TIP: When applying the seal to the camera groves. Make sure a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol is applied to the sticky part of the new seal. Doing this will prevent the seal from sticking to the wrong place and you have a couple of minutes to make sure it is aligned properly. The alcohol will dry and the adhesive is active again. Thanks
I saw a cool trick where a guy would saturate the adhesive with rubbing alcohol so that as he installed the foam it wouldn't stick to the sides. and as the alcohol evaporated the adhesive would stick to the desired surface
"Then it should be pretty easy from there" famous last words 😂 You can also make the foam a little wet which gives it weight so it stays in the right place and helps stop it from twisting. Just need to let it dry overnight before closing.
A few years ago I had to replace the foams in a few cameras I had and had the same problem as you with the glue backing sticking to everything but the bottom of the groove its meant to stick too 😑. Looked on the net and a fella advised that once the strip covering the glue was removed he put the strip in his mouth for a bit so it was wet with saliva 😮 and said it was super easy to put the strips in and you had time to move them about to get them right and then leave to dry overnight once all done 🤔. It sounds horrendous but I was at my wits end with the sticky strips so I tried his method and it worked an absolute treat 🤗. I know have an OM2n that needs the seals replacing but may try the dip in isopropyl alcohol first as it sounds far more hygienic 😊.
First class tutorial great film work .A pair of needle nose tweezers helps with the placement of the door edge foam you can actually place the foam in the trough with them . Also if you crush a cotton bud and soak in lighter fuel you can get in to clean out the trough Great work .Thanks
Well done for being so honest and also for persevering, I would look at manufacturing a wooden tool from a chopstick or those ones that they use in burgers, to give a flat edge that won’t damage or mark the metal. 🤙
A greater tip as well ? A body cap . Take the lens of the OM body. Cover the opeing with a body cap, Protect the shutter curtain by taping a piece of 35 film over the 24x36 mm frame.
I've replace the light seals for several Olympus OMs and Nikon FE/FM cameras. I had similar problems in getting the sticky edge to 'seat' properly, then I decided to get some light seal foam WITHOUT the glue base - and it works!!! Why? - simple, the door edges forces the foam in and make a *general compressed seal*, which is working fine on all my cameras. It doesn't pop out or even try to. Go try it, no glue to worry about.
excellent advice James and makes sense that it would still hold in there tight without the sticky side. I'll definitely try out a non sticky version next time I replace
I haven't used glue in the channel seals since my first few cameras, and I've done a couple dozen since. Cutting the 1.5-2mm foam rubber at the perfect width can be tricky, as can pushing it into the channels without twisting it, but I've yet to have one fail or fall out.
Cutting the non-sticky foam a little too thick is probably the best way, it all gets compressed anyway. It's worked 100% so far, no problems. Thanks for your reply!
Yes, we can even cut the strips a little too wide, and again, it doesn't matter if the strips become 'twisted' - they simply fill-out the seal space effectively. It's worked for me 100% on several cameras. Thanks for your reply! :o)
A body cap . Take the lens of the OM body. Cover the opeing with a body cap, Protect the shutter curtain by taping a piece of 35 film over the 24x36 mm frame.
EVA foam may be too rigid and not compress to be able to shut the film door. It will work, and any foam will do the job, as long as you can get the thickness just right
