Dark slide light trap material

[Charlie Skelton]

Does anyone know where yone can get the felt used for darkslide light traps? I'm in the UK but could import if necessary.

Cheers

Charlie.

[sanking]

Just go to a fabric store and buy the black felt. You can just cut it to size and glue it to the baffle with contact cement.

Another material I have used is a self-adhesive felt sold by McMaster-Carr. Go to http://www.mcmaster.com/products.html and do a search on their site. I don't have a record of the product number but it is black felt with adhesive backing and is sold in rolls.

[Jim Galli]

Something else perhaps worth a try is velcro. The fuzzy side. Usually has adhesive already there.

[sanking]

Velcro might not be a good choice for this application. Those little strands/tentacles allow light to pass through. Just hold a piece up on edge and look through it against a bright light.

[Jan Pietrzak]

Depending on what kind of light trap you are making, you might even try velvet ribbon. Try to get cotton based not polyester. Head off to a fabric store to find the best quality you can find. Black of course. Although may Kodak 8x10 film/ground glass trap was made with dark/dark/dark red almost a maroon color. Why? Give this a try.

Jan Pietrzak

[Bob Eskridge]

The fuzzie "cloth" side of the Velcro - not the hook side just may work. I sure hope so! Over the past few months I have been slowly assembling the tools and materials to fabricate my own 6X12 sheet film holders to fit a Patent Etui and was planning on trying it first.

Also, you can purchase black velvet at a cloth store (I have some) but it may need a little foam backing added to make it thick enough. "Where there is a will there is a way!"

[sanking]

Bob,

Tell me more about the 6X12 Patent Etui?

[Bob Eskridge]

Sandy, it is a 9cm X 12cm not 6 X 12 - sorry.

The Patent Etui, AKA KW Patent Etui, AKA Kawee is the smallest 9X12 camera I have ever heard of. Mine when folded is 4 1/2 X 6 1/3 and only 1 1/2 inches thick at its thickest dimension. And similarly lightweight at about 1 1/2 lbs I believe. I have two, one has an 150 uncoated Zeiss Tessar lens and the other a 135 uncoated Zeiss Tessar lens. I am in the process of adapting a later (1965) 135 coated Xenar to the camera which will be a very close fit.

The front standard of this particular (unique) design is very rigid but has only front rise (actually in effect front horizontal shift since it folds in the vertical dimension.) It does have double extension bellows, focus lock, scale focus and ground glass focus, built in bubble level, and a couple of finders.

These German made cameras were made for the most part before WWII and include Voigtlander, Ihagee, Zeiss and other brands. They used glass plate holders with adapters for film. Unfortunately, the holders are not very interchangeable among brands and in particular the holders for the Etui have been impossible to find.

[Charlie Skelton]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll get to the local fabric shop.

Cheers

Charlie.