bellows material

[ronlamarsh]

Hi Chris,

I've made a set of replacement bellows for a Century studio camera using two layers of BK5, and it came out quite nicely. One layer of BK5 is not completely light tight. However, with two layers of BK5 bonded together with contact cement and railroad board for the ribs, the final sandwich is very thin, flexible and light tight.

Best,
Daniel

OMG I was just shopping around on thorlabs site and saw the BK5 which I have used for other things i.e. curtain to convert kitchen to darkroom and am going to make a new bellows for my 5x7 I need to know what is railroad bd?

[dlin]

Ron,

Railroad board is just a type of stiff cardboard that comes in different colors. If I recall correctly, I used black 4-ply board to make the ribs for my bellows.

[Andrew Moxom]

BK-5 is fine, but you need multiple layers. I use it and wilderness outfitters 'silverized taffeta' material for my wet plate darkbox... Works slick.

[eworkman]

Crisf Thanks for the link to the bellows material
Andrew- I tried to google wilderness outfitters and got camps and guides and thing like that-no apparent stores
Do you have a link you could please share?
thanks
regards
Ed

[eclarke]

BK-5 is fine, but you need multiple layers. I use it and wilderness outfitters 'silverized taffeta' material for my wet plate darkbox... Works slick.

Andy, I am going to make a bag bellows for my 11x14. Do you think the Bk5/ silvered taffeta combo is IR safe?..Evan Clarke

[richard ide]

IIRC "railroad board" is a card with a recycled core. I think a far better material (considering what it is going to be used for) would be something like Strathmore illustration board. It is cotton and very durable. I think the extra cost would be well worth it.