Help!!1 Bent CF slot pin on a D300

FLYING EYEBALL

One of the center pins is bent and the camera stops functioning as soon as a card meets the pins.

What have you used to bend it back?

ziggy53

FLYING EYEBALL wrote: »

One of the center pins is bent and the camera stops functioning as soon as a card meets the pins.

What have you used to bend it back?

You really need to get the camera serviced. Even if you could get something in the card bay to straighten the pin, it has been weakened and you could probably not be able to get it straight enough to prevent re-bending almost immediately.

It's not a cheap repair but it is worth it to have it repaired, IMO.

Matthew Saville

Are you a hobbyist who doesn't ever plan on taking a truly IMPORTANT photo for the life of the camera? Needle-nose pliers.

Are you a professional? NIKON SERVICE CENTER.

;-)

=Matt=

puzzledpaul

Matthew Saville wrote: »

Needle-nose pliers.

Depends on how far over the pin has been bent / flattened - but highly unlikely to work (imo) unless you've got a pair that are different / longer / thinner from any I've seen/used - and I've got some superb Lindstrom pcb / electronic (use) ones.

Not a task for the faint hearted or clumsy, imo.
If my experience is anything to go by, you'll need several hands, decent light + mag glass / good eyesight etc

Like an idiot (I have certs to prove it) I managed to bend a couple of pins on a new (to me) 1dm3 after only about a week - I reckon a few new words were invented that day

(Winter, cold hands, rush to change cards + small bit of grit on card? + large dose of stupidity)

Whilst the cam worked fine (on sd) I wanted to sort pin issue for obvious reasons - knowing that even if I broke them I still had the sd option.

I worked out the pin dia and pitch and used 2 tools.

One was a dental probe, suitably ground to be thin enough to go between the surrounding pins and be placed under the end of the bent pins to lift them up enough to use the second tool.

Second was a straight piece of steel wire, appropriate dia, drilled though about 0.6 / 0.8mm (pin clearance dia) To create a 'tube' which could be pushed over the pin to bring it upright.

I did all of this with the cam mounted on a heavy tripod / ball head to allow easy positioning etc.

Can't remember the exact dimensions / sizes now as I did this about 18months ago (but still have the tools) - but seem to remember the pin pitch being about 1.25mm / 50 thou (approx)

Both slots have been working fine over the many many frames since.

Fortunately I'm not a pro

pp

Ohiohiker

I don't know how bent your pin is but I repaired mine 2 years ago without any further complications. My pin was bent over to about a 45 degree angle. As a Paramedic I have access to hypodermic needles and found one that slide over the pin and used to straighten the pin. If you know someone in the medical field that could get you and 18g and 20g needle you may try that. Just my $.02 worth.

Matthew Saville

puzzledpaul wrote: »

Depends on how far over the pin has been bent / flattened - but highly unlikely to work (imo) unless you've got a pair that are different / longer / thinner from any I've seen/used - and I've got some superb Lindstrom pcb / electronic (use) ones.

Okay, fine, use a pair of hemostats. That oughta fit. But of course, that wasn't my point. My point was, unless you're insane, don't do it.

(And hey, I'm insane too sometimes. I've completely taken apart a D70 and put it back together, and had it work perfectly. But, for professional use, when you are being paid to capture pictures, it would simply be irresponsible to consider DIY pin-bending to be a long-term solution.

=Matt=

puzzledpaul

Ohiohiker wrote: »

I don't know how bent your pin is but I repaired mine 2 years ago without any further complications. My pin was bent over to about a 45 degree angle. As a Paramedic I have access to hypodermic needles and found one that slide over the pin and used to straighten the pin. If you know someone in the medical field that could get you and 18g and 20g needle you may try that. Just my $.02 worth.

Good call / well mentioned

At the time I also considered this - but no immediate access and - with workshop facilities, prob less hassle than trying to get one, bearing in mind the type of Qs I'd get asked ...

pp

FLYING EYEBALL

update
Waiting to hear back from a local repair shop...

Stuart-M

I had this happen to a Canon 40D a couple of years ago, in the end the service centre was the only way. This is the benefit of SD cards!!!

Toshido

I would try what I read as a fix for CPU pins that get bent.

Try a mechanical pencil. Slide the tube where the lead comes out over the pin and straighten.

Worst case it breaks and you need to send it to a repair shop anyways.