Gundlach/Korona Leather Handle

[Lachlan 717]

I had a similar situation with small wood screws failing and pulling out of hardwood. My solution was to remove the small wooden screws, drill slightly larger holes, and then slightly force thread small stainless steel bolts into the holes with just the slightest bit of Gorilla glue applied inside the water dampened holes. I first tried this on a piece of hardwood and let it dry for a day. When I very forcefully removed the bolt, it came out with some wood still attached to it indicating to me that the wood failed and not the bolt's ability to fasten into the wood.

A simple nut and washer on the inside of the frame would be stronger, as it distributes the load over a greater area than a bolt alone method. Use some Loktite and/or Nulok nuts if you're worried they'll come undone.

Also a heap easier than some convaluted T-Nut solution.

[mdarnton]

A good design doesn't always mean maximum strength--the consequences of failure need to be figured in, also. Here's a question---if your camera got hung up on something, would you rather simply rip off the handle, or tear the top piece of wood to bits?

[Jac@stafford.net]

A simple nut and washer on the inside of the frame would be stronger, as it distributes the load over a greater area than a bolt alone method. Use some Loktite and/or Nulok nuts if you're worried they'll come undone.

Also a heap easier than some convaluted T-Nut solution.

Convoluted? Were you paying attention? Do you even know what a pronged T-nut is? I think not. It's easier than nuts and washers. No nut or washer needed, and it requires less space under the wood frame. Learn up.

[Jac@stafford.net]

A good design doesn't always mean maximum strength--the consequences of failure need to be figured in, also. Here's a question---if your camera got hung up on something, would you rather simply rip off the handle, or tear the top piece of wood to bits?

I would put a buckle in the middle of the handle.

[Lachlan 717]

Convoluted? Were you paying attention? Do you even know what a pronged T-nut is? I think not. It's easier than nuts and washers. No nut or washer needed, and it requires less space under the wood frame. Learn up.

Wow, Jac, such vitriol when people don't agree with you. Sad, really...

First, with T-nuts, you need to drill a bigger hole than a regular nut'n'bolt set-up due to the T-nut's threaded tube design, thus compromising the timber's structural integrity. To what extent? Who knows, but why risk it, especially with decades old timber that might be somewhat brittle and/or have micro-cracks already.

Second, for the T-nut to work, you're driving its wedges into the timber to prevent the opposite directional torque when you tighten the screw through it. Again, your risking the integrity of the timber with this wedging.

Third, space is a moot point. There is a ton of room under the handle section between the timber and the bellows (bellows are tapered, not square). Additionally, the difference in thickness between the T-nut's ring and a washer/nut combination is 4mm (measuring the ones I have in my workshop). Note that this is using a Nulok nut. A "regular" nut would reduce this by approx. 2mm if you're happy to Epoxy the nut. If you're going to countersink them, you'll compromise the frame further.

Finally, aesthetically, I find T-nuts objectionable for finished timber. Poorly finished and zinc coated look way too agricultural for my tastes, especially on an old camera AND compared to (for example) brass fixings. Of course, and I predict that it will simply because I've written it, YKMV*.

*Metric version of YMMV.

[LabRat]

Allow me just to cut in to this part of the discussion, by making a blanket statement involving most tech, is "There is no one solution to a problem", meaning each problem has it's own needs (and might be several ways to skin that cat), so give it what it needs... Just don't overdo it, and try to make it reversible, so if it does not work out, no harm done...

Most stuff comes down to "you can do this, that, or that, but avoid doing this, etc... ;-)

Starting the year looking forward,

Steve K

[Robert Brazile]

Robert,

Do you just screw into the wood? Or do you use a nut and bolt? Looks beautiful.

After removing the split rivets, I replaced them with tiny brass nuts and bolts from McMaster-Carr. Works just fine.

Robert

[MichaelPRyan]

Well the shoe repair guy did a great job. Problem solved. Don’t know why I didn’t think of him initially.