Canon 100D Hot shoe lift

Doug Pardee wrote:

Lone Stranger wrote:

Of course, if I could remove the two screwed screws, I would only need to get hold of two new screws, straighted the metal of the hot shoe and be done. But unless someone tels me how to do it with DYI tools, I think it is nigh impossible without specialised equipment, if at all.

Personally, I'd just haul it to my local machine shop and have them remove the screws for a small fee.

Conceptually, it's pretty simple. You buy appropriately-sized screw extractors (very inexpensive), drill appropriately-sized pilot holes into the stuck screws, then screw in the extractors until they unscrew the stuck screws. There are videos and such on YouTube showing how to use screw extractors. I've never done it, myself, so I can't say how difficult it is or isn't.

When I were a lad we used Easy Out tools that worked like that on diameters like 4 to 12mm if the thread wasn't seized (if you broke the head off because the thread was seized you had no hope with those tools), but I doubt you could do it that way with tiny screws like this. This is like microsurgery with a high risk of doing more damage, so I would find a camera repair expert with a good reputation, who has appropriate tools and the skill and experience to use them.

Interesting to think how the heads got broken. I doubt they would be over tightened at the factory, so I guess the flash got a serious bump towards the front, but not violent enough to break all 4 screws.