Bellows repair

[VPooler]

Hi there again!

My road to Mount Calvary aka building my own 4x5 compact folder by restoring-modifying took a turn to the worse today when I discovered that the bellows on the donor camera (bought from Rocky cameras) lights up as a starry night when I shine light into it. There are some thin patches, every single corner shines through brightly and so on...
I don't want to spend big buck on another camera, just to discover that there are again pinholes haunting me probably and having replacement bellows made professionally is a bit expensive, it probably would be cheaper to buy a Speed Graphic at that point since I already have a lens and 5 holders coming my way but that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?

Now, two things that popped into my head were thinning the original goop covering on the fabric further with acetone, letting it dry and painstakingly paint it over with liquid electrician's tape, only that some corners have pretty big holes in them, looks like the base material is also damaged...maybe also paint the inner surfaces with it?
Other idea was getting the thinnest blackout cloth I can find and gluing it on the bellows.
The big idea with both of those methods would be covering the faulty material completely to avoid finding and repainting pinholes every other week, that camera will be my main LF workhorse for years to come.

Any other ideas? What would be the pros and cons of the two methods I described?

All the best,
-Vallo

[Robert Oliver]

I'm doing the "repainting pinholes every other week" method til I can afford a modern 8x10 with good bellows.

[Bob Salomon]

The only cure for a leaking bellows is to bite the bullet and get a new bellows. All other stop gap cures will come back to bite you as the bellows will continue to develop pinholes and the additiona of tape, paint, goop, etc will just make the bellows less supple. In addition the stuff may peel up or fall off and then the original leak is back.

And what does it cost to recapture, if possible, lost shots from unexpected leaks.

[VPooler]

I have my doubts about the liquid tape too. I am more and more liking the idea of thinning the original goop as much as possible and using the old bellows as a framework for a new one, somehow gluing some nice, light-tight fabric on it. That way I don't have to mess with the stiffeners and inner layers myself :P Any ideas how to do this? I found some beautiful wine red blackout cloth for quite a low price. It would go nice with the would-be mahogany body. Probably just Baltic birch stained and laquered to imitate mahogany :P

[klw]

I successfully used black silicone (the stuff that is used to build an aquarium) for bellows repair. I simply applied it with a toothpick on the fully exteded bellows and let it cure for 24h.

--Matthias

[Jim Jones]

For bellows with a fabric liner, I extend the bellows and thoroughly scrub black liquid artist's acrylic paint into the fabric with a toothbrush. This doesn't build up the thickness of the material, and it remains flexible. Do let it dry before compressing. For a quick temporary fix of only a few pinholes, black crepe tape seems to work well.

[Robert Oliver]

I also wrap the bellows in dark cloth.... Morley Baer style!

[Ron Stowell]

Remove the bellows from the camera, extend it fully, remove the dirt from the outer surface, paint on two coats of liquid electrical tape ( allow each coat to dry before applying the next coat) allow to dry fully. I did this three years ago to my Toyo bellows and they are still leak proof to this day.

[VPooler]

I did further examination of the bellows and even the inner lining is quite shot, so getting new bellows is my best choice.

If anyone reading this has a spare set of tapered bellows, for 4x5, quarter plate or 9x12 for a reasonable price, please let me know. They can be old and I don't mind some damage done by i.e. camera mechanism as it can be more easily fixed. In fact, my other DIY camera has bellows that were torn a bit by camera, taped them up and all good to go since rest of the bellows is in good shape.

[ataim]

I successfully used black silicone (the stuff that is used to build an aquarium) for bellows repair. I simply applied it with a toothpick on the fully exteded bellows and let it cure for 24h.

--Matthias

I did the same. Appears to be fine after about a year.

[fecaleagle]

You can use black silicone "Gasket Maker" by Permatex from any auto parts store. As mentioned before, it isn't a cure, but it is flexible and light-proof. I never had any appreciable leaks after a single application to an old Speed Graphic's bellows.

[redshift]

If $125 is in the budget you can get bellows from Rudy in China. I've bought two that were nice.

[VPooler]

My budget is limited. About 5 times more limited.

[redshift]

Will a Crown Graphic bellows work? I've got one I'll send you for the price of postage.

[VPooler]

I can make them work since I am modifying the lensboard anyway. I'll PM you for further details :) Thank you!