What a bargain - Not!

[mudman]

Found a Suunto Clino on eBay. Okay, it looked old and the guy said it was a bit scratched but I bid for it and got for £4.20 plus p&p . What a bargain thinks I. Receive it through the post and unfortunately the eyepiece seems knackered and you can hardly see the scale. Looks like there maybe some broken glass inside.
Oh, well. It was almost a bargain. :roll:
Anyone know if it is possible to get inside one of these? Thought that seeing how I didn't exactly pay a huge amount for it, I may as well destroy it trying to fix it. :bash:

Cheers,
Mudman

PS. You can see it here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemWithCategory&item=3271897051
BTW, anyone know what the little black insert in the casing is for?

 

[SamT]

I belive that you can get them serviced by sunto. Our club were looking into getting it done. It'll obivously cost some money but might not be too bad.

I reckon any attempts at self dis/re assembly may end up in a bunch of bits or an inaccurate compass.

Ill make some enquiries.

 

[mudman]

Might look into it but I'm not sure if it would be worthwhile as any repair is bound to be extremely expensive.
Wonder what it looks like inside though? :wink:

Cheers
Mudman

 

[mudman]

Just spoke to a UK importer (Viking Optical). They reckon that it wouldn't be worthwhile as they can't get hold of the bits and it would have to go back to Finland.

So, where's me hammer? :twisted:

 

[SamT]

spoke to shaun at hitch and hike yesterday - yes you can send them back to suunto - in finland - but the cost would outway the cost of a new one - especially considering Caving supplies have them on offer at 71 quid.

I'd take it to bits and see what you can do. I think there is a rubber seal around the glass top that you might be able to pop out, also - I bet the eye piece unscrews - Id start looking there. good luck

let me know how you get on.

 

[mudman]

Well took a bit but I got it apart.

The way in is through the back. The circular bit with the angle stuff is actually a cover that is recessed into the opening on the back. If you use a craft knife or similar, you can gently prise this out to reveal a sealed unit inside that holds the clino proper. This is held in place via a small grub screw on the front of the unit that is covered in red wax. Remove this and the clino unit will drop out of the housing.

After I'd done this, I couldn't get the eyepiece out as I couldn't see how it was fitted in the first place. This was what needed cleaning and access to it is restricted as there is a metal slot in front. So, I washed it out in soapy water. Then I used a cocktail stick with the end 'splayed' out to make a sort of wood brush and this fitted through the slot to clean the lens enough to be very usable. A blast of compressed air to clear the lens, dry it on the radiator and it all goes back together really neatly.

BTW, I did notice that there are no seals of any sort in the unit. I reckon that this means it is not waterproff. In fact the problem with mine did appear to be due to water ingress.

So all in all I'm now a very happy chappy with a nice clino that only cost me £4.20.

 

[SamT]

Good work that man.

No, they are not (that) waterproof. we had some greif with our club ones, It was water vapour fogging up the lense on the inside.

By the way, was there some mechanism that ensured that the Clino uniit went back in at exactly the right rotation - a notch or something. What Im trying to say is, is it still accurate in terms of the cross hair against the dial.

PS - top tip - use little fishermans glow sticks taped over the dial for 8 hours of non magnetic illumination whilst surveying :wink:

 

[mudman]

Yep, the sealed unit has four lugs that fit into corresponding recesses, so easy to ensure it goes back in right.
Personally, I now wouldn't hesitate to take one now apart to dry it out. I expect this will go for the compass as well as I bet it is exactly tthe same.

I do need to check the calibration on mine now though as I have a feeling that after the battering I gave it (only a slight one but I couldn't find the way in), that it may be out slightly. I need to find a calibration method. I've seen one somewhere but can't remember where at the moment.

BTW does anybody know what the little lens set into the body is for? I managed to get it out as well and give it a clean up. All it seems to do is to split an image into two. Only thing I can think of is that it is some sort of rangefinding device for determining the height of cliffs, trees or whatever. :?:

 

[ian mckenzie]

There was an article in The Canadian Caver called "Suunto Surgery" several years ago that detailed the disassembly and repair of the things, including removing that nasty bubble that tips the compass card off true. http://www.cancaver.ca/pubs2/cc/CCIndex.html
Also reprinted in the NSS publication Compass and Tape.

 

[Ben]

All this reminds e of the only good use I can think of for carbide lights and thats defogging sunnto's.
Has anyone tried the much cheaper Silver versions (£24 or thereabouts seems to spring to mind)?

 

[MSD]

On this topc, does anybody know whether Suunto KB14 compassess and PM-5 clinos are compatible with each other?

i.e. if you have a clino with a knackered lens and a compass with a knackered bearning, can you reassemble one working clino, by using the body of the compass? Will the bits fit in properly?

The reason I ask is that we have this situation with one of our federation's sets of surveying gear. I would take them to bits myself to find out, but they are several hundred kilometers away in someone else's house!

 

[SamT]

No idea,
But from what mudman was saying earlier about dropping his clino to bits, I reckon theres not a lot to lose. You could try talking them through it over the phone - doesnt actually sound that complicated.

Thinking of giving my clubs a bit of a fettle.