Poorly Praktica Ideas Please

Stan Hesketh

Stan Hesketh

Well-Known Member
It's happened again; somebody has given me an old M42 Praktica. Works fine mechanically, but the battery cover wont unscrew owing to battery leakage. I have got the battery compartment and cover out of the camera and am wondering about soaking it in vinegar? What other fluid might break the gunge down? WD40? Soak in boiling waterEasing oil? (there are no electronic gubbins, it is just two small pieces of metal.)
Many thanks for any ideas.
 
could you get a replacement battery container from Maplins that would fit? (I'm not sure what it would look like, sorry if this is a daft idea)
 


Thanks for replies, I should of course have put a pic up as suggested. Above is the battery cap that wouldn't come off:
I took the bottom off the camera (dead easy; somebody had been in there before) and got the barrel out in which the battery lives, with the cap well and truly seized on. There are no electronic gubbins, it is just a metal barrel. My wife said "Get the blowlamp on it." A bit harsh I thought, but after soaking in vinegar, I dangled the thing over the flame on the gas hob, and bingo; two pairs of pliers and off it came :) My wife is a genius and the Praktica lives. Seems fine except the very slowest speeds are not very accurate. Looks like Poundland film time.
 
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