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Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
I just received an Agfa Ansco 8x10 I got from Ebay for a couple hundred bucks, that I want to restore to a user standard. The good news is that the camera is largely complete (only one missing knob), has a bellows that smells musty but appears to be in generally good shape and light-tight, has a perfectly decent 8x10 back and ground glass, and as a bonus has a built-in working packard shutter. The bad news is it requires a complete breakdown and rebuild, largely due to several loose joints in the rails and and a hacked rear standard focus lock knob. Oh, yes, it's also painfully ugly, and so I'll be bringing the finish up to at least a non-crumbly condition - right now I'm thinking of stripping all finishes and just applying an oil afterwards.
So here is the "before":
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Any pre-emptive input would be appreciated. I have two specific questions - since these were Agfa branded cameras, should I expect to look at metric replacements for missing screws? Also, can anyone tell me which model of camera this is. I know not all early A-As had front tilt, but from what I've read, both the Unversal and the Commercial had front focusing, and this one doesn't - only rise and shift. It's definitely not a Commercial, judging by the rail extension. Is it just a very early Universal?
Finally, as this is my first post here, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Simon, and I'm an architect, but I studied photography at Columbia College Chicago in the 1990s. I have been an on-off large and medium-format user, including quite a bit of pinhole photography and other experiments, not all of which have been analog. I have quite a stash of cameras, including a working 5x7 post-war Ansco field camera, a Cambo Cadet and a Speed Graphic. Recently I've started doing things with the Ansco, and I have to say I have enjoyed the larger format. That was mostly what induced me to take the plunge into 8x10, but since my family budget can't justify the purchase of a more modern and expensive option, I decided to go for a fixer-upper.
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Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
With a 2D I recently put back into shape, I decided not to keep all the fixtures and screws original and old-timey.
The old screws could be pulled out quite easily, so I filled the screw holes with wood plugs and glue, then re-drilled each hole for modern screws that were roughly the same size as the originals.
There was a lot of other work to do on the camera in order to make it functional, not true to its original look, but the camera works very well now.
It looks like you'll probably have to strip the paint at least, as I'm sure some of it is likely to interfere with the camera's functions.
Good luck, keep us posted.
Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
That looks like quite a fun project!
Please take lots of photos so we can see how it progresses!
Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
Since the bellows look fine, the camera will greatly survive; indeed a lovely project to do.
Because you're only missing one screw/bolt I would keep the camera as original as possible and fellowmembers might have for you the missing parts (guess the parts are not metric since the nameplate says "manufactured in USA" - we didn't have this type of AFGA cams in Europe).
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Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
Started disassembly. Turns out, as usual with these types of projects, that things are worse than I had imagined. The bed frame glue joints essentially came apart on their own, and what didn't seems to be held together by fasteners under or in the gear racks, which I see no way of removing safely at this point. If anyone knows how the racks are held down on these cameras, I'd love to hear your input. It would be far better to re-glue these joints properly than to resort to mechanical fasteners, as one person seems to have already done once.
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Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
Any chance your racks are pinned on with small nails?
You'll have to look closely.
Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
Is that the typical method? I can see tiny heads, but they're a bit buried and can't tell whether they're nails or screws. Would it be safe to just pry them up then?
Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
The gear tracks on my Eastman 2D were held down with about 5 or 6 tiny nails. Hard to see the heads, but try to gently pry up the track at one end, then the other, and you may see the nails start to pull up. Once they come out a few mm you may be able to pull them out with needlenose pliers.
I had to slightly reposition one of the tracks on the rear extension, as it was not contacting with the track on the center bed.
Re: Restoring my "new" Agfa Ansco 8x10.
On another front, the nice brass knobs on the camera seem to have been press-fitted with through-axle pins, which also seem press-fitted. That means I won't be able to remove them non-destructively, unless someone has an idea how to do it. Right now it looks like I won't be able to take all the hardware off, and will have to refinish the camera with some of it still attached. And here I thought in the old days they used to make stuff to be fixed.