Your question belongs actually into the K-S2 section.
Here we have the K-70 section!
Originally posted by ewhac Erm... All the photos I've seen suggest that, once you've unscrewed the solenoid, the plunger can just pull right out. The coils and permanent magnet would remain soldered to the wires.
Either WRONG or you stopped reading in the middle of the tutorial! This very thread is ONLY about the correct repair
i.e. exchanging the
bad green China Solenoid against the
good white Japan-Solenoid!
And this tutorial shows ALL steps which... concering your question... are:
- not to unscrew the solenoid first but:
- unsolder the wires from the solenoid
- then unscrew the solenoid
- insert the correct DSLR Japan solenoid
- screw the screw in.... and so on
Not a single photo of the solenoid screwed out dangling on the wires! Originally posted by ewhac It looks like my K-S2 has developed this problem after sitting mostly idle during the pandemic.....
Since the root issue appears to be induced magnetism in the plunger, it seems to me it could be addressed by simply running the plunger through a degausser for a few seconds. While it wouldn't be a permanent solution, it seems far less precarious since no soldering is involved, and you wouldn't have to trawl eBay looking for rare solenoids.
Has anyone tried just degaussing? If so, what were the results?
Degaussing does not work at all, it is totally useless
but would in a way even hurt* any Pentax!
This is because:
- the magnet itself is too strong (filing the magnet itself to weaken it destroys it, no chance)
- the alloy used for the plunger is not of the same composition as the Japan Solenoid! It seems it changes its structure over the time and is more prone to be stronger magnetized.
- it magnetizes very quickly again (you don't even need to degauss it, it loses it's magnetized charge just when away from the magnet after a few seconds.
- degaussing would not change the molecular structure
This solution is the worst of all because having the Pentax disassembled, 95% of all work is already done
so why "cheat" when one can do it right? *it actually in a way harms your Pentax because you will for sure have to open it again for a proper repair:
Each time you disassemble and assemble you weaken those many plastic threads.
Some screws do not hold that well anymore right after the 2.nd disassembly. I had that problem several times when I had to repair Pentax bodies repaired under warranty but with the same green China-Solenoid which very often fails again. Then one has to find other ways to tighten the screws.
Particular that screw deep inside the battery chamber is vulnerable. If lose, the camera doesn't work correct anymore.
The DSLR Japan-solenoid can be purchased on
ebay for around $ 59
That price is very sensible, finding a DSLR Pentax with solenoid inside such as the K100D is getting more difficult.
Those solenoids are tested and save you trouble. These days one finds quite often defunct K-bodies but either with solenoids take out with green Chinasolenoids built in. No return possible if stated "for parts/not working etc"
Taking the solenoid out and wiggling with the plunger with the wires still connected is about as difficult as unsoldering the wires.
IMO it is actually more risky.
I'd say 99% of all who tried the real work with soldering managed to do it.
If you feel you can't try to find somebody here in the forum or send it to California:
Pentax Camera Repair - Aperture Control Repair
They file but give some good warranty. I hesitatingly recommed that repair now because it is at least cheap enough and warranty is given.
With other repairs such as
the one in Scotland for @luckylu I'd check very carefully. Although very reasonable it either is the same China solenoid again (often even the cheap Lenovo-Version for DVD-Burnes such as offered on ebay "en masse") or filed. In this Scottish case the repairshop invented a lot of fairy-tales of what would have to be done, well actually a lot of rubbish!
So if you want to discuss this issue further, please open an appropriate thread in the K-S2 section. Thank you.