repairing grafmatics

[Herb Cunningham]

Anybody know of a good source for repairing grafmatics?

I sent a few to Fred Lustig last year-he was not able (willing?) to fix a couple due to
what he said was lack of parts, but what was in need was light traps and some small
metal parts, nothing major.

I definitely got the impression he did not want the business.

These holders are convenient, perhaps somebody will make them again?

[Frank Petronio]

Not to sound flip, but I bought 4 "minty" ones from eBay and 3 work fine. They are right at the price point ($50-$60) where it is difficult to justify shipping them off for repairs (for $20-$30) when you can probably just buy a couple more and maybe exchange septums, springs, and housings to get (most) of yours working properly.

It would be great if somebody made a modern, lightweight version - it would beat the heck out of using Readyloads, etc.

[Donald Qualls]

Make them from injection molded ABS, including the septums, and you could probably sell them new for around $30-$50 -- and they'd be almost indestructible. Makes one wonder if you could make the septa thinner, so to get more than 6 frames in a unit that will fit under the ground glass? I seem to recall there was a Grafmatic clone that held 8 -- and of course the older, slower bag-mags that held 12, though I don't recall if they'd fit a spring back.

I'm told modern methods (CAD design for both parts and molds, flow simulation mold verification, CNC milling of the mold plates, etc.) have greatly reduced the buy-in for injection molding; it's now relatively rare to cut a mold and have it not work the first time, which means what used to cost $25k to $50k before you threw the first sprue of parts from a new mold now runs only a few thousand dollars. Some of us (the deeper-pocketed ones) could probably afford to have molds made and a first run of parts molded out of pocket, though the engineering work to design the magazine would probably cost more than the molds and first run of parts -- especially since it likely wouldn't work to simply monkey-copy the original Grafmatic in plastic, even if there were no potential legal issues.

[tim atherton]

fuji made one in the last few years - it wasn't really designed to be hand reloaded, though people did. You were supposed to buy new loaded cartridges. Took 8 sheets?

didn't really catch on (though it wasn't widely sold in the US)

[Christopher Nisperos]

Meopta (Czech Republic) tried making a "comeback" version many years ago, tentatively named the G45.
As I recall, they had a deal with WD repair --a vestige of Graflex's Western Division repair service-- but they found that the Grafmatic was too complicated to replicate. (This speaks pretty well of the Grafmatic, as the Czechs are no slouches when it comes to mechanical engineering and metal work). I also recall that WD lost quite a few sheckles in the project, unable to recoup their R&D investment from a then communist Czechoslovakia.

Today, however, I suppose that Donald Qualls could be right... but mostly, I agree with Frank Petronio: Heck, just buy one! (ps: I believe I've seen repair manuals for these on the web, if you've really got your heart into doing the Big Fix!).

Good luck,

[David A. Goldfarb]

The Fuji version was called the Quickchange. It was mainly sold in the Japanese market, but Robert White and Badger Graphic had them for a while.

Over on Glennview I've seen bag mags that hold 22 exposures, but I suspect that those are plate mags that have been adapted for film septa. Why else would design a thing to make 22 exposures, other than that was how many fit in the box?

[Colin Graham]

this? (http://cgi.ebay.com/Fuji-QuickChange-Grafmatic-Quick-Change-Film-Holder_W0QQitemZ7613159944QQcategoryZ15247QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

[Frank Petronio]

Ha, now that you've posted that I bet PeeGee doubles his auction price. I know I'm watching it. Neat stuff, sorry I missed it a few years ago when they were new.

[tim atherton]

http://www.f32.net/Services/Equipment/Accessories/quickchange.html

[Doug Pollock]

QuickChange holders are going out of production. Dirk Rosler wrote me that he has them available at his MegaPerls Japan WebShop at http://www.unicircuits.com/shop/ for $318.00. This does not include any film packs. I ordered and received from Japan 2 QuickChange cartridges with Velvia for 10,362 yen. The cartridges can be reloaded. I already own the holder.

[Dan Jolicoeur]

Wow; I can not believe that thing can sell for that much money. What a rip off. That's the problem is that everyone wished that they had bought them when they where selling them. I don't think it was a problem with them catching on. I think it was more of a problem of marketing them so we all knew they where selling them? Also I think fuji stopped producing them when everyone was reloading there own?
Why would they cut there own throats on the quickloads? Otherwise You would think someone could buy the injection molds from fuji if they are not going to sell them anymore?

I have only bought one grafmatic off ebay and the body was so used that when you cycle the thing metal dust flacks get all over the film. That kind of turned me off from them so I switched to fuji quickloads.

When I was testing this film, before I bought the holder, mpex was selling acros sheet film for the same price as I could get packet film from Badger; including shipping. Badger usually has the quickloads for about $10 cheaper than most others.

The ready/quickloads are more expensive, but well worth the cost in aggravation in the long run.

[Frank Petronio]

I fiond the Grafmatics great for portraits, especially with handheld work (see my website). Much faster than Readyloads. If they are working properly and clean they don't spread dust, and in fact, they hold your film very flat -- better than a Ready/Quickload.

I'd be interested in the Fuji version if I could actually see or try one. The mass and design of the Grafmatic makes it easy to "slam" a new sheet into position, wheras a lightweight one might not want to be used quite so quickly.

Probably Quick/Readyloads are the lightest and most convenient solution, I agree. But the Grafmatics have their place and I would welcome a modern, well designed option. Has anyone actually used the Fuji system and is it as "quick" as a Grafmatic?