Securing A Loose Rubber Lens Grip Ring - What To Use?

[justtorchit]

I recently bought a Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 Close Focus lens in very nice shape. The only issue I have using the lens is that the rubber grip ring is loose from the barrel. It's not stretched or misshapen. It just slides when I attempt to grab it to rotate for focus. So I must squeeze the barrel a bit tighter to turn everything together.

I have read some about double-sided tape but I have never had good luck with double-sided tape for things of this nature. I was considering rubber cement since that stuff seems to hold well without being severely permanent. I carefully slid the rubber ring off the lens to see if it had access screws beneath it (it does not). So I wouldn't be covering repair access. Any tips or tricks on what I should use?

For what it's worth, I tried a few forum searches but came up with only 404 errors so my apologies if this has been asked and answered elsewhere. Feel free to point me to that thread.

David

[visualopsins]

A search for "rubber" yields, among others, http://forum.mflenses.com/easy-question-which-glue-for-rubber-focus-ring-t35918.html

[justtorchit]

Thanks for the info! I went ahead with a couple drops of rubber cement just at the points where I could carefully lift the rubber grip and slide a toothpick in. I let sit for an hour or so and the grip is nicely holding to the lens (any excess rubs off easily).

[cooltouch]

Rubber cement will probably work nicely for you. A couple of others that will work are contact cement and Pliobond. Pliobond is the cement that camera repair techs have used for decades to resecure leatherettes back to camera bodies, but it should work just as well for your purpose. Both contact cement and Pliobond share the essential property that rubber cement has -- they remain flexible after drying -- and they tend to stick very well to surfaces to which they've been glued.

[SkedAddled]

Michael:
Interesting, that mention of Pliobond.
I'd not heard of it before; sounds as if it could be a very useful
adhesive for many different applications.

The big question is: Which one?
The Google suggests searches for Pliobond 20, 25, 30, 35
and others, and even a comparison between 20 and 25.
Any idea which one is used by the camera-repair folks?

Seems to be favored by aircraft mechanics, as well.

[cooltouch]

Hey Craig,

You got me! If I see a bottle of Pliobond on the shelf of a hardware store, I'm inclined to buy it, never gave any thought to the type. I buy it in a small brown bottle with a red and white label (as I recall). It looks and smells just like contact cement (brownish-yellow and thick like honey) and seems to work about the same, so I've ended up using them interchangeably for camera adhesive work. I do tend to prefer Pliobond when I can find it, though. I have a bottle of it around here somewhere, but it appears to have grown legs, cuz it isn't where I last remember seeing it.

Just one comment about contact cement that I think is important. Stick to a name brand. I bought some cheap off-brand stuff a while back and it is just about useless. Doesn't stick well and gets all rubbery without adhering to anything. Waste of money.

[Gardener]

If the grip is not stretched I use double sided tape.

[visualopsins]

How to get double sided tape under uncut rubber?

To answer Craig, from pliobond20.pdf (search for it):

[SkedAddled]