Preserving the coiled rubber outer cable on my Nikon SC-29 ttl unit

[gumdrop]

The outer rubber insulation on my Nikon SC-29 ttl unit is cracking up. A new unit is around £100, If I could get one, what can I use to make the rubber outer case more supple again?

By the By, 

Nikon seems to be dumping Amateur cameras and equipment, I contacted Nikon Spares and they referred me to another company (Fixon?), who referred me to WEX

[Liger1956]

A friend of mine 3D printed a focus grip for his Canon lens out of flexible TPU. I don't know whether that would work in your case but there are companies that will print things for you. I have a 3D printer but I have not printed anything in TPU yet

[gumdrop]

1 hour ago, Liger1956 said:

A friend of mine 3D printed a focus grip for his Canon lens out of flexible TPU. I don't know whether that would work in your case but there are companies that will print things for you. I have a 3D printer but I have not printed anything in TPU yet

I don't think that would work for my problem, but thank you.

[Liger1956]

Sorry i did not understand the problem. Now that i have seen the photo can you get a generic coiled lead with the correct number of cores and re-solder it both ends?

[gumdrop]

As it stands the flash is still usable and I would prefer to seal the damaged areas.

To this end I have looked at rubber repair paste and silicone repair tape (self amalgamating)

Unfortunately  the rubber outer sheath would need to be treated to make the rubber soft and pliable again.

I considered liquid silicone but this may only be delaying the inevitable, you suggestion of a replacement cable

means taking a working item apart before I can even count the cores it is a bit catch 22.

I will wait and see if any other suggestions are forthcoming. Thanks again for your time.

[J.R.]

Heat shrink tubing, preferably one with hot melt glue liner.

 

My Philishave charger has done the same thing, only 15 or so years old, young for one of them, they dont make them like they used to!

[gumdrop]

12 hours ago, J.R. said:

Heat shrink tubing, preferably one with hot melt glue liner.

 

My Philishave charger has done the same thing, only 15 or so years old, young for one of them, they dont make them like they used to!

Thanks but this requires disassembly to slide the tubing on, I think it will end up being silicone taped. 

 

* I am now looking for a rubber preservative*

Edited 9 August, 2023 by gumdrop

[gumdrop]

Well this may be a useful start;

 

https://www.lovetoknow.com/home/cleaning/how-keep-rubber-from-cracking-protect-preserve

[gumdrop]

Top two suggestions so far Shin-Etsu grease from Honda and Gummi Pflege

[J.R.]

If you use the hot melt type you can split it lengthwise and wrap it round the cable, secured with some lockwire before heating and setting, choose a larger size to get a couple of layers.

 

It is too late to preserve the material that has already decomposed and I doubt the insulation is rubber

Edited 9 August, 2023 by J.R.

[skomaz]

Interesting - I have one of those for an old Nikon F301 - think it's an SC-17 off camera TTL flash lead and it's not gone like that at all (it's an OE one but the cord is grey).

 

If it were me I'd be tempted to unscrew the four screws shown in the picture and see what's inside / how many cable strands there are so I could replace the cable entirely.  It 'should' be a pretty straightforward job TBH.

 

Also, for reference there seem to be a few on e-bay at the moment?