[Bonobo]

So I guess I bought a total hack job on Ebay last month. My Vivitar 100mm F3.5 Macro (AKA: 'Cream in a Yogurt Cup') lens literally fell apart in my hands today.
I got this picture of Beetles having an orgy:


then my lens fell into this.



Are there any tips for putting it back together? The optics are still clean and everything seems to be fine except that it's in 3 pieces. I haven't had any luck screwing it back together yet. If no one can help me, I might just push a little harder...with a hammer. I'm covered in mosquito bites from this walk in the park and in a generally foul mood about the whole experience.

[Arjay Bee]

I have this same lens- don't know how to help though - just message of commiseration and will watch this thread in case it happens to me.

[troyz]

Very sad. . . if all else fails you could buy a 49mm macro coupling ring and use the optical part as a +10 diopter close up lens. . .

[Bonobo]

for a little update with a few more details:
i've gotten the focus cover back on to inner most piece that includes the glass elements. I did this mostly with force. (Not sure what to call all these parts.) Now I only have 2 pieces to work with.


The problem now is in aligning the aperture prongs on the two pieces. The lower piece with the k-mount and aperture ring-


The upper piece with the glass elements-


in order to get them together in a working manner, i need to align the aperture prongs in each piece properly. however, since the two pieces have to screw together, i have no idea how to make that happen. to screw the top half onto the bottom, i have to extend the focus to the maximum:


since it's all the way extended, the aperture prongs in the top half are too far away to line up with those on the bottom half.

i'll keep trying.

[Bonobo]

Very sad. . . if all else fails you could buy a 49mm macro coupling ring and use the optical part as a +10 diopter close up lens. . .

i might have to try something like this if i can't salvage the thing all together.

[Bonobo]

believe that i've diagnosed the problem, or at least the original one. The focus piece that notes the 'mag' 'meters' and 'feet' has some play to it. there's two pieces to this part, outer and inner. The outer is what we turn to increase magnification/focus. the inside is grooved to either raise or lower the optics. In my copy, these two pieces move independently of each other some times. it's like opening a child proof Tylenol bottle. I don't know if that's something they all have or just mine. As such, i can turn the outer piece, as if focusing, yet the inside will not turn at the same time.

because of this, the distances and mag notation was way off and told me I had room to focus when I actually did not. I turned the ring too much and unscrewed the optic part from the base. Hence, things fall apart.

if i just superglued the inner to the outer of the focusing piece, would that solve my problem (assuming I could get the pieces together again)? I don't know why they would design it that way as two different pieces. Any help, at this point, is extremely appreciated.

[Bonobo]

so does anyone have any tips or any kind of advice at all (besides the obvious 'beware of ebay')?

right now i just have multiple pieces of plastic and glass taking up a slot in my camera bag.