Degroff Products Air Bulb ( shutter ) Release

[jnanian]

does anyone have experience with Degroff Products air shutter release ?
i was thinking of buying one since my cheep-o's are so cheep they stop working after a few months. the degroff is about 80 ( yeah i know a king's ransom ) but once i go through another few of the cheep ones i would have paid for the expensive one

much thanks

john

[shyguy]

Yes i have one. I have had no problem with it. It does appear to be very well made. I am expecting it to last a very long time.

S.

[Steve Hamley]

I have one on order. The bulbs are $16 each and the hose is $1 a foot. The ones I assume you're talking about have a conventional attachment with a "plunger" to use with a regular shutter, and it's a bit more expensive. I ordered the bulb and hose to use with air actuated Volutes.

Steev

[jnanian]

shyguy + steve:

where are you buying yours ?

is b&h the only place to buy these releases ?

they only listed the models with that came with one size hose ...

thanks!
- john

[Steve Hamley]

John,

Directly from deGroff:

Dave Cook - deGroff Products
709 East Oakside Street
South Bend, Indiana 46614

DeGroffproducts@aol.com

Steve

[Charles Webb]

Howdy,
I have been using Degroff air releases for the best part of 50 years, have yet to wear one out. You can damage the little brass threaded device, but kept clean and lubed with Teflon they last for ever. I use them on all formats and would hate to be without them.

I did not know that they were still being made, have picked up a couple on ebay in the past year, and they have been in the 50 dollar range, which is way more than I paid for the original three I still use. In the fifties they sold for about $12.00 US. I would like to know if they are still are being made as mine appear to all be hand made, way before CNC was ever dreamed of.

[shyguy]

shyguy + steve:

where are you buying yours ?

I got mine through B&H.

S.

[jnanian]

thanks guys!

- john

[MikeK]

John,

Directly from deGroff:

Dave Cook - deGroff Products
709 East Oakside Street
South Bend, Indiana 46614

DeGroffproducts@aol.com

Steve

Steve, thanks for this information. I have one of their copy easels, really cool, but I need to find a source for the replacement glass.

Mike

[jnanian]

hi again

i have yet another question before i purchase one ...

the throw that trips the shutter mechanism ... does it retract like a regular cable release? i know there is a spring mechanism in there to retract it ... i ask because the shutters i want to use it on is a wollensak studio shutter. the shutter "speed" is determined on how fast the throw retracts. with the air-bulb i've been using (rebranded kalt) i was able to get it to about 1/10ths, but then it got all gummed-up so now it opens/closes at 1/2s (or more) ... when i use a cheep 1' cable ( black cloth that costs not too much $$ ) the throw comes back in a flash, and it works at about 1/10s ... i'd use the cheep release, but i kind of want something longer than 1' ...

thanks again!

-john