430EX Flash Repair Help

Whoops! I dropped my 430ex and although it didn't sustain major damage I broke the little red cover of the assist light and the pull out wide angle plastic lens. I ordered both parts from Canon and the red plastic cover was easy to snap on. The other piece is another story.

Can anyone tell me how to get that inserted? I've taken the screws out on the other side but I'm concerned that if I try to remove the back there might be some spring loaded or other complication. I removed the old broken piece. How can I get that new one slotted in there?

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=306782

This thread has a link to the parts catalog which shows exploded drawings of the 430ex. It may help you to see how it goes together.

-Scott

swalter wrote in post #3187866
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=306782

This thread has a link to the parts catalog which shows exploded drawings of the 430ex. It may help you to see how it goes together.

-Scott

Thanks, this was interesting and helpful. Quite a complex little piece of gear. I still can't figure out how to get the top piece off. It looks like I have to take the whole thing apart. Has anyone ever taken this thing apart and can you suggest the easiest way to replace the pull down wide angle piece? I think I may have to just use the flash always without the wide angle.

Hey, did you ever figure this out? I am needing to replace the same little pop out diffuser. My two year old son reached up and snapped it off in one quick motion. The painful part is that the flash was borrowed, and not one I'm keen to have to buy.

i had a different problem with my 430ex, but since no searches were coming up, i thought i'd add it to the record here:

first, thanks for the 430ex manual link. it gave me the confidence to open up camera to fix my particular problem. i dropped the flash a while ago and the zoom motor apparently got jammed. it was making a grinding sound as soon as i turned on the flash, zoom blinking, and then it would even continue grinding for a few seconds after i turned it off. to open the head, you just unstick the glued on round circles on the sides, and there will be 8 screws. then i looked around for the motor, tried nudging a couple things, and finally just crossed my fingers and pushed the flash in... that unjammed it! easy fix. saved $200+