OM System TG-7 Zoom Lever Protector

When I got my TG-7 I was impressed with how rugged it felt! Then I dropped it on concrete from a height of like 2 feet and snapped the plastic zoom lever in half. Fortunately, their support service repaired it very quickly for free - however, that still feels like a unique weak point*

So - I made this little bumper. It's not perfect, but it's designed to continue the shape of the camera's grip upwards, and doesn't stick out from the body very far. It leaves plenty of room to comfortably use the zoom lever, but should prevent it from touching the ground when dropped from basically all angles. 

It's intended to be attached with double sided tape. I used thin 3m double sided tape. 
Note: I did have quite a bit of trouble getting it to stick. For me, what ultimately worked was cleaning the body aggressively with a microfiber cloth and isopropyl alcohol - and then roughing up the surface of the 3d print with my leatherman's file. 

Printing it

This is a weird shape to print. I suggest printing it top side up - the way it's oriented in the STL - even though that only leaves a tiny surface contacting the bed. Use a lot of supports and brim. The reason I suggest doing it this way is that the supports leave a rougher surface on the underside where the part has to be attached to the camera, and I think that will help with adhesive. 

What's next

Someday I swear I will come back to this project and make a full arca plate + grip for this camera, in which case I'll include some kind of zoom lever protection on that design… just haven't gotten to it yet. 

If you want to give connecting this via the tripod screw mount a try, please post a remix! I was also considering making it clip onto the side strap connector. 

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* I can see why plastic might be a better material than thin metal for a small part like the zoom lever - it won't stay bent or dented after a small impact - but it can snap! The more compact zoom lever design on the TG-4 looks way more protected to me, I wonder why they switched away…