Canolite D flash unit: Fixing the batterycover using 3D printing

Time to write a few lines to this blog and boy has it been a while. Last time I wrote was in October about rooting my phone.

This time I want to revisit an old topic. Over a year ago I wrote about how I fixed my Canolite D flash units battery compartment. The flash became much better but there was still one problem, the battery cover itself was broken. Two little bits had broken off from the cover that used to lock it in place. Since the cover was broken I had to use a piece of tape to hold it in place. This was not a very elegant solution so I started to thinking about how I could fix it.

I had read and seen videos about 3D printing and was terribly excited about this new technology. I saw an advertisement that Sculpteo offered a free 3D print if you registered to their site. I decided to try it and see if the printing resolution would be enough for my project. I placed my order and after a week I got my android key ring. The key ring had pretty elegant and fine structures which meant that there was a fair chance that my project would be successful.

Then it was time to find the tools that I would need to create a 3D model of the battery cover. As a software tool I chose Autodesks 123d since it was (and still is) free software and it would most likely be enough for my purposes. Of course, I also had to pick up a calibre and start taking measurements. After a while started to get a hang of from what kind of shapes the battery cover was comprised of. Then it was time to start playing around with 123d and start putting together an stl-file. There where a few hurdles in figuring out the best way for doing certain things, but mostly the whole process was quite easy. Of course, I had to be very precise. 

Anyway I managed to make an stl-file and uploaded it to Sculpteo. The solidity checker showed that my design was solid enough to survive the printing process intact so I placed my order. 

This is what I got back:

Canolite D: Perfect fit! Success!!

Canolite D: 3D printed battery cover on the left

Canolite D: 3D printed battery cover on the right

As you can see the project was total success. The part fits perfectly to the flash unit. This really proves how cool 3D printing is as a technology. You can manufacture spare parts to stuff have not been in production for a long time and make them usable again. It is not much short of a miracle. 

Now all I need to is load some film to my camera and start taking photos. Yes!!!

Canonet 28 and Canolite D flash

Canonet 28 and Canolite D flash

I was rummaging a closest at my parents place and found an old rangefindercamera that my dad had bought when he was young. I found Canonet 28 rangefinder camera which Canon used to produce between 1971-1976. You can find more detailed information about the camera at Camerapedia. Canonet 28 seems not to be the favourite among vintage camera enthusiast but I find it kinda cool. 

The camera was in full working order. All I need to do was to replace the battery so that the automatic light meter would start working and buy a film. I decided to go for a black and white film to get more artistic effect to my photos. It is funny how expensive film is nowadays. A film roll with 36 shots costs 9,40€. You can get quite a big sd-card with that kind of price.

I am quite excited about trying to shoot with a film camera. You really do not know in advance if your shots are any good. I'm thinking about getting a note book where I would write down the values that I've use. I am really excited to see if my pictures turn out good.

I had a bit of a problem getting the flash working and it took me a while to figure out what the problem was. The problem with the Canolite D, at least in  my case, was the battery compartment was a bit too tight and battery cover was a bit broken (hence the piece of white tape on the flash). When I inserted the batteries in I pushed the battery all the way to the bottom and since the compartment squeezed the battery there was no contact to the lid of the battery compartment. So all I needed to do was not to push the batteries all the way to the bottom and use the lid to press the batteries in place. This enables all the connectors to have a proper connection and the flash work. I hope this helps some one with figuring out and fix their Canolite D.

*EDIT*

I was able to fix the battery compartment of my Canolite D flash unit. Here's an illustration of the situation:

Well there's your problem!

So the basic problem was quite simple. The other wall of the battery compartment had jumped out from the small groove that holds it in place. What I did was even more simple. I unscrewed the screws and pulled the components out (extremely gingerly) just a tiny bit. This gave me enough space to slide the plastic wall into place. Now the batteries slide into place without any trouble. Now I just need to figure out a way to fix the broken cover of the battery compartment.