand.

Lee

 

[PeterPS]

Well, ten years faithful trouble free service and it has come to this ! Some steamy Borneo type weather has seen the left eyecup rubber pop off stuck inside the ocular guard.

It looks like it is just an interference fit on the twist up tube with maybe a small lip to fit over the end closest to the binocular body. The trouble is that this rubber seems a bit stretched in the diameter dimension, and now pretty much just spins on the twist up tube, instead of gripping it to twist the eye cup up.

Not really an issue for me, as I'm always wearing glasses. Short of a rare as hen's teeth replacement part - is there anything I can do to permanently shrink the size back down for a tight fit ?

Or should I just chuck a massive tanty and smash the whole thing up against a brick wall ?!?! 😲😤😬





Chosun 🙆

Ten years of intensive trouble-free service for a MiC pair (the ZenRay are CJ's only binos)----imo that's actually the big surprise, and you should be grateful for that, CJ.