UNMOUNTING bellows from a deardorff

[redbird]

Yup, I finally saved enough money to send the front/back standards + old bellows off to England to get a brand new, fabulous non-leaky red bellows. Very excited about this. However I was greatly saddened when I realized that I couldn't get the standards off of the camera. As you loosen the set screws you realize that at the very end they don't come completely off. This is doubtless helpful in preventing you from accidentally taking your camera apart, but it has me confused.

If I force the situation I'm afraid that I will strip the screw. Any advice on this? The folks at Custom Bellows were VERY clear that they didn't want the entire camera sent.

Thanks for this!

[Jody_S]

I've just had the bellows off my V8 yesterday, I'm not sure why they want the front & back standards? The bellows have a wooden frame glued to the inside of the front and rear, that is an exact fit to the front & back standards. Those are very easy to remove, just a few screws, easily accessible. I wish my other cameras were that easy to take apart. Aren't those 2 frames enough to make a new bellows, especially for a Deardorff which is quite consistent for dimensions & parts, camera-to-camera?

[sully75]

yeah the bellows are mounted to frames that mount to the standards. I believe they want the frames, which are pretty easy to remove.

[John Koehrer]

Just the frames are needed. On the cameras I've had, the frames are screwed to the standards on the inside of the front 8 screws? and outside for the back, 12 screws>

[TheDeardorffGuy]

Depending on the age of you camera there are screws on the outside of the rear frame. 12 of them. see them? Older cameras have 8 inside the camera. Inside the camera you have the first fold of the bellows. Under that there are 8 black painted screws, See them? Now remove them. The front may be stuck to the front base. Pry it gently out. On the rear frame of the bellows
there is a bead of glazing compound as a seal. It is white and chalky. Push at a corner and it will give way.. There is only one thing called a standard on a V series camera. The front U shaped metal part. There is NO rear standard. Hope this helps. I do bellows too. Ken




Yup, I finally saved enough money to send the front/back standards + old bellows off to England to get a brand new, fabulous non-leaky red bellows. Very excited about this. However I was greatly saddened when I realized that I couldn't get the standards off of the camera. As you loosen the set screws you realize that at the very end they don't come completely off. This is doubtless helpful in preventing you from accidentally taking your camera apart, but it has me confused.

If I force the situation I'm afraid that I will strip the screw. Any advice on this? The folks at Custom Bellows were VERY clear that they didn't want the entire camera sent.

Thanks for this!

[Leigh]

I finally saved enough money to send the front/back standards + old bellows off to England to get a brand new, fabulous non-leaky red bellows.
Why are you sending this to England when we have a guy here on LFPF who did restorations for the Deardorff factory?

From what I've heard he does excellent work (no personal experience since I don't own one).

- Leigh

[Kevin Crisp]

I'm thinking the answer to that last question. But the last time I said it was the only time one of my comments got censored.

[cdholden]

Why are you sending this to England when we have a guy here on LFPF who did restorations for the Deardorff factory?

From what I've heard he does excellent work (no personal experience since I don't own one).

- Leigh

Actually, two: Ken Hough and Barry Cochran. Barry just isn't very active on this forum.

[Tracy Storer]

Custom Bellows in England do excellent work, my V8 has a "Custom Bellows" bellows.
(they've also made several bellows of various sizes for me over the years)