PT-015 problems

[maractwin]

I had my first problem ever with my Olympus housing on my recent trip to Fiji. Luckily, it didn't flood. However, the shutter button didn't pop back up after pressing it down. This happened near the start of a dive. It wasn't a particularly deep dive, to about 50 feet. Thanks to the clear housing, I was able to verify that it was dry inside, that this was just a problem with the one control. So I carried the dead rig through the dive.

Once back on the boat, I opened the housing and was able to push the lever back up from inside the housing. The seal and spring were slightly discolored, but I worked them back and forth a few times and decided to try this for the next dive. I also took down a small screwdriver that I could use to pry the button back up if it stuck again. Sure enough, on the next dive while taking about 40 pictures, the shutter lever stuck down about 3 times.

So during the next surface interval, I disassembled that control, cleaned the parts, put in fresh silicon grease, and reassembled it. I was a little nervous about this, as I had never taken this apart and was doing it on a liveaboard boat without access to replacement parts. Luckily, it worked fine for the rest of the trip.

Now I'm chasing down the necessary O-rings to do a complete overhaul on the housing. It's been on about 200 dives over 3 years, so I guess I can't complain. Since there's a minimum order of 100 O-rings, I'll end up with several sets. If anyone else would like one, PM me.

-Mark

 

[f3nikon]

If the shutter feedthru control assembly is the problem, just switch the entire assembly with one that is the same, but you do not use that often. Like maybe the delete buttons or other buttons of little use. If it will last another 3 years you will really save.

 

[DiveBandit]

I'll take a set of the complete overhaul o-rings if the price is reasonable. Once you get them PM me. We'll have to create a thread about this in the classifieds section of the forum so we can give each other "trader rating" points.

Dave

 

[herman]

I would take a couple of sets as well. I have lot of information on the sizes and overhaul procedure if you need that.

 

[maractwin]

I got a list of O-ring sizes and suppliers from an earlier posting in this forum. Of course, no one supplier has all of them, so I have to make multiple orders.

I haven't found which lubricant is appropriate for buna O-rings. For my on-site repair I used the lube for the main door seal, but I know that's a different material and probably uses a different lube. Don't want my O-rings to be slowly dissolving...

-Mark

 

[AlaskaDiver]

I've got a PT-015 and I'd love to get a set of O-rings as well. I too have been working out the quirks with my PT-015. It is a perfect travel camera housing.

 

[Gilligan]

Over the years that I have owned two PT-010 housings I have placed a drop of pure liquid silicone, Trident brand in a spray bottle, on each of the plunger controls on the rear of the housing as well as on the top controls. It seems to have done the job as I have had no leaks and all the controls work smoothly.

 

[cardzard]

I have a brand new pt-015 sitting in the box as a spare but if you guys put together a O-ring kit ill buy atleast 1 set. You can never have to much in reserve.

 

[Dee]

I'll take a couple sets of spare o-rings as well. I've got two PT-15s and have only changed the o-rings on the one I use the most. It's probably about time to do it again.

 

[maractwin]

Several people have expressed interest in O-ring sets. I just want to let you guys know that I haven't forgotten about this. I've got most of them, but am having trouble tracking down the custom size for the mode dial control. I'll have about 12 sets for sale once I've got this last size.

-Mark