My DIY canon 18-55mm lens fix

Late last year I got my first DSLR; a secondhand Canon 450D (Rebel Xsi) including a 18-55mm IS kit lens and a 50-200 Tamron zoom. It worked great for a few weeks and then the Auto-focus (AF) on the 18-55 decided to stop working. This was just before my Christmas holiday to Europe which I was very sad about as I was going to be visiting family. Thankfully my step-dad Lanthus (who has a great photography blog HERE) lent me one to use during the vacation...thanks a lot!

When I returned I wanted to get it fixed so I researched it a bit and found out that this seems to be a very common problem. The issue with this lens is caused by a design flaw which forces the AF flex cable to be bent at a very sharp angle when the lens is at the normal position for storing. After a few years it's bound to tear! Canon will charge you upward of $100 for the repair and I thought; Forget that. I can do it! I managed to find the replacement cable online at TMART for about 3€ and they have free worldwide shipping, which was a HUGE saving. When I received the part, I found a good screwdriver, (the correct size is VERY important so you don't strip the heads. For this lens the correct size is a PH00 which you can buy HERE) and enlisted my girlfriends brother as usual to give me a hand. I though I'd make a tutorial and hope it can help someone with the same problem. I'll include photos step-by-step. There are several other tutorials like this on the web, but mine is the best!

First thing is to find workplace that has minimal dust. Next as you remove pieces place them in order so that the reassembly is easy. Finally, this job does require some dexterity and use of small parts in confined spaces, so be prepared.

1. Remove the lens from the body and put the body cap on to keep dust out. Next remove the plastic cover from the lens (on the side that connects to the body) by removing the four screws that hold it in place.

2. The cover can now be partially removed but DOES NOT come off entirely! It is still attached by some connectors which I  have circled below in red.
You have to hold it in this angled position while you remove the five FPC's (circled in green) from their slots. This can be tricky but if you use a small flat screwdriver or a pair of tweezers like I did, you can eventually work them loose. Be careful as they are delicate. It was great to have an extra set of hands for this part!
After removing these you can carefully lift out the PC board and the plastic cover. Make sure not to snag any of the FPC's on the way out. 

3. Next you can see a metallic cover for the drive mechanism. This can be removed after taking off the two screws at the ends. The other screws on the mechanism can be left as they are. I circled the two again in green.

Remove two screws

Lift out the mechanism

4. After removing the metal plate you can see inside the lens and can see the problem; the broken Flex Cable (at the tip of the screwdriver). This is what you will be replacing.

From here you need to remove another metallic sliding plate right at the base of the flex cable. This is what extends the lens during focus. Make sure it's a close as possible to the top and then remove the two screws that attach it to the body of the lens. You can then remove it completely. You can see it below in the tweezers.

 

5. You can finally remove the broken piece of flex at the base of the lens by pulling with tweezers. In my lens it was glued on quite tight, so you may have to do some real pulling to unseat it.

 

Pulling it out

Removed completely

You need to also remove the top half of the broken flex by unsticking it from the side where it sits tight on two little black nubs. you can see the holes where it is attached in the photo below.

6. Now it's time to place the new Flex cable in the now empty space. Here's the new one and you can see the covered adhesive zones that will need to be placed carefully inside the lens. remove the adhesive covers and then get to work.

You need to very carefully place this in the correct position and behind the little black clip circled in green. Getting the big part placed at the bottom takes patience and precision, but it fits very snugly. After you get it in use something like a q-tip to push it firmly in place. This is how it looks when finished.

And here below you can see a pic showing the source of the problem. As you can see when the lens is at 35mm which is the regular closed storing position it has this weird crook in the  flexible board.

It's possible that when you do this repair, you could leave the FPC outside of the black little clip and relieve that tight angle a bit. This may work, but could also possibly un-stick the FPC from it's place over time, or even get stuck when the lens moves. I left mine behind the clip, as this fix is so cheap and easy I don't mind doing it every few years! I'm planning on getting an upgrade for this lens anyways in the near future so I'm sure it'll last till then.
7. Now you just have to re-assemble the lens in reverse order and you're good to go. Mine worked straight away immediately after this fix! Make sure you put the switch back to AF instead of MF, and I wish you happy trails :)