Retrofitting a bellows...

Hi, all -

The bellows on my Korona 8x10 died this week. Luckily, I foresaw this happenstance, and Ash sent me an old enlarger bellows he had last week. It was way big, but there was enough that fit the camera as to be usable.

The Korona's front standard was much too small for the 9" front frame in the bellows. As this was the narrow end, Ash and I decided an adapter frame fitted to the front would reduce the opening enough to mate with the Korona. Frames were made from red birch, half-lapped at the corners. Routed a rabbet in the frame to fit with the Korona's light trap (a neat design, BTW), and glued to the front of the bellows with Pliobond. Clamped in place, and the bellows start looking good:
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/d...s/IMG_4965.jpg

The rear frame was made similarly.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/d...s/IMG_4967.jpg

Measured the maximum width and height that would fit in the rear standard, added a couple folds for good measure, and cut the bellows to length. Reglued the bottom seam with Pliobond, and the rear frame looks like it'll fit:
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/d...s/IMG_4969.jpg

Glued the bellows in place with Pliobond (love that stuff), and stapled the folds to the frame. Not pretty, but functional. The frames screwed in place, back in place, and the camera is once again complete:
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/d...s/IMG_4970.jpg

I think I have about 26" or so of draw now. Not as much as the original, but will keep me entertained for a while. I need to go back and coat the wood with some flat black paint, but it's usable now as-is.

Thanks Ash!
Scott

I have done this a few times, I am always on the lookout for bellows, I had a 2D fullplate that I did this with, bought a old home made camera off ebay for the bellows and was able to retrofit the bellows to the 2D frames and it worked great, in fact I believe the guy I gave it to is still shooting it with the retro fit bellows.

Good Job Scott.

Nice!

I'd been looking for a home for the bellows since this post http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=38927

Glad to be shot of them, and glad they are put to use (even as a stopgap for the moment).

I forced Scott -- to post a thread to show this off. I was proud to see another part of the 10x10 enlarger go towards something.

Well done!