Like Spinal Surgery

You might remember the dent in the lens of Jan’s Panasonic Lumix which happened when she accidentally dropped it shortly after we had purchased the camera in 2014.  The dent in the front of the lens cover meant sometimes the protective shutters wouldn’t fully open, which resulted in half a photo. 

After all these years the camera probably isn’t worth sending to a Panasonic dealer to be repaired.  I’ve decided to have a go myself. 

After ratting through the various containers in the shed I’ve found a range of jewellers screwdrivers, tweezers and a guitar pick.  The phone will be used to take photos in the hope they will assist with the re-assembly.  Magnifying glass because my eyesight these days is rather woeful.  Everything laid out on a pillowslip in the hope I’ll find all the small screws.

The problem with this camera is any work has to be completed using the spinal surgery method.  This is where the surgeon goes to the spine through the stomach.  Well the camera is the same.  The small part I need to access is in the very front and the only way to access it is to remove everything from behind.

Jan’s small pantry storage containers were used to hold the components as I removed them.  The idea being none will get lost and I will have the right sequence to reassemble (well that’s the theory)

The last small front part of the lens is in the middle of the photo above.  I’m still try to work out how it comes apart.  Rather than rush it I’ve taken a break and gone to do something else whilst I contemplate.

Ever since we arrived in this house one of the garden taps in the backyard has been seized and the timber mounting post has rotted.

I managed to disassemble the tap, clean the interior and replace the very perished washer with a ceramic version.  The tap now works.

A trip to the local hardware store resulted in the purchase of a 1200mm steel ‘star’ post.  A block of hardwood offcut was then screwed to the top of the post.  You might have noticed in the photo below that I’ve fitted a second piece of hardwood horizontally across the top of the larger timber block.  If I had left the end grain of the larger mounting block facing upwards to the weather it would start to absorb moisture and rot.  The horizontal piece should delay that process.

The stones around the base were removed along with the remains of the original timber post.  I needed to check where the copper pipe ran because I didn’t want to damage the pipe driving in the steel post.

All finished

Whilst resting after all this strenuous activity I started playing with carefully examining the Garmin Oregon GPS.  There are grey lines across the top of the display.

Where the hell did they come from?  It looks like the screen needs to be replaced!  Then I decided to do more investigating.  By turning the display backlight down to the minimal setting the lines disappeared.

It appears the lines are caused by a fault in the backlighting rather than the actual display.  I wonder if it is possible to fix the backlighting without replacing the screen?  Another project!