Doc,

Now that you have the faulty pin working, you might consider adding a
Firewire to Firewire adapter like the one shown at:
http://www.lindy.com/us/productfolde...0395/index.php

By "permanently" installing this adapter, and then possibly even cementing
it into the damaged socket, you have transferred any future stress and
mechanical wear from the weak and fragile repaired 4 pin connector to a new
(and larger) 6 pin connector which should absorb some if not all of the
punishment better.

The adapter is cheap, adds very little weight or bulk to your camcorder, and
may prevent future damage which may otherwise not be easily repaired using
your prior method.

Smarty

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
...
On 12/03/2006, Doc posted this:
As a follow-up, I got a close-up look with a magnifier and saw a bent
contact inside the port. I ground down the ends of a pair of pointy
tweezers so they'd fit in the channel of the contact and a straight pin
which I bent the end of to allow me to push down on the contact and
managed to manipulate it enough to get it back in line with the other
contacts and am now back in business. I also fiddled with the contacts
on the cable end to make sure they're as even as I can make them on an
eyeball basis, which is to say, straighter than they were out of the
box.

As others have mentioned, after having gotten this close look at how
it's configured, I'm really surprised how flimsy a design it is. The
cable end seems to have way too much ability to wiggle around and
inadequate strain relief given how little margin there seems to be for
the contacts range of motion. I'm surprised I haven't had problems
before this. From now on I'll tape the cable to the body of cam
instead of just letting it hang.

I assume you meant the camera port.

Congratulations on the heroic and successful improvising. It's cool that
you were a successful toolmaker!

Too bad it was needed - I'd say it's not just surprising, but
irresponsible, that it's so flimsy.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Gino)
letters617blochg3251
(replace the numbers by "at" and "dotcom")