the BELLOWS problem

[Greg_E]

I went looking for my other "book" and found it. Here is the link, and about half way down the page is a link for a word document of the information.
http://pheugo.com/cameras/folders/folders.html

[CRhymer]

Hello Greg,

Thank you for the link. I think I have read it before, but didn't have it book-marked or downloaded. I have bought shutter curtain material (which I have not tried yet for bellows) in "bulk" from a seller in Japan. I don't recall his name at present. The problem is getting material that is thin enough, opaque and in a large enough piece, at a reasonable price. I think he was willing to sell larger pieces, but I went on to other projects while my old folders languish.

Cheers,
Clarence

[phfitz]

darinwc,

"I have a handfull of 'project' cameras that need new bellows."

What size camera bellows were you looking for?

[darinwc]

A thronton-pickard type half plate
a conley 4x5 folding box type
a 4x10 project
and id like a bag bellows for my zone vi vermont type

[Jim Fitzgerald]

I have a very nice bag bellows for a Zone VI. PM me and we can talk about it.


Jim

[barryjyoung]

With all due respect to Barry, I bought his pamphlet and I saw some problems with his method, especially for the tapered bellows. It might work for a large bellows where a bit of slop wouldn't matter, but it wasn't very precise and I think you'd definitely have problems in a case where your dimensions were critical (e.g. on a smaller camera).

Hi Walter:

What specifically was not precise in my method? It is mathematically based. I see no room for less than precise results with careful workmanship.

Anything you can provide as far as substantiuve information will make future editions better.

Thank you.

[barryjyoung]

I bought Barry's book as well and I agree with you on all points. It is a good book, especially for pulling all of the information together. The real value of the book would come into play if you plan to make more than one copy of the same bellows, as he spends the vast majority of the time on using a CAD program to do the layout, and then having the resulting layout printed professionally. At present I don't have a CAD program and anything I do will be a one-off, so I'm not using that. Still, it's a good book and I'm glad I bought it.

Nathan

Thank you Nathan, I am glad you enjoyed the book. A free CAD program (one of the ones I use) is available in a fully functional trial version at:

http://www.download.com/ProgeCAD-200...-10777004.html

There is a pretty steep learning curve on this program, but that is to be expected with any truly powerful program.

Thanks for the nice comments.

[jsfyfe]

I've been making bellows for Isolettes/Speedex for the past 4 months or so. I have posted my process (.pdf file) at the following location:

http://www.rolandandcaroline.co.uk/h...e_bellows.html

I use leather for both the liner and cover with regular card stock paper (from Michael's craft store) for the stiffeners. The leather is purchased from:

http://www.columbiaorgan.com/col/skins.htm#CPL%20Clock

Since I am making small bellows I can purchase the 6x12" pieces of XXX Thin leather (.007" in thickness). These are just the right size for the Isolette bellows. I've made bellows for a larger camera (6x9) by piecing the 6x12" pieces together but that is not the optimum way to do it.

For larger bellows you may be able to use the full skins that Columbia sells. They sell an extra thin (.008 to .010") skin for $8.95 a square foot.

Once you get the hang of it, bellows are pretty easy to make, especially if you have an old one to use as a template. I've sold quite a few reconditioned cameras in the past few months. Here's one of the latest with the new bellows.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MESO:IT&ih=015

NOTE: I do this as a personal hobby so please don't ask me to recondition your camera. Thanks.

[CRhymer]

Hello jsfyfe,

Thank you for the links. Columbia Organ Leathers looks like just the ticket. The only supplier of thin leather that I had found was in the UK, and the price with shipping was prohibitive for lower end camera restoration.

Cheers,
Clarence

[Sandeha Lynch]

Hello jsfyfe,

Thank you for the links. Columbia Organ Leathers looks like just the ticket. The only supplier of thin leather that I had found was in the UK, and the price with shipping was prohibitive for lower end camera restoration.

Cheers,
Clarence

Hi Clarence

Could you post a link to the leather supplier in the UK, please?

It would save me postage !!