UPDATE: Grit in Panasonic 20mm focus ring - lens repair (w/ pics)

This was WAY simpler than I imagined. Thanks to user 'Hugh J' for linking me to a teardown article that made it even easier. Anyone with a brain and a precision screwdriver set could do this.

On a side note, I just got my new-to-me E-M1 the previous day so I used the Wi-Fi feature and Olympus Image Share app on my phone to transfer images - it worked pretty well, I was impressed!

On to the pics...

Here is the operating room. The ice cube tray is to hold the screws - as they come out, each step in order, they go into a separate bin. Make reassembly a lot easier. Just take care not to dump the tray over! Also, magnetizing the screwdrivers helps a lot with the tiny screws.

Close-up of the patient:

First three screws removed to get to this point:

Three more screws to get this:

Two screws and four ribbon cables to remove the PCB (no picture).

For a brief second, I thought about squeezing these two "tabs" like a snap ring (the teardown instructions had mentioned a snap ring). But that would have been a mistake. Fortunately I quickly realized these don't really look much like any snap ring I've ever seen:

They are actually the photo eyes that sense the changing position of the focus ring as it is rotated. They just slide out:

Now the focus ring slides off easily. Not a LOT, but definitely SOME grit trapped in the grease used at the front of the ring:

Fully disassembled:

I used the Q-tips and alcohol to remove the old grease and any grit along with it.

The individual tooth flossers seen above have a nice sharp point on them that are non-conductive and won't scratch delicate items, I use them for various jobs. Here I used them to reapply some PTFE Super Lube:

"Reassembly is the reverse of Disassembly." That's all that any repair manual ever told me, so that's all I'm going to bother to type. Here is the patient all back together:

And here is a picture taken with the (fully functional) Panasonic 20mm:

All together, this took about 30 or 40 minutes. The lens functions perfectly, and the focus ring is nice and smooth again.

I would definitely recommend that anyone with DIY tendencies open up one of their lenses - it was really simple, and there's not much you can mess up if you are careful. (although having previously poked around inside electronics at least a little would be helpful)

But I'm not sure this simple procedure makes me competent or confident enough yet to take apart something more complicated and more expensive, like a Oly Pro zoom for example.

Excellent write up!  Been meaning to do the same with mine for years since I had it out in a desert windstorm.  Looks easier than I expected.  Thanks!

Thanks for recording your adventure, documenting it and posting?  I'm very unlikely to need it but still very interesting to see.