Norma 8x10 back light seal replacement material

[Pete Watkins]

Hi,
My 8x10 Norma back is showing its age and whatever material the factory used as a light seal is disintegrating. Has anybody here carried out a replacement job on one of these backs, if so what material did you use?
Thanks,
Pete.

[LabRat]

Send a picture... There are many common materials that work well for light sealing material... Should be able to match up something...

Steve K

[Drew Wiley]

I did a seal replacement inside a 6x7 SLR yesterday which was about twenty times trickier, esp with my arthritic fingers. A Norma should be easy. I used a citrus based solvent to remove most of the old seal, rinsed that off with alcohol, then finished the residue removal with film cleaner. Let things dry well. The replacement gasket had acrylic adhesive one side with a pull off tab. That kind of thing has to be pressed on firmly without stretching, then left to "set" for at least 24 hrs. I've also used various industrial gasket materials for bigger cameras. Don't use anything that creates lint or decomposes with moisture or UV like common weatherstrip material. If your peruse the tech page at the start of the gasketing section of a McMaster catalog (on their website), there are good descriptions ofthe physical properties of various applicable materials.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I did this with a 5x7 norma, and used light baffles from microtools.

http://www.micro-tools.com/store/~/C-566/Light-Baffle.aspx

I think I used a baffle that was 1mm thick, but you may want to measure your camera to see what would fit.

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

I spoke with a technican at the Sinar factory about this problem 8 years ago. The material they used for light sealing on the Norma was no longer availible. He recommended knitting wool of good quality as a substitude.

[Pete Watkins]

Many thanks for all the good advice.
Pete.

[Daniel Unkefer]

Yes I redid the light seals on my 8x10 Norma a couple of years ago.
I settled on black adhesive foam rubber. I have a variety of thicknesses and types around.
Just whatever you use make sure the silver spring clips are not strained. Mine were when I first got it.

[William Whitaker]

I have used a good quality ribbon from a piece goods store. Find one that has a good nap on one side. It can be secured with contact cement used sparingly.