Hi guys, happy holidays from Seattle. I am bummed to report that I badly damaged my newly-acquired Toyo field 8x10 while on a photographing trip down in New Orleans last week. A piece of something gritty got lodged inside the gears of the focussing rail, which caused the rail to jam up. When I tried to break it free by turning the knobs, the gears inside broke, so now the knobs turn freely. The rail is solidly jammed, and there doesn't seem to be any way to unscrew any parts and open the assembly up.

Luckily I was able to keep photographing by using the sliding extension rail for focussing, but that was much slower and obviously not as convenient and accurate as using the proper focussing mechanism.

Does anyone have some advice for how I might fix it, or whether it is worth trying? One thing I can do is strip off all the recoverable parts and try to find another chassis, but that might be a wild goose chase. Maybe it's time to ditch the Toyo for a Wehman?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.

~cj

www.chrisjordan.com