How to Replace Bellows on Kodak 2D

[neil poulsen]

I'm embarking on a project to replace the bellows on my Kodak 2D. I'm looking forward to receiving a bellows from Keith at Custom Bellows in the UK.

How do people go about a project like this? I've heard it can be tricky to actually replace the bellows, taking out the old and replacing the new. How difficult is this? Is there a 3rd party that can actually "replace" the bellows once I receive the new bellows? Like S.K. Grimes?

[Michael Roberts]

Neil,
Keith provides the option of installing bellows on the old frames if you send them to him. That's what I did on my Century Universal that I restored a couple of years ago. The front and rear frames are simply screwed into the front and rear of the camera; fairly easy to remove/reinstall.

However, it sounds like you've already ordered the bellows and did not send Keith the bellows frames. If so, you may still have a choice--contact Keith and send him the frames, or wait and install the bellows on the frames yourself.

I recently received a bellows from another supplier and attached the bellows to the front and rear frames myself. This turned out to be pretty easy to do. I used contact cement and glued the rear of the bellows to the inside of the rear frame, painting the glue on the frame and on the bellows material and pressing the bellows material to the glue until it held. A benefit of contact cement is that it bonds very quickly, so I did not use tacks or staples. For the front, the bellows needed to go around the outside of the frame, so I painted contact cement only on the inside of the bellows (just the first half-inch needed to contact the front frame--after doing a dry-run with no glue) and inserted the front frame from the rear, and pushed it into position. I then used a staple gun to staple the fabric to the front frame. I'm now at the point of screwing the frames back into the front and back of the camera. This is on a ROC King 8x10 from the 1890s.

I also have a 2-D, and I know it has a rear bellows frame similar to both my CU and King 8x10s. I'm not sure about the front bellows frame on the 2-D, but I bet it's similar as well.

[neil poulsen]

Michael,

Thanks for your response. Now, I can see how this works. I've never replaced a bellows. So, I wasn't sure whether I'd be messing with glue, etc.

In fact, I haven't yet sent him the bellows, nor the frame. It sounds like sending him the bellows and frame and reattaching the replacement bellows will be a simple matter.

Again, thanks.

[Michael Roberts]

You're welcome. The only problem I had with re-installing the bellows frames I got back from Keith is that the bellows fabric covered the screw holes in the rear frame. The bellows fabric is really tough, so it's not possible to just push the screws through the fabric. I ended up pushing a straight pin through the screw-holes from the outside of the frame to locate the screw-hole position on the inside of the frame, and then I used an Exacto blade to widen the hole in the bellows material so I could fit the screws through to screw the rear frame to the camera back.

See post #130 in this link:
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=54173&page=13&highlight=century+universal+restoring

[neil poulsen]

Thanks for providing that heads-up. Very likely, I'll proceed with this project. Neil