PLShutterbug
Veteran Member
My nephew ("Michael"), who hikes to the top of 2,000 meter peaks or high mountain passes every weekend of the year, dropped his cell phone on top of his Z6iii control panel while sitting in his car a few weeks ago and cracked the glass cover.
Nikon sells a replacement glass cover and adhesive so one can replace it without sending it in for service. Here is the relevant page from the Z6iii service manual.
Part 13D5F is the glass cover; 13D5G(10) is the adhesive sheet required to adhere the cover to the top plate of the camera. Nikon really should sell these as a single SKU ... they cost about $7 plus about $7 shipping. Buy both. You might want to buy two of the adhesive sheets in case you screw up one of them ... see below.
I was his official photographer while he repaired the camera yesterday. Here is the story.
Tools he used:
First step was to remove the battery from the camera.
Next, he sprayed ISO around the perimeter of the glass cover to soften the adhesive underneath. He waited about 30 seconds for it to work and then started prying the glass off. The ISO did not harm the camera top plate; you can see it pooled a bit below but that evaporated off within a minute or two.
Next, he used the flat blade to pry the cracked glass off the camera top plate. This took about a minute. The blade was perfect for the job because it is so thin, and it is wide enough that it was an effective pry without stressing the glass to the point of breaking it.
Once the glass was removed we saw that the control panel LCD is inset below the cover by about 2mm. That's plenty of clearance to avoid damaging it while effecting this repair.
He then removed the adhesive sheet from its packaging. It's just a hollow rectangle of double-stick tape laser cut to the dimensions of the "shelf" that holds the glass in place. He grabbed under the middle of the sheet with the pointed X-acto blade so he could insert the sheet onto the top plate in the recess and still see what he was doing. This was fiddly and he ended up having to clean things up by carefully moving the adhesive with the blade after installing it. Fortunately the adhesive moves some - it's not like contact cement that simply will not move once dry; it's more like rubber cement.
Once the adhesive was in place he popped off the interior with the knife blade, leaving only adhesive around that perimeter.
Cleaning up the adhesive took the most time of the entire project. He was careful to adjust it until it was as close to perfect as he could make it.
Finally, he removed the glass from its protective package and simply pressed it into the recess in the top plate.
One thing we did not check and couldn't really determine before installing that glass is whether it has a "top" and a "bottom." The answer: yes. And yes, he installed it the wrong way.
The glass is beveled on the top, and a sharp 90° corner on the bottom. It won't cut his hand, but will be irritating to him. He plans to order another glass and adhesive and re-do the repair so it is perfect.
Here is the finished repair as-is, today. Well worth doing at home, simple, and if you're careful it cannot screw up the camera. Note: there is no electrical connection involved here.
The LCD fired right up next time he powered up the camera.
I hope this helps those with a similar break wondering if it makes sense to repair it themselves.
Nikon sells a replacement glass cover and adhesive so one can replace it without sending it in for service. Here is the relevant page from the Z6iii service manual.
Part 13D5F is the glass cover; 13D5G(10) is the adhesive sheet required to adhere the cover to the top plate of the camera. Nikon really should sell these as a single SKU ... they cost about $7 plus about $7 shipping. Buy both. You might want to buy two of the adhesive sheets in case you screw up one of them ... see below.
I was his official photographer while he repaired the camera yesterday. Here is the story.
Tools he used:
- X-acto knife with a pointed blade and a 12mm wide flat blade
- Can of spray isopropyl alcohol
- Tissue
- Blower
First step was to remove the battery from the camera.
Next, he sprayed ISO around the perimeter of the glass cover to soften the adhesive underneath. He waited about 30 seconds for it to work and then started prying the glass off. The ISO did not harm the camera top plate; you can see it pooled a bit below but that evaporated off within a minute or two.
Next, he used the flat blade to pry the cracked glass off the camera top plate. This took about a minute. The blade was perfect for the job because it is so thin, and it is wide enough that it was an effective pry without stressing the glass to the point of breaking it.
Once the glass was removed we saw that the control panel LCD is inset below the cover by about 2mm. That's plenty of clearance to avoid damaging it while effecting this repair.
He then removed the adhesive sheet from its packaging. It's just a hollow rectangle of double-stick tape laser cut to the dimensions of the "shelf" that holds the glass in place. He grabbed under the middle of the sheet with the pointed X-acto blade so he could insert the sheet onto the top plate in the recess and still see what he was doing. This was fiddly and he ended up having to clean things up by carefully moving the adhesive with the blade after installing it. Fortunately the adhesive moves some - it's not like contact cement that simply will not move once dry; it's more like rubber cement.
Once the adhesive was in place he popped off the interior with the knife blade, leaving only adhesive around that perimeter.
Cleaning up the adhesive took the most time of the entire project. He was careful to adjust it until it was as close to perfect as he could make it.
Finally, he removed the glass from its protective package and simply pressed it into the recess in the top plate.
One thing we did not check and couldn't really determine before installing that glass is whether it has a "top" and a "bottom." The answer: yes. And yes, he installed it the wrong way.
The glass is beveled on the top, and a sharp 90° corner on the bottom. It won't cut his hand, but will be irritating to him. He plans to order another glass and adhesive and re-do the repair so it is perfect.
Here is the finished repair as-is, today. Well worth doing at home, simple, and if you're careful it cannot screw up the camera. Note: there is no electrical connection involved here.
The LCD fired right up next time he powered up the camera.
I hope this helps those with a similar break wondering if it makes sense to repair it themselves.
