Making a Sinar 8x10 bellows from another manufacturer's bellows?

[Frank Petronio]

I was just on Bob's Sinar 8x10 thread where he is about to get a custom bellows made up... and it dawned on me, why couldn't you just get a Cambo or some other brand 8x10 bellows and cut off the frames, then Contact Cement the Sinar frames to it (just like they do at the factory) and have a replacement bellows faster and less expensively?

Has anyone ever done this?

Of all the various 8x10 bellows out there, the Cambo bellows seem to be the most plentiful and least costly. How are they compared to the Sinar OEM bellows?

[salihonba]

or even faster, contact cement the Sinar frame on top of the Cambo frame, make them stack, that is it!

[erie patsellis]

Why stop there, just contact cement the cambo back to a sinar frame...

[svarzaru]

Not all 8x10 bellows are the same. The circumference of the bellows at the rear & front needs to match otherwise you could not connect the bellows to the frame. At the same time the inside dimensions need to be appropriate so it won't block the light path, and the outside dimensions if wrong they might prevent the camera from folding, tilting, etc.
The extension needs to be sufficient for the camera but not too much otherwise it may compress too thick.