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Interesting comments about mold smell on Japanese goods. I've bought about 2 dozen items (large and small) from Japan in the last year and never had that problem. The only place I've gotten several...

Try your local hardware store. They'll have washers in both metal and plastic, that might fit.
I've found washers that fit Copal 0 and Copal 1; to be honest, I've never looked for one to fit a...

Interesting Post Script: I opened these up to clean them, and discovered that the inside of the holder, the part that actually holds the film, comes right out. The inserts are nicely lacquered...

Ok.
All the suggestions here are pretty much the same as for any folding camera.
Anybody have a theory about why there are so many badly damaged ones on eBay?

Fujinon/Fujinar 150mm f6.3
Xenar 150mm f5.6 (Copal 0)
Fujinon 135mm f5.6
Ektar 203mm f7.7
(Haven't tried it, but the Sironar 150mm f5.6 is pretty tiny.)

I got a minor case of GAS and started looking on eBay at Toyo 45A and 45A II.
There seem always to be several of them being sold "as-is" because of damaged bellows (usually a severe crunch right...

Interesting. My experience in buying from them (KEH) has always been good; prices are a bit more than you'd probably pay on eBay but condition has always been better than described, and they do...

Can you explain a little?

I sold a lot of stuff successfully on eBay a few years ago, and have been planning on starting up again. I have a few very valuable items that I might rather sell to...

Yep. The item is always "beautiful," and "hard to find in Japan." And the Optics have no fungus or scratches even if the item is a view camera with no lens.

But this isn' really a problem, ...

This is an old thread, but I'll throw in my recent experience: This summer I bought a Fujinon 180mm f9 from a Japanese seller. It was described as "mint," but when it arrived it had serious damage...

I'm a long-time customer of Carol Futot at Flutot's Camera Repair, but as most here will know, she is caring for her husband, who is ill, and is not accepting as much work as she used to.

Like...

I mentioned the shorter Fujinons only for completeness, and to demonstrate that Fuji made a full line of top quality enlarging lenses. Of course the 90 and shorter lenses are not intended for large...

Old thread now, but nobody mentioned the Fujinon EX series.
They come in 50mm, 75, 90, 105 and 135. They're superb; I found them better than the higher end big-three lenses, although I never tried...

Mr Galli: Good idea. I mostly use HP5, but I have some odd film that I'd like to try.

Also, of course, most of the stuff listed on eBay as "rare and valuable" is neither. So these would fit...

I haven't used them yet, but I have loaded one (in daylight) with a sheet of dead film.
They're definitely 5x7 sheet film holders.

Soooo, I could re-sell them as "rare valuable antique film holders?"

I was going through some boxes that have been in the basement since we moved 4 years ago, and found five 4x5 holders and a box of Forte 400 film. The film expired in 2005 and I have no idea when I...

I bought 4 used Kodak 5x7 film holders on eBay, and I think they're a little odd.
In the attached picture, the Kodak is the wooden one on the right.
As you can see, it's about half an inch shorter...

Yes, the chrome lever was spring loaded, and it was easy to depress it and release the "anti-twist" pin. Unfortunately, when the lever was depressed, the lens still wouldn't move at all in either...

I've used sheets in several colors, including dark green, navy blue and black for all kinds of backgrounds. The no-iron kind is best.

I discovered just this week that Ace hardware carries large washers, both steel and plastic, in both Copal 0 and Copal 1 sizes.
OK, they're not exactly Copal 0 and 1, but close enough for when the...

Bah!
It's NOT the same as a Copal 1, just a tiny bit bigger.
So I may have to get a ring from S.K.Grimes, for $40.00.

Karl,
How do you mean "defending his product to the hilt?" Is he claiming that there is no problem, or that it's your fault? Refusing to do anything to help?

That would be discouraging.

Picture of the back of the lens.
Note that the things that I was calling "levers" aren't levers at all. They're non-moveable tabs, screwed into the back of the shutter. (They're at about 2 and 8...

Sanford,
I tried turning the pins with pliers. Didn't work.
They appear to be riveted or maybe brazed onto the back of the black board.
Old-timey quality construction. :-)

Success!
I hacksawed off one of the pins.
It turned out that while it looked like the levers were just stopped against the pins, they were actually fitted into slots cut in the pins, and that...

Wow, I thought I was using an old lens, but the entries here have me beat by almost a hundred years.
Mine is an uncoated Schneider 15cm Xenar in a Compur shutter, from about 1930, I think. Only 88...

Thanks to everyone.
I think now I at least have a way to proceed, and I'm satisfied that I'm not missing/overlooking a simple and obvious way to dismantle the thing.
I think the easiest first step...

Reddesert and Mr Tribe,
I think you're right! The Flickr picture of the front of the camera does have a very similar pin at 10:30. And the article says that a 15cm Tessar was standard on this...

The lens appears to be screwed into a very tight hole in the large gray board, or maybe just a tight fit held in by whatever the mechanism on the front is, or by the 4 small screws that go into the...

I can see the shutter's threads on the back of the lens board. There isn't any retaining ring.
I'm wondering if the shutter is glued into the board.

I'd be willing to use a thin hacksaw and cut...

Keith,
There is a 3rd, thin round board on the back of the main board. The ends (not the heads) of 4 small screws protrude slightly.
Otherwise, it's as I described in the "Forgot to say" post.

Forgot to say: There is a 3rd, thin board fastened to the back of the gray board. This one fits loosely around the back of the lens and would prevent access to the retaining ring, if there was one....

I bought an uncoated Zeiss 150mm Tessar in a Compur shutter. The glass is lovely, and the shutter works, but I can't figure out how to get it off of the lens board it's installed on.

I'm hoping...

Thank you, Kumar, from 5 years in the future...

Wow. More responses than I expected. Thanks to all of you!

Mr Salomon: Eminently sensible suggestion. I tried it, and indeed the level is level. Which is pretty much what I expected.

Mr...

To make a long story short, I have a near-perfect Ektar 203mm f7.7 lens in a dead Flash Supermatic shutter, and an Anastigmat 203mm in a recently CLA'd No. 2 Supermatic.

The lenses physically...

Nice, but how long did you have to stand there?? :-)

I love the look of wooden cameras, but the amount of handwork involved in building them makes the price too high for me. The Chroma sells for about $300, with a lens board and a pinhole lens.
I...

Where I am, in Michigan, the relative humidity right now is 87% That's high; normal summer humidity is more like 70 to 75%
In any case, static electricity is way, way down on my worry list.