Broken focus knob on Horseman LX45

[radarguy]

Does anyone know how the plastic knob attaches to the gear shaft of the focus knob on a Horseman LX45? I just purchased the camera and that is the only flaw. It spins on the shaft but won't turn it and it won't come off with reasonable force. It's hard to tell if the face of the knob has one of those glued on disks with a screw head underneath. As a last resort does anyone know of a source of parts for this camera? Thanks for any help.

[Tin Can]

Pry off the cover, you may have more difficulty.

Been so long I have forgotten what I did encounter.

[radarguy]

So are you saying NOT to pry the cover off of the knob?

[Tin Can]

So are you saying NOT to pry the cover off of the knob?

The only way in is to pry off the cover.

So yes pop it off and take a look.

OE knobs are hard to find, adapt to something useable.

[radarguy]

OK, This is for future interest in this subject. I was successful in fixing the knob. It apparently had been smashed and the shaft end forced inside. Here is how to disassemble. Remove the assembly from the rail by removing the end cap first and sliding it off.
There are two metric set screws that are aligned with the shaft bearings. They are sealed with some hard material. It took a dental pick to remove most of it. Use magnifiers to get out all that you can. The use some fine oil, I used PB Blaster with just a small drop in the hole. It took the smallest hex wrench I have. Gently, work the set screw out by twisting back and forth. The one by the know only needs to be loosened but the opposite one need to loosen about 2 mm because it goes into a groove in the bearing. Actually, for the purposes of this repair the one opposite the knob does not need to be removed at all. Notice that each bearing is actually a cam that adjust the gear engagement into the rack so replace them exactly the way they were. There will be an indentation from the setscrews to help. Once the knob end bearing is loose the gear, shaft and knob can be removed. Depending on what the repair need to be it may not be necessary to remove the end cap. The parts are assembled with spring roll pins so you will need a very small punch to remove them for disassembly which should be done against wood or soft material supporting the whole shaft so that it is not deformed. In my case I had to remove the end cape. Normally there is nothing inside but in my case the bottom of the knob had been pushed up and the bottom broken from the outside shell but still firmly attached to the shaft. I carefully aligned the broken bottom and filled the cavity with JB Weld. Today when it finishes curing I will reassemble it. Notice that the small end of the shaft has some sticky grease on it, I assume for smooth but not free rotation. Try and protect it. Hope this helps someone else.

Russell

[Tin Can]

Very good!

Pics would be nice.