Leica Strap Lugs
Some ideas on how to handle very worn down strap lugs on a Leica
If you have a very well loved Leica camera, be it a M-mount or a Barnack (LTM) version, chances are that the strap lugs are starting to get worn down. The lugs should not wear down if you use a circular splitring with a large circumference, but the Nikon-style / universal triangle splitring will wear the edges down. Some people say the lugs can be replaced, but at least I don't see that being an easy DIY job. I'll show you two methods to extend the life of your strap lugs. The bizarre way and the sane person's way.
Let's get this show on the road. First we'll take a look at a Leica M2 that has been around the block a few times. Whatever kind of strap was on this camera has not only worn down the strap lug almost completely through, but also through the top plate's chrome and part of the underlying nickel, allowing a tiny peep of brass to show through. While it's pretty awesome to look at and think how many times it has to swing from the strap for this to happen, the strap lug is a liability to dropping the camera. The bonk on the top plate corner suggests it wouldn't be the first time, but it might be the last time.
The lug is chromed brass on these older cameras. So we'll try to brass it up. I bought two sizes of brass tube for this project, 4mm and 3mm. These are the outer dimensions. Taking measurements from another Leica, the inside diameter of the lug should be 3mm from the factory.
The lugs on this old camera have worn down to about 4mm. The hole should be round, but naturally it has not worn down symmetrically. Pictured in this orientation, the top-left part has elongated and formed a corner.
I took a length measurement and cut the brass with a pipe cutter meant for copper and brass pipes.
This is the donut I ended up with after cutting.
Brass is quite malleable at least in this thickness, so I started massaging the donut to match the size of the strap lug hole.
After a while it was clear that it would not fit without using force, and I wasn't going to risk splitting the lug. I cut a piece off the circumference to make it easier to fit.
I left the cut on the side towards the camera body, as I figured it would minimize the chance for the strap to catch on the cut and get stuck. A little more forming with the pliers and I got it in.
Make a second little insert donut on the other side, and you should be all set. I had to cut this one too of course.
I think HCB worked for this tool company.
Fitting the strap, it takes a bit more effort now than before.
You can barely see our little brass insert now. Which is good, because I'm certainly no jeweler.
And so we have seen the bizarre way to tackle this issue. After all that work, let's look at what most people do, and it seems to do a pretty good job.
Just add a little piece of shrinkwrap tubing inside the lug hole and fit your splitrings. These are exactly the kind of splitrings you want to avoid, they are here just as a placeholder to stop the shrinkwrap from going AWOL while I don't have a strap on this camera.
It looks a lot less period correct, but who's going to see them anyway? You're probably better off doing this than the brass madness.
In contrast to my otherwise laissez-faire attitude towards anything in general, I have to include the following serious bit: Information on this page is provided as-is, no guarantee of it being correct. If something breaks or other bad things happen, it was your own fault. Don't do anything you see here if are not sure about what you are doing.