Removing film cables from connector from Lumix digital camer

[William Sommerwerck]

I decided there was no way this clamp had any movable
parts. I grabbed the cable and rocked it back and forth
firmly, but not too hard, and it came out.

<smug, self-satisfied, supercilious smirk>

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Then, after reassembly of the rest of the unit, it powered up
with no more zoom error. I guess it was just one of those
things you take apart, put it back together and we'll see
how long it works.

That's good news -- especially after I gave you such a bad time.

I sincerely hope it continues to work properly. Too often, products "play
nice" while you're messing with them, then revert when you leave them.

 

[David]

On Wed, 2 May 2012 13:05:23 -0700, "David Farber"
<farberbear.unspam@aol.com> wrote:

mike wrote:
On 5/2/2012 4:40 AM, Gareth Magennis wrote:
"David Farber"<farberbear.unspam@aol.com> wrote in message
news:jnp67e$r3$1@dont-email.me...
David wrote:
On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:14:12 -0700, "Ted Ladewski"
tladewski@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Trying to remove the film cables from this pc board. There doesn't
seem to be anything obvious that will release the connector. Can
it be as simple as pulling very hard? Any other ideas?

http://webpages.charter.net/mrfixiter/images/Electronics/PCboard-Lumix.jpg

Thanks for your help.

This looks similar to connectors on laptops - not surprisingly. The
cable is probably clamped in place and to release the clamp the
very ends of the connector will move a little bit towards the
cable. This releases the clamp and the cable will slide out
easily. Be gentle, the plastic is not strong! (Dont ask how I
know!!!). David

Hi David,

I am familiar with those connectors that use a sliding mechanism to
clamp the cable in place. Those have been around forever. It
doesn't seem to be designed like that. I've pushed and pulled
gently in every direction and if it isn't one solid piece, I can't
figure it out how to unlock it. --

David Farber
Los Osos, CA



Have a trawl through the Youtube videos on digital camera repair,
chances are there is footage of someone extracting a cable from the
same design of connector.


Gareth.


there are hinged clamps that you need to flip up.
there are sliding clamps that you need to slide out.
If you get them mixed up, you break the connector.
There are at least two types that don't have a clamp.
One has a thicker backing plastic that sticks out far enough to give
you something to push on when reinserting it.
Another is low insertion force and does not have the backing plastic.
You reinsert it by grabbing the two tabs and gently rocking it into
place. You might want to quietly chant a prayer to your favorite
deity while you do it.

The pix doesn't have enough resolution to tell, but the slots in the
top piece and the parting line in the top corners and the metal parts
suggest that the top section might slide back.

In any case, you DO NOT want to kink the cable.

It becomes pretty obvious the second time you do it. ;-)

I decided that there was no way that this clamp had any movable parts in it.
I grabbed the cable and rocked it back and forth firmly, but not too hard,
and it came out. Here is what the camera looked like disassembled.
http://webpages.charter.net/mrfixiter/images/Electronics/Lumix-disassembled.jpg

You can see that there are three receptacles on the pc board. It was very
tricky putting the cables back in (two for the lens, one for the monitor).
Usually, the cables have some reinforcement on the end that you can grab
onto and then push so it seats firmly in the socket. I gave up trying to do
that. This is the thinnest cable I've ever worked with. However, there was
the slightest of ridges at the border between the lightly colored part of
the cable and where the exposed terminals begin. That allowed me get some
advantage. I lined up the cable with the socket and used the pc board to
support it. That was important because the only way to slide it in was to
stick my two thumbnails on either side of the cable where the ridge was and
push it in little by little. After about four attempts I finally got the
monitor to come on but the video was staticky. I then used the same trick on
the cable from the lens assembly and then the picture was normal. Then,
after reassembly of the rest of the unit, it powered up with no more zoom
error. I guess it was just one of those things you take apart, put it back
together and we'll see how long it works.

I had a PC like that once. Had to take all of the bits off the
motherboard every 6 months or so or it would crash like fury! The
story was that heat cycling allowed a little bit of "oxide" to form on
some contacts which gave an intermittent contact. Pulling apart and
reassembling wiped the contacts clean - for 6 months!

David

Thanks for all your replies.

 

[N_Cook]

David Farber <farberbear.unspam@aol.com> wrote in message
news:jns44d$fat$1@dont-email.me...

mike wrote:
On 5/2/2012 4:40 AM, Gareth Magennis wrote:
"David Farber"<farberbear.unspam@aol.com> wrote in message
news:jnp67e$r3$1@dont-email.me...
David wrote:
On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:14:12 -0700, "Ted Ladewski"
tladewski@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Trying to remove the film cables from this pc board. There doesn't
seem to be anything obvious that will release the connector. Can
it be as simple as pulling very hard? Any other ideas?


http://webpages.charter.net/mrfixiter/images/Electronics/PCboard-Lumix.jpg

Thanks for your help.

This looks similar to connectors on laptops - not surprisingly. The
cable is probably clamped in place and to release the clamp the
very ends of the connector will move a little bit towards the
cable. This releases the clamp and the cable will slide out
easily. Be gentle, the plastic is not strong! (Dont ask how I
know!!!). David

Hi David,

I am familiar with those connectors that use a sliding mechanism to
clamp the cable in place. Those have been around forever. It
doesn't seem to be designed like that. I've pushed and pulled
gently in every direction and if it isn't one solid piece, I can't
figure it out how to unlock it. --

David Farber
Los Osos, CA



Have a trawl through the Youtube videos on digital camera repair,
chances are there is footage of someone extracting a cable from the
same design of connector.


Gareth.


there are hinged clamps that you need to flip up.
there are sliding clamps that you need to slide out.
If you get them mixed up, you break the connector.
There are at least two types that don't have a clamp.
One has a thicker backing plastic that sticks out far enough to give
you something to push on when reinserting it.
Another is low insertion force and does not have the backing plastic.
You reinsert it by grabbing the two tabs and gently rocking it into
place. You might want to quietly chant a prayer to your favorite
deity while you do it.

The pix doesn't have enough resolution to tell, but the slots in the
top piece and the parting line in the top corners and the metal parts
suggest that the top section might slide back.

In any case, you DO NOT want to kink the cable.

It becomes pretty obvious the second time you do it. ;-)

I decided that there was no way that this clamp had any movable parts in
it.
I grabbed the cable and rocked it back and forth firmly, but not too hard,
and it came out. Here is what the camera looked like disassembled.

http://webpages.charter.net/mrfixiter/images/Electronics/Lumix-disassembled.

jpg

You can see that there are three receptacles on the pc board. It was very
tricky putting the cables back in (two for the lens, one for the monitor).
Usually, the cables have some reinforcement on the end that you can grab
onto and then push so it seats firmly in the socket. I gave up trying to
do
that. This is the thinnest cable I've ever worked with. However, there was
the slightest of ridges at the border between the lightly colored part of
the cable and where the exposed terminals begin. That allowed me get some
advantage. I lined up the cable with the socket and used the pc board to
support it. That was important because the only way to slide it in was to
stick my two thumbnails on either side of the cable where the ridge was
and
push it in little by little. After about four attempts I finally got the
monitor to come on but the video was staticky. I then used the same trick
on
the cable from the lens assembly and then the picture was normal. Then,
after reassembly of the rest of the unit, it powered up with no more zoom
error. I guess it was just one of those things you take apart, put it back
together and we'll see how long it works.

Thanks for all your replies.
--

David Farber
Los Osos, CA

Whenever I come across non-ZIF ribbon terminations I always wrap about 4
turns of proper cloth reinforced upholstery tape (not duck/duct tape) , half
inch wide, around the ribbon before re-inserting it, and then leaving it in
place

 

[William Sommerwerck]

I had a PC like that. Had to take all the bits off the
motherboard every 6 months or so or it would crash
like fury!

Ditto for the Apple ][. Most of the chips were socketed, and temperature
cycling gradually caused them to work loose. I had to periodically shove
them back down. Skrunch, Skrunch, Skrunch! Not at all prepossessing.

 

[David Farber]

N_Cook wrote:

David Farber <farberbear.unspam@aol.com> wrote in message
news:jns44d$fat$1@dont-email.me...
mike wrote:
On 5/2/2012 4:40 AM, Gareth Magennis wrote:
"David Farber"<farberbear.unspam@aol.com> wrote in message
news:jnp67e$r3$1@dont-email.me...
David wrote:
On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:14:12 -0700, "Ted Ladewski"
tladewski@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Trying to remove the film cables from this pc board. There
doesn't seem to be anything obvious that will release the
connector. Can it be as simple as pulling very hard? Any other
ideas?


http://webpages.charter.net/mrfixiter/images/Electronics/PCboard-Lumix.jpg

Thanks for your help.

This looks similar to connectors on laptops - not surprisingly.
The cable is probably clamped in place and to release the clamp
the very ends of the connector will move a little bit towards the
cable. This releases the clamp and the cable will slide out
easily. Be gentle, the plastic is not strong! (Dont ask how I
know!!!). David

Hi David,

I am familiar with those connectors that use a sliding mechanism
to clamp the cable in place. Those have been around forever. It
doesn't seem to be designed like that. I've pushed and pulled
gently in every direction and if it isn't one solid piece, I can't
figure it out how to unlock it. --

David Farber
Los Osos, CA



Have a trawl through the Youtube videos on digital camera repair,
chances are there is footage of someone extracting a cable from the
same design of connector.


Gareth.


there are hinged clamps that you need to flip up.
there are sliding clamps that you need to slide out.
If you get them mixed up, you break the connector.
There are at least two types that don't have a clamp.
One has a thicker backing plastic that sticks out far enough to give
you something to push on when reinserting it.
Another is low insertion force and does not have the backing
plastic. You reinsert it by grabbing the two tabs and gently
rocking it into place. You might want to quietly chant a prayer to
your favorite deity while you do it.

The pix doesn't have enough resolution to tell, but the slots in the
top piece and the parting line in the top corners and the metal
parts suggest that the top section might slide back.

In any case, you DO NOT want to kink the cable.

It becomes pretty obvious the second time you do it. ;-)

I decided that there was no way that this clamp had any movable
parts in it. I grabbed the cable and rocked it back and forth
firmly, but not too hard, and it came out. Here is what the camera
looked like disassembled.

http://webpages.charter.net/mrfixiter/images/Electronics/Lumix-disassembled.
jpg

You can see that there are three receptacles on the pc board. It was
very tricky putting the cables back in (two for the lens, one for
the monitor). Usually, the cables have some reinforcement on the end
that you can grab onto and then push so it seats firmly in the
socket. I gave up trying to do that. This is the thinnest cable I've
ever worked with. However, there was the slightest of ridges at the
border between the lightly colored part of the cable and where the
exposed terminals begin. That allowed me get some advantage. I lined
up the cable with the socket and used the pc board to support it.
That was important because the only way to slide it in was to stick
my two thumbnails on either side of the cable where the ridge was
and push it in little by little. After about four attempts I finally
got the monitor to come on but the video was staticky. I then used
the same trick on the cable from the lens assembly and then the
picture was normal. Then, after reassembly of the rest of the unit,
it powered up with no more zoom error. I guess it was just one of
those things you take apart, put it back together and we'll see how
long it works.

Thanks for all your replies.
--

David Farber
Los Osos, CA




Whenever I come across non-ZIF ribbon terminations I always wrap
about 4 turns of proper cloth reinforced upholstery tape (not
duck/duct tape) , half inch wide, around the ribbon before
re-inserting it, and then leaving it in place

Thanks for the great tip.
--

David Farber
Los Osos, CA