$12 bellows repair

[Gregory Bell]

In the recent posts on bellows repair and maintenance, I haven't seen anyone men tion the liquid "Bellows Patch Sealer" sold by Bostick & Sullivan (perhaps becau se it's a relatively new product?). I just tried it with good success on an old er Arca-Swiss bellows. The compound is thick and gray-ish (though it dries blac k). I decided to touch-up all the areas where three folds intersect (all my lig ht leaks were in such intersections).

I applied four coats, letting each dry a few hours, then I let the whole bellows dry another 24 hours to be safe. The results were pretty impressive -- the lig ht leaks disappeared, and the bellows remained flexible. I only did this last w eek, and so I can't speak about long-term wear. But it sure beats paying for a new bellows.

[Brian Ellis]

There are two schools of thought on repairing bellows light leaks that are caused by aging (as opposed to some sort of accident). One school says it's cheap and easy so go for it. The other school says that whatever caused the light leaks you are repairing will continue to cause light leaks but you won't know about them until you've processed all the film from a particular session or trip, thus ruining what will no doubt in retrospect be the greatest photographs you ever made in your life. Personally I belong to the latter school and would rather buy a new bellows than take a chance on ruining a whole bunch of photographs before discovering the new leaks but that's obviously a personal thing. There was a long discussion between Richard Sullivant of Bostick and Sullivan (who advocates repair) and Patrick Alt (who advocates no repair) in the alt.photo news group about a month ago. You might find it interesting if you can access that group.

[Gregory Bell]

Here's the rest of the story: the $12 bellows repair didn't hold up too well on a hot day in Yosemite, recently. The corners which I had treated with the stuff got tacky, stuck to each other, and generally acted up. I now belong to the second school of thought regarding bellows repair (see Brian's post, above).

[rc1776]

I had a link to a bellows repair person in Hawaii.
Does anyone have that address?

Kind Wishes to All,

Ron Cole rc1776@cablelynx.com

[Jim Jones]

Black liquid acrylic artist's paint well scrubbed into fabric bellows liners has worked well for me without adding thickness to the material. It is slightly tacky. If that is a problem, it perhaps could be waxed. One could do a small test repair before a complete rejuvenation. It's much easier to do a good repair job initially than to repair the repair job!

[Sheldon N]

I've used the black "puffy paint" that you use to draw on T-Shirts for repairing bellows light leaks before. You can find it at any craft store for a couple bucks, and it's quite durable.

[John Schneider]

I've had good success with a brushable vinyl compound used for encapsulating electrical connections in wet environments. Liquid Lectric Tape is one brand name; most boating stores carry their own brand as well. Use a toothpick to dab the vinyl onto the bellows and let it dry. It comes in colors as well (to color-code your electrical connections), which allows you to match the patch to your brown KMV bellows etc.

[Frank Petronio]

FWIW I sprayed the offending corners inside and out with several coats of Plasti-Dip Spray. I haven't gotten anything really hot yet but otherwise it looks and works well for a bellows you would otherwise give up on.

[domenico Foschi]

Black silicon

[G Benaim]

I've had good results w bookbinder's tape, along the edges. It's cloth tape, archival, doesn't gum up, and stays put. Sandy King had a thread about it on apug.

[Glenn Thoreson]

Liquid elecrical tape and a toothpick. Carefully done, it's undetectable on pinholes. It works well. I can't stress enough the importance of covering the whole works with your dark cloth before pulling the slide. Even in 1894, in a book I have, it was stressed that covering is very important. Even with new equipment. A person can get by with a surprising number of little pinholes by taking this simple step.

[jnantz]

i've used the bookbinders tape to repair hinges on film holders,
i never thought of it to repair bellows ...
i use jeremy's home brew of india ink and pva to repair bellows i have that needed
fixing up. it worked very well, but it stays in a studio and doesn't get too hot ..

equinox photographic sells their own stuff too, i hear it does the trick as well ..

ymmv