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Old 16-09-2016, 10:51 PM
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luka
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Perth, Australia
Posts: 1,164
That is some nice gear. I am sure it will come handy. Nothing so advanced here.

I also have some news. I got inspired and tried debayering my D40 sensor. Well, didn't quite get to debayering yet. I only got as far as the glass removal and I already damaging something by accident. I bumped the camera/sensor while trying to put the sensor back in for testing and now the D40 does not even power up any more (I have tried reseating all the connectors multiple times). I am not even sure what is damaged...

Hopefully the experience will be very useful for everybody, here are my notes regarding the glass removal:
  • I have a feeling that glass removal and debayering may be easier while the sensor is still in the carrier.
  • I used a heatgun (858D clone from ebay) to heat the glass and separate it from the mounting.
  • The choice of the temperature and the heating time is critical. While places like this suggest heating only for a few seconds, I needed to heat for over 10s at the time to get any result. Probably even as close as 30s!!! It could be because they used a butane torch which is hotter?
  • Temperature... Eventually I settled to 450 degrees C which is the maximum my heater will do. After doing lots of short tests I believe that hotter is better. We want to quickly heat up the glass so it expands and the glue cracks before heating up the surroundings. The faster this happens the better (up to a limit of course).
  • I noticed that when using over 350 degrees C the glass gets cloudy but this just wipes off. I am not sure if some coating gets burned off at this temperature?
  • Heating works the best when started on corners. After a little while the glue will change colour indicating that it separated. It then becomes easy to "push" and expand the separated section with heat.
  • Working in small sections is the best and sensor MUST be let to cool down to ambient in between.
  • Patience, patience, patience. Some sensors may be easier to remove than the others.

MOST IMPORTANTLY:
  • The glass is surrounded by glue on all sides. This must be cut with a sharp blade. It will not be separated by heat. This glue will hold the sensor in the carrier even when all bond under the glass has been broken. I did not take any photos but the glue is clearly visible on sides.
  • When cut with a blade the glue on sides will make a white/yellowish powder. Blow the powder off and keep cutting. You can stop cutting when there is no more powder being created, i.e. when you went through all the glue.
  • Use a magnifying glass/lamp. Make sure all the glue on sides is gone before attempting to heat up the sensor.
  • The blade may not follow the sides of the glass. USE a magnifier to check!!!
  • I had a quick go at a corner from D70 glass and it seemed to unglue much, much quicker/easier than D40. Unfortunately my D70 body is broken so I decided to proceed with the functional D40 so I could monitor the debayering.

Anyway, that is the progress... or the lack of it.

I am not sure if I accidentally broke the body or the sensor electronics, the sensor is likely still OK... I hope. I will try debayering it once I get a bit more time but I cannot test it as the D40 does not power up any more. So I am scouting ebay for a cheap D40 body or D40 sensor.
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