[Dabber]

Sorry, Mr Moderator. This is in the wrong thread, I know. But I've spent the last half hour or more trying to find a general "Start a thread" link. Then I found this one, but don't have a Pentax K-3. I DO have a K-01 and perhaps that is near enough! Could you can move the thread for me? Thanks.


I have been trying to find a thumbscrew for my Swivi viewfinder. (Called a thumb knob in some countries, I gather).


I dropped one of the two that hold the viewfinder hood to the camera bracket and can't find it. The reversible piece that turns round to attach it to the tripod socket. (Is that clear?).
I'm guessing it is a 4mm thread!
The Swivi and associated website don't seem to offer spare parts. And DIY shops don 't have them as small as 4mm (apart from trade-only ones which have a wider variety but don't seem accessible to amateurs).
I have done searches for topics on this forum but didn't find one about replacement thumbscrews. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you solve it?


I should say I lost the thumbscrew at home, not in long grass, etc, on location so I'm amazed I can't find it. Of course, it will turn up as soon as I can buy a new one. If I can!

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Last edited by Dabber; 11-06-2014 at 05:46 AM. Reason: to add an alternative name of the item

[LensBeginner]

Sorry, Mr Moderator. This is in the wrong thread, I know. But I've spent the last half hour or more trying to find a general "Start a thread" link. Then I found this one, but don't have a Pentax K-3. I DO have a K-01 and perhaps that is near enough! Could you can move the thread for me? Thanks.


I have been trying to find a thumbscrew for my Swivi viewfinder. (Called a thumb knob in some countries, I gather).


I dropped one of the two that hold the viewfinder hood to the camera bracket and can't find it. The reversible piece that turns round to attach it to the tripod socket. (Is that clear?).
I'm guessing it is a 4mm thread!
The Swivi and associated website don't seem to offer spare parts. And DIY shops don 't have them as small as 4mm (apart from trade-only ones which have a wider variety but don't seem accessible to amateurs).
I have done searches for topics on this forum but didn't find one about replacement thumbscrews. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you solve it?


I should say I lost the thumbscrew at home, not in long grass, etc, on location so I'm amazed I can't find it. Of course, it will turn up as soon as I can buy a new one. If I can!

Hello, in order to post in the proper thread you should click on a forum title, and when you're in there, like:
Pentax K-01 - PentaxForums.com
click on the "New Thread" button, it's top left.
K-01 forum is a sub-forum in "Pentax Cameras", "Pentax Mirrorless Cameras", "K-01"
This I believe belongs to "Camera Help Central", "Troubleshooting and Beginner Help".

I've sometimes used normal screws with a reversed wingnut instead of thumbscrews, sometimes I even solder it to the bolt.
This is what I mean:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDE0WDc1MA==/z/j98AAOxyLm9S~fdz/$_35.JPG
Because it's easier to find bolts than thumbscrews.

[VoiceOfReason]

Thumbscrew... torture... heh.

[vonBaloney]

Look for thumbscrews as computer parts, not camera parts, you'll find one...

[Dabber]

Thanks for those replies:
LensBeginner: I was thinking of a Swivi thread/forum or one for viewfinders, rather than a K-01 one. Just happened to be that the K-3 forum was near to my camera. I didn't try the K-01 forum .
Voice of Reason: You got the pun. Excellent! ;-)
von Baloney: Wow. That's a lot of computer parts. I would have bought a new camera or Swivi in the time it would take to browse them.

[promacjoe]

Get yourself a large magnet, with a handle from the hardware store. Hopefully no one has vacuumed since you lost your thumbscrew. That's what I use. I have found needles that my mother has dropped and even very small detent balls that role under things. If it's magnetic and You come close to it, you will find it.

[Dabber]

Get yourself a large magnet, with a handle from the hardware store. Hopefully no one has vacuumed since you lost your thumbscrew. That's what I use. I have found needles that my mother has dropped and even very small detent balls that role under things. If it's magnetic and You come close to it, you will find it.

I've been on my hands and knees with a torch in the general area of where I last had the thumbscrew, looked under furniture, emptied things it could have fallen in to - all without any luck. I even thought of buying a metal detector. (No, not really).
I have now rediscovered a website address for GGS (?) who make Swivi viewfinders and have e-mailed them to see if they do stock spares, or can give me details of the thumbscrews they use and, presumably, buy from general DIY stores. I await their reply.

---------- Post added 11-06-14 at 05:46 PM ----------

I've been on my hands and knees with a torch in the general area of where I last had the thumbscrew, looked under furniture, emptied things it could have fallen in to - all without any luck. I even thought of buying a metal detector. (No, not really).
I have now rediscovered a website address for GGS (?) who make Swivi viewfinders and have e-mailed them to see if they do stock spares, or can give me details of the thumbscrews they use and, presumably, buy from general DIY stores. I await their reply.

LensBeginner
I've just had a look at your screw and wingnut idea (http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDE0WDc1MA==/z/j98AAOxyLm9S~fdz/$_35.JPG) but it wouldn't work on the Swivi viewfinder I have (the Foldable LCD 3.0X model) as the thumbscrew goes into the viewfinder body. No way to use a wingnut. Perhaps you just meant generally.
See this video for an idea of the viewfinder: New Gear – Swivi LCD View Finder .
By the way, when I referred to a tongue in the camera baseplate, Swivi call it a tab.
I am not a salesman for Swivi! Just a delighted user of the viewfinder - with a screw loose (or a thumbscrew missing).

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Last edited by Dabber; 11-07-2014 at 02:53 AM. Reason: link to YouTube video didn't work

[Dabber]

Problem solved!
I have found the missing thumbscrew. When I dropped it - and it shot off into thin air (what is thin air?) - I was turning the tab bracket round to put the camera and viewfinder into an old camera bag that I use for storage. The two items won't go in when they are assembled. Too long.
I heard the thumbscrew bounce across the desk top but couldn't see where it had landed. It is a kneehole desk with two plinths of drawers. I had removed the bottom drawer previously on the relevant side but looked in vain for the thumbscrew.
The four sides of each plinth have a cut out at the bottom (to create four feet at the corners, I suppose).
I decided to have another look and saw something on the patterned carpet. I was wearing my reading glasses (as I must have been previously) and so wasn't sure. But in the correct glasses I saw that it was the missing thumbscrew.
After it had dropped off the desk it must have bounced or rolled and gone through the cut out and into the plinth.
So all's well that ends well.
PS: LensBeginner. Sorry to have declined your comment about a wingnut on an ordinary screw (a machine screw?). If a thumbscrew can be used without a wing nut so can a machine screw. Except that the head is almost the same size as the threaded area. The thumbscrews have a one centimetre head and three millimetre threaded area.

[LensBeginner]

*snip*

LensBeginner
I've just had a look at your screw and wingnut idea (http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDE0WDc1MA==/z/j98AAOxyLm9S~fdz/$_35.JPG) but it wouldn't work on the Swivi viewfinder I have (the Foldable LCD 3.0X model) as the thumbscrew goes into the viewfinder body. No way to use a wingnut. Perhaps you just meant generally.

Yes, it's a solution I've used in the past but not on a Swivi.
I'm considering myself the purchase of one such devices, after trying a viewfinder magnifier at Yodobashi Camera I decided that I want it bad!!!

Problem solved!
I have found the missing thumbscrew. When I dropped it - and it shot off into thin air (what is thin air?) I was turning the tab bracket round to put the camera and viewfinder into an old camera bag that I use for storage. The two items won't go in when they are assembled. Too long.

All's well what etc.!

PS: LensBeginner. Sorry to have declined your comment about a wingnut on an ordinary screw (a machine screw?). If a thumbscrew can be used without a wing nut so can a . Except that the head is almost the same size as the threaded area. The thumbscrews have a one centimetre head and three millimetre threaded area.

No problems, was just suggesting an alternative solution.
See, the head on an ordinary screw/bolt is little. If you mount a wingnut reversed (and maybe with a little filing...), it will grip on the head, and you'll have a much larger and handier surface to grip on (i.e. the wingnut instead of the head).
A little soldering usually mates the two together so they don't move.
But, whatever works!

[Dabber]

I'm considering myself the purchase of one such devices, after trying a viewfinder magnifier at Yodobashi Camera I decided that I want it bad!!!

It could well be the best purchase you make this year. (I'm still not a Swivi salesman.)
Of course, if someone had not had the great idea of an LCD screen on the back of a "proper" camera, such a device would not be necessary.
Swivi make a similar but smaller viewfinder hood. Have you seen it? Even so I'm sure you will still want one of the bigger ones.
"Proper"? As opposed to one of those credit card sized cameras ("It's wonderful. It fits in my pocket/handbag (purse) and I hardly know it's there!"). But the images they produce aren't very good.

---------- Post added 11-07-14 at 03:42 PM ----------

See, the head on an ordinary screw/bolt is little. If you mount a wingnut reversed (and maybe with a little filing...), it will grip on the head, and you'll have a much larger and handier surface to grip on (i.e. the wingnut instead of the head).

Oh. Now that I've read the comment quoted here I see that I missed the word "reversed" about the wingnut. I thought you were attaching the washer and wing nut to the other end of the screw/bolt. Not the same end as the head. Makes sense now!

[BlakeShellman]

A couple of weeks ago I was assembling an audio turntable cartridge to the headshell. Those screws and nuts that are used for this are the smallest I have ever seen, maybe .500 millimeters in diameter. About the size of screws that are on eyeglass temples. Anyway...I dropped the nut. Usually I work on things like that inside a plastic box about size of a turntable dust over so if they bounce they don't go far. Unfortunately not that time...I was surprised I found it in the carpeting 15 minutes later.

[LensBeginner]

A couple of weeks ago I was assembling an audio turntable cartridge to the headshell. Those screws and nuts that are used for this are the smallest I have ever seen, maybe .500 millimeters in diameter. About the size of screws that are on eyeglass temples. Anyway...I dropped the nut. Usually I work on things like that inside a plastic box about size of a turntable dust over so if they bounce they don't go far. Unfortunately not that time...I was surprised I found it in the carpeting 15 minutes later.

Quite a stroke of luck! you could use one of them sticks with a magnet on one end...

[robertchow999]

A couple of weeks ago I was assembling an audio turntable cartridge to the headshell. Those screws and nuts that are used for this are the smallest I have ever seen, maybe .500 millimeters in diameter. About the size of screws that are on eyeglass temples. Anyway...I dropped the nut. Usually I work on things like that inside a plastic box about size of a turntable dust over so if they bounce they don't go far. Unfortunately not that time...I was surprised I found it in the carpeting 15 minutes later.

Time to buy a lottery ticket.

[Dabber]

To BlakeShellman: Great. I know just how you would have felt to have found the screw. As I said, I eventually found my missing thumbscrew.
(By the way, are you aware of the small kits of screws and other bits that you need to repair glasses? No lenses, of course!)


To robertchow999: Buying a lottery ticket after I found the screw didn't work for me! Mind you, neither does having a ticket on a Friday the 13th. Or when £11,000,000* is the prize on November 11th (11,11,11!). Perhaps the year 2014 spoiled that! [*EuroMillions].