When I was writing my last post and I don't write that many, a camera came in.
A beautiful Gandolfi 8x10, I think a Precision,
Everything in fine working order, only the bellows are very stiff, I don't dare to extend them further than half way.
They are very dry. How does one make them flexible again. Just Leather fat? any advise is welcome.
Kees.
Edit;
After closer inspection, I am not even shure it is leather
First picture is inside of the belows.
Last edited by case-ie; 20-Nov-2015 at 12:19.
"I went on the internet and I found this".
Lemon pledge, this seems to work well on all kinds of materials, and my bellows aren't made of leather.
Lemon pledge is not sold here, but pledge classic seems to be almost the same.
I was also thinking about Renaissance Wax, but the material has to be nourished, it is bone dry, I can hear it cracking.
Has anybody experiences with these products?
[QUOTE=case-ie;1289643 ...but the material has to be nourished..?[/QUOTE]
Gandolfi owners will get back to you, but I think the precision has more complex linkages at the front standard.
Drying out/aging does do permanent damage to leather which, in spite of product claims, is there for ever. The first part of the extension and the last few inches towards maximum are the most critical for aged belows. You have got past one of these points! The bellows is already showing some droop which may get critical if you can extend it more. The final part of the extension can produce enough pull on the glued end of the bellows (is there a frame system with this model?) for it to break away from the standards. Traditional glues dry out and become brittle.
I think this is a paper/card based bellows and it will not react well to oil products. If it was me, I would play around with increasing the humidity of the material. Protect the wood and gentle steam each side if the bellows for short periods to see if the "crackle" disppears and the flexibility improves!
Thanks Steven,sounds like good advice, this morning I tried a damp cloth over a small part and that seems to improve movement a bit, but then you have to keep the moisture in, maybe the Renaissance Wax can help with that.
I learned that the camera has not been used in a long time, which seems to be detrimental for these bellows and these are non-leather.
I now checked the corners with a led light in my darkroom and I will have to tape all 4 of them over maybe half the lenght of the bellows, so new bellows will eventually be the way to go.
I don't know what you mean with frame system?
I've just repaired the bellows on an un-named British field camera and they were a type of leatherette. I removed the bellows from one of my own cameras before restoring it and again they are some type of leatherette c slightly different though. The inside linings are paper/card based as Steven suggest
I'm not sure that steaming will help, once the materials deteriorate and go brittle damp seems to hasten disintegration, I've a few sets of bellows in a variety of conditions and materials and most aren't repairable but they are useful for testing repair techniques. It may be that the Pledge method works in some cases however it's something I'd prefer to test first.
Bellows are sometimes glued direct to the camera but some manufacturers glue the bellows to square (or rectangular frames which are then screwed onto the relevant parts of the camera. I noticed yesterday that I need to make frames for one of my cameras that came with no bellows.Originally Posted by case-ie
Personally I'd rather make new bellows than patch them when they are beginning to fall apart, unless the patching is discrete and almost unnoticeable, I'll sometimes patch the inner side.
Ian
Thanks Ian,
These are glued directly to the camera. I don't think the material is leatherette, it looks like cloth with a very fine fabric, especially on the corners. Start to believe there is not much I can do with these bellows so I might as well strech them and then I will tape them for the time being.They are not falling apart yet and making a 8x10 bellows with 65 cm stretch seems like a tall order the first time around.
This Gandolfi bellows seems to be lined with fabric. I fix pinholes in such bellows by scrubbing liquid artist's acrylic paint thoroughly into the fabric where it leaks. A soft toothbrush works well for this.
This sound s like a very good method, and I'm not commited to tape yet. However the holes in my bellows are to big for this I think, I remember I saw some rubber repair paste or paint for shutters once, but I can't find it anymore. But came across this on a Dutch forum.
http://www.thorlabs.de/NewGroupPage9...ctGroup_ID=190
and there is a product called Plastidip. which also seems promising.
The bellows are treated with renaissance wax and crackle less and the appearance improved enormously.
Yesterday I made the first plate with this camera, inside where light leaks are not such a problem and I also wrapped my darkcloth around it.
Before this first picture I spent 5 days on this camera.
Research and buying, than this bellows story and working on them, making lens boards and modifing a film holder to plate holder, It only seems befitting to this camera.
It looks like an entity standing on a tripod and you can see the enormous attention that went into it when it was made. Anyway for me it is no hardship to work on it.
IIRC Pledge has silicone in it. You probably don't want to use this on the camera.
I tried a litlle piece yesterday, it doesnt work for me, the corners are so stiff that it is hard to get were you want. and I would have to do all 4 corners completely, to much stuff inside than I think, I taped one side with the multitape, its light thight with led. but I took it of because the camera would not close anymore. I will replace the bellows, but first I have to do some shooting, with my darkcloth around it.
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