Rubber pieces fall off my cameras? My solution

[Robert Watcher]

Early this year the rubber grip on my E-M1 finally came right off while working. I threw the piece in my camera bag and started looking on forums and YouTube for solutions. Then I started worrying that I may end up using the wrong glue - that it might melt the plastic body - that the glue may get into wrong places like the little speaker holes, screw holes - etc etc etc. I heavily favored using contact cement as I was familiar with that process. I talked to couple of friends who loved fixing computers and appliances, and they had a million ideas for special glues they could order in to fix it. Needless to say, I was worried and overwealmed. So for much of this year, I just left the rubber piece off so I wouldn’t lose it. The camera worked perfectly fine this way.

Well a couple of months ago, the little rubber thumb grip on the back of my E-M10 fell off while working. I managed to find it on the ground fortunately. I stuck it in my camera bag so I wouldn’t lose it, and have continued using the camera without it. It hasn’t been a big deal. These are both older cameras with heavy use in crazy hot and extreme environments.

A month ago while my wife and I were in a Dollar Store here in El Salvador, I came across a supply of Super Glue. The only time I have ever used Super Glue in my life, was with flesh - to hold together a deep split on the end of my finger that would not allow me to play my guitar leads at a gig. I don’t know why I was so afraid of using it. I figured I had nothing to lose by trying it on the grips of my cameras.

It was crazy simple DAH. It took a matter of minutes to run a thin bead of glue on what looked like the important areas of the rubber that would be contacting the body, reattach each grip and push down for a short period of time. The attachment was successful. It has only been a few weeks since this fix - but I am using these cameras harshly every day, and the rubber pieces are firmly fixed to the camera bodies. If the glue releases in the future, I’ll just reattach in the same manner - or I may carefully try the contact glue method as an alternative.

I’m not a doctor, so use at your own risk. LOL

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[Mack]

We used Pliobond in the camera store with customer's cameras or used trade-ins. Had a box of cotton balls and a drug store bottle of alcohol to clean off the surfaces, followed by the Pliobond which is a contact adhesive. It remains flexible and can be removed if needed.

Amazon.com: Customer reviews: RUSCOE P141 1oz Pliobond Adhesive Ours was in a bottle and had a brush as we used a lot of the stuff.

If it was a good customer, or a slow day, we'd use some shoe polish and a Q-tip and dab the leather and wipe it all off (..well). Made it look like new and the owner was happy.

 

[Zeus1]

Yep, did the same with the thumb rest of my first OMD Em5. After the application, the thumb rest stayed in place >2 years.

 

[PakkyT]

Early this year the rubber grip on my E-M1 finally came right off while working. I threw the piece in my camera bag and started looking on forums and YouTube for solutions. Then I started worrying that I may end up using the wrong glue - that it might melt the plastic body

FYI, but to the best of my knowledge both cameras' bodies are magnesium alloy, not plastic.

Not sure if you can find it where you are but another option is Sugru ...
Home | Sugru
which is a moldable rubber type compound. It is excellent for both hot and cold applications and you can mold it into lots of shapes. I have used it to do things like add extra grip points on cameras and to "enhance" some buttons that I want to be able to better ID through feel without looking by adding an extra bump or dot onto.

 

[Robert Watcher]

“FYI, but to the best of my knowledge both cameras' bodies are magnesium alloy, not plastic.”

You are right. I was describing my crazy thinking at the time. Not very logical LOL

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[Apollo T.]

I’m a bowler and can tell you that the finger inserts, which take alot of abuse, are held in place by 3 tiny drops of crazy glue. These are squeezed, grabbed and pulled on every time a ball is use (approx. 1000 times per season). Terrific stuff- just be careful to NOT get it on your fingers as this will instantly glue them together for a few days.

 

[Matt Drown]

This camera store - Luton Camera Repair Services Ltd. - sells the rubber bits with factory double-sided tape if you are interested. I used it to replace the thumb rubber on my Pen-F, but they have EM1 grip listed, and appear to be able to source other camera models without a problem. Will ship to US/Canada (& UK/EU), and not the cheapest, but if your superglue fails for some reason in the future, figured it should be in the thread.