Unveiling of the Century

[Randy H]

Alright!!
I finally got my Century 8X10 finished!
Just a reminder, here is a picture of what the Century looked like before I started it.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3050&stc=1&d=1175971405

And a few after rebuild. I just finished the bellows late last night, and installed them this morning. The lens board and lens is a temp, but I just "HAD" to see something in the glass. Glass is fantastic.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3046&stc=1&d=1175970991
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3047&stc=1&d=1175971007
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3049&stc=1&d=1175971096

Just for those that have not been following, there is a journal of work and a lot of pics athttp://century-camera.livejournal.com/

[Ash]

Oh wow....that is beautiful. Honestly that looks perfect, amazing.

[Walter Calahan]

Wow, nicely done!!!!!

[Kevin Klazek]

Randy, very nice work. The before and after tells the story. If you are going to take this beauty out in the field you may want to get a lighter weight tripod instead of that rock solid studio stand it is on in the pics :D

[Randy H]

Well.......
That was actually just for the pic. Happened to be handy, and I thought it went well with the "Century". I have a period tripod (Ansco) that it will have to share with its younger brother, Conley 5X7.
And as good as it looks, it will see the great outdoors. It was built to shoot, not to sit on a shelf and look at.
Right after I finished the rebuild on the Conley, I loaded it up in a backpack, took it to the shop with me to show off. Everybody there was touching it and holding it like it was going to fall apart on them, and wiping fingerprints off of it. I had to laugh. I told them it was just another "daily driver". As will this one end up.

[John Hannon]

Randy, you did a fine job on that camera! I can't get over how bad the original bellows were.

--John

[BrianShaw]

Beautiful restoration. You are an inspiration, Randy. Have fun with your brand-new antique camera!

[gregstidham]

Looks great. :)

[Jim Galli]

Well done. I have some bed extensions that look like those. Did you have to go beating the bushes for some? I don't see them in the before pic.

[Randy H]

Actually, I bought the camera from an individual in New York, and then a week later, he put the bed extension and sliding tripod mount on eBay. I bought it, along with some other junk stuff. The extension and mount cost almost as much as the camera. Ah well, such is life....

[Frank R]

Great job Randy. I have a Century sitting here without a bellows. Would you be willing to make me one for a decent price? Contact me.

[brad martin]

Beautiful.......and miraculous.........

[Pete Skerys]

It's a beautiful thing and a job that's truely inspirational... well done!

[Randy H]

I have a Century sitting here without a bellows. Would you be willing to make me one for a decent price?

The bellows look good in the pictures. They work very well. But..... You have not seen the half dozen sets I trashed figuring out what works for me.
I would not be comfortable building a set for someone else's camera. I can live with my "close enough's". There is a wealth of information on the 'net, starting here on this site.
I found this site :http://my.net-link.net/~jsmigiel/bellows.html and it has links to Doug Bardells, Jon Grepstadt, Jim Vail and others, and then made up the rest as I went along. We also have a member on this site whose business is bellows and make mine look like a second-rate attempt. http://www2.hawaii.edu/~mkapono/bellows.htm I gotta give credit where credit is due, and these guys are good.

"A man needs to know his limitations..."
(which is not a bad thing, as long as you learn to compensate for them)

[Ash]

Hey Randy, thanks for that link.

Is the member cheaper than camerabellows in the UK ??

[Randy H]

From my understanding, and some comments from other members on this site, he is extremely competitive in quality and pricing. There was another thread on his work here:http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=23879&highlight=bellows
And here: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=23733&highlight=king

[Brian Ellis]

Beautiful job, I wish I could do this kind of thing. Do you plan to tell us how you did it? I'd certainly be interested.

[Randy H]

There is a link to the journal I kept, and basic how-I-did-it and screw-ups.
http://century-camera.livejournal.com/ The journal is two pages long. It opens on the second page, so to follow correctly, scroll to the bottom, and got to "next" page and start at the bottom. There is also a link to Flickr, where a lot of the pics are stored.

[Ernest Purdum]

The cost my have been a bit high, but I am very glad to see you were able to get the extension and tripod mount. I hate seeing so many older cameras incomplete. Congratulations.

[ic-racer]

Very nice job. I have a similar Century that is in somewhat better shape, and in fact, a few weeks ago I got to looking at it again with the thought of restoring it to usable condition. Mostly because I want to start doing some 8x10 work.

Two issues have kept me from proceeding:

First, there is a large rivet that holds the brass upright to the wood rear frame. I felt it might be difficult to redo the wood and polish the brass if the two were still connected. Is this much of an issue?

Second, some of the wood has fractured from my focusing rail on one both sides. This makes the front upright somewhat unsteady. Did you have to do any wood fabrication in this area? Or were yours OK.

Thanks

[Randy H]

..I have a similar Century ....thought of restoring it to usable condition...
Two issues have kept me from proceeding:
First, there is a large rivet that holds the brass upright to the wood rear frame. I felt it might be difficult to redo the wood and polish the brass if the two were still connected. Is this much of an issue?
Second, some of the wood has fractured from my focusing rail on one both sides. This makes the front upright somewhat unsteady. Did you have to do any wood fabrication in this area? Or were yours OK.


First: If you look inside the frame, the rivets were bradded down. "CAREFULLY" grind the bradded head off. I used my dremel with a de-burr tool. This still leaves enough to extend through the inside washer. CAREFULLY using a small punch, (or in my case, a small phillips screwdriver:rolleyes: ) knock the brad out, from the inside. This still leaves enough material to drill out with a 1/8 inch bit,(or appropriate size) about 1/4 inch deep, and tap it out with a #6-32 tap. A #6-32 screw is about as large as the remaining brass will allow. And jsut be carefull you don't drill completely through the brad. Then when you put it all back together, use a #6-32x1/2 machine screw. Worked great. Looks like you never touched it. Below is a pic of close-up of inside rear frame withscrew in place.
Second: Yep, same issue. I glued and clamped the splintered piece as best I could, then used "plastic wood" to build up and re-shape. I showed this with the rear piece in the journal. I did not show it for the front rail. I also had to "tweak" the front standard to ride the gears properly, and thanks to a tip on another site, if you look at the rear focus gears, there is a spring above the gear-rail that runs from side to side, to help keep tension on it. I just did the same for the front rails. Drilled a small hole about center, inserted a small spring, and put a brass rivet in the spring, to ride on the gear-rail.
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3088&stc=1&d=1176081896

[John Cahill]

Great job. Was it difficult making the bellows?

[Randy H]

I had a little better luck with these bellows than I have had on some in the recent past. Like I stated earlier though, it takes a few screw-ups to get it right. There are some issues with these that if I had to do over, I would do differently. Like larger pleats, and about a half-inch smaller dimension across back. I attached bellows to outside of rear frame, and I think it would have gone better had I made the bellows a tad smaller and attached to the inside. But as far as difficulty,not real bad. If you attempt a set, practice a small set with the materials you intend to use. You will find out a lot cheaper and easier whether or not your choice of liner, stiffeners and outer cover will work or not. As for the folding, just time and patience.

[Rob_5419]

What a beautiful rebuild Randy - just in time for Easter :)

Pleased to see what you've done with it and thanks for breathing life back into the dead pile of bronchitis that this once was!

Neat to see you've shared your journal on the blog forum too. I'd like to ask the mods to pin it up as a sticky to inspire anyone else to read through your journal and work out the teething probs. you had. More importantly - to show that it's actually possible to rebuild without sending it off to a specialist camera repairer ;)

Happy Easter.

Rob

[ic-racer]

Then when you put it all back together, use a #6-32x1/2 machine screw. Worked great. Looks like you never touched it...

Excellent ideas! It is looking more do-able now. Also, belows making has always been confusing to me, but after seeing your web pages it is now quite clear. Thanks!

My one side front rail is so bad I think I might have to reconstruct it without the slot and then re-cut a new slot, so that the thin upper piece (which is long gone) doesn't just break off again. I'm not a big woodworker but always looking for ways to challenge and get better.

[Randy H]

My one side front rail is so bad I think I might have to reconstruct it without the slot and then re-cut a new slot, so that the thin upper piece (which is long gone) doesn't just break off again.

Just had a thought.... Do your rails have the small brass strip and gears running the length of the bottom-side of the rail? (for the moveable tripod mount) You could duplicate that on the top of the rail. Take out just enough wood for the brass strip to set flush with the top of the wood, and over the side just enough for the front standard to clear. Some of the field cameras are set up this way. It would give a "base" for the standard to ride on, and would not have to worry about the wood breaking again. I may look at this for the extension rail on this one.

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Randy,

Wonderful project, great work, beautiful machine.