Fixing Nikon 18-200 Lens

I want to get some lens parts but Nikon Australia will only ship to Australian address.  Would someone be able to order some lens parts for me and then forward them to New Zealand.  If you can help me, contact me to sort out shipping and payment stuff… 

I’ve got a busted up 18-200 lens and need about $30 in parts to get it back to working.  Stupid Nikon New Zealand can’t help me.  Damn small Country.

No worries Tony. PM me.

Awesome, thanks a whole lot.  In case anyone is interested in the insides of a $1000 lens I’ll post some pictures of the fix.

Would love to see pics.

I just pulled apart a ‘Clubman?’ slide zoom lens, for my Nikon, to clean out the mold, putting the thing back together was torture and when I had it all together found that one part was in backwards! - the most internal part of course so now have to do it all again.

That kind of thing always happens with stuff like that and it’s always the bit you have to pull the whole thing apart to get to as well. It doesn’t matter what it is your working on. Camera, car or PC or something like that.

For sure Tony, I would love to see some photos.

Yeap, well when I took it apart the first time to see what was wrong with it I managed to put it back together without the multiplying screw effect where…

Any time you take apart and put something back together you are always left with a few screws.  This can only mean that while the screws were sitting on your table, they multiplied.  So when you put the thing back together you are always left with the few ‘new’ screws

:D
Was to afraid to face the “multiplying screw effect” so I didn’t put it mine the way back together.

Still haven’t got back to that job.

Thanks to the help of our friendly local Boardworld administrator, the parts have finally arrived. 

This is the photo of the offending lens.  Hit the ground on the top left.  The zoom is jammed and the aperture doesn’t work either.  There was lots of rattling around when you shake it as well.  Very luckily, none of the glass was broken.

The tear-down begins… Removed the screw that hold on the lens mount.

Exposed main circuit board.  Removed all connectors and de-soldered connections to the focusing motor.

The internal lens assembly.  The central tower contains the aperture and broken parts.

Central Lens assembly removed.

The broken guide pin and aperture blades.  I had taken the lens apart earlier and reseated the blades that were not bent into oblivion.

The broken blades are removed.  The blade actuator and cap are bent back into shape on the right.  When the lens was dropped, they got wedged between the central and outer lens assembly.  There is a large fracture in the blade actuator but it should still do its job so we aren’t going to replace it.

non mashed up blades.  pretty…

The guide pin should sit in the hole on the left and slot into the guides on the right.  When the lens was dropped, the force ripped it out and stripped the thread. I’m just going to use super glue to fix it back it.  It means that if anything inside the central lens assembly breaks I can’t actually take it apart to get to it.

The guide pin back in its place.  Just have to wait for it to dry.

Luckily this is as far as I have to disassemble the lens to fix all the parts. 
Starting from the top left and going clockwise:
Aperture arm and lens mount
Internal lens mount bit
AF and stabilization switches
Main board
Focusing motor
External Lens assembly
New blades
Central lens assemble
Focusing ring
and in the center… misc screws and position conductors.

Will wait for the glue to dry and then start the reassembly….

Reassembly

Checking the alignment of the rail conductors.  These things help tell the camera the focal length, focus distance and f-stop.

Slotting the central assembly back in.  The focus motor is at the top, out of focus.

Calibrating the focal length track. Two screws in the center of the picture.

Calibrating the focus distance track with the screw tucked away inside the body.  Lots of tweezers work.

Re-soldering the focus motor indicator.  Forgot which wire goes where but luckily it doesn’t matter.

Also forgot to take a photo but was burning a set of candles on the workbench.  If my high school science teacher wasn’t full of crap, this should help kill any spores in the air and help prevent mold in the future.

Will take some photos tomorrow with the lens… Off to bed now.

Woah Tony, that’s awesome! Nice work pulling it all apart and documenting every step of the way. Very interesting stuff. I had no idea what the inside of a camera lens looked like.

Keep us posted…

The glue said 3 day to reach maximum strength but I’m not that patient.
Here’s a really really boring photo with the “new” lens to see the sharpness.

corners are a bit fuzzy but oh well.

When I get around to start taking more interesting photos I’ll post them up.

None of this would be possible without Jeremy…

And also a big screw you to Nikon New Zealand for not selling parts to the public.

Well done Tony.

The lens I pulled down had no electronic connections.

After reading this I might pull apart my modern for a clean.

Jut remember where everything goes and you should be able to reassemble it with no problem.  Taking photos actually helped me remember.

Here is a photo from the other night.  The clouds rolled in over christchurch but was thin enough that the street lights shone through.

Thanks again Jeremy for making this photo possible

Wow! Great photo f@tony!

No worries Tony, awesome photo. I’m stoked it all worked out.