On Wed, 2 May 2012 13:05:23 -0700, "David Farber"
wrote:

mike wrote:
On 5/2/2012 4:40 AM, Gareth Magennis wrote:
"David wrote in message
...
David wrote:
On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:14:12 -0700, "Ted Ladewski"
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/mrfixite...oard-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/mrfixite...sassembled.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.