What is better - to cut 8 pieces and glue them together or to cut one piece and glue its ends? What evidence do you need for the answer?
Didn't I share with you my opinion on it? Can you read?
I guess my initial impression of you was the correct one - making bag bellows from oversized, pretty expensive and not entirely light proof material seems to me a pretty dumb approach to bellows making.
Colin, great job on you bag bellows and nice write up. I also really enjoyed you blog/write ups on your 5x7 build and your film holder build.
Roger
Thanks Roger. This thread seems to be off the rails at this point and I regret my part in it, but I appreciate the comment.
Psor, you seem to be incapacitated by the most basic of tasks- using scissors, tape, following directions.
- It's not 8 pieces of fabric, the fabric is laminated before cutting out the 4 simple shapes.
- All bag bellows have at least a few seams- if the seams are well made and very simple to do, then a few more just aren't an issue.
- Lightproof fabrics aren't spun from magic fibers- they are made by coating fabric with something lightproof, or by making simple laminations.
- Making this simple lamination of 3 pieces of cloth (2 of BK-5, 1 of cheap ripstop in the middle) took about 7 minutes. No bubbles, no wrinkles, and it's still very thin and flexible.
- Most bellows are made by two pieces of cloth, blackout and liner. This one just has one extra layer of cloth. Without this 3rd layer, the fabric would probably be too thin and sag into light path.
- The fabric from Thorlabs is 3 yards worth, 45 square feet, so it's around $16 per yard. Not cheap, but not outrageous either, and this project only required 8 square feet for a 5x7 bellows.
- The fabric is durable, and doesn't require a lot of care in use or storage.
- If it's 'pretty dumb' to make something that works from the resources available to you, then ok, I'm pretty dumb.
I'm all for peer review, but all you're doing here is misrepresenting what I've suggested, making spurious arguments, and appealing to the stone.
Last edited by Colin Graham; 27-Nov-2017 at 08:37.
Well done Colin!
Unless you can "form mould a material", the obvious way to go is to join cut sections. These will:
-facilitate the use of otherwise waste pieces of material. Otherwise you will have a lot of pleating to do near the bellows frame.
- provide the "waists" at the two bellows frames.
- provide an outward curve in the bag, to prevent collapse into the light pathway. You can even introduce ribbing into the sewing seams with difficult materials.
Pfsor, I find your contributions here to be a more than slightly unhelpful!
Last edited by Steven Tribe; 27-Nov-2017 at 09:28. Reason: name correction
Enjoyed the bag bellows and 5x7 entries also. "Displaced Productivity" is my new favorite phrase.
Robert
OK, now it's competing with "Parsimony on Parade"...you seem to be living my life, except on the West Coast, and with more skill in bodging.
That tripod made me very happy: a nice combination of design, simplicity, and, well, parsimony. Having seen it, a child could make it. Well, a child with a router table. [Note to self: must build a router table. Must find a child.]
Bravo!
Robert
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