Century Grand 5x7

[Milonian]

Hi,
I'm new to the site and have been restoring a Century Grand 5x7 triple extension camera from early 20th century. When I was removing the front stand, a piece of metal strip, bent ( I suppose to make it act as a spring) 1/10th of an inch wide by 3 inches long, fell on to the desk. The standard still works as normal so I could leave it out - the rest of the camera does now too after receiving a full dismantle, recovering with new leather and new 24 inch bellows (that was a learning curve!). I don't like to leave it out though and would prefer to install it where it should be - trouble is I have no idea where it goes or what function it has.
Can anyone assist?

[LabRat]

Check to see if that's the spring that sits under the top front standard lensboard holder strip... They put a spring there so that when the lensboard is seated, it creates downward pressure so the lensboard does not slip out on it's own... Convex side should usually go towards lensboard...

Good Luck!!!

Steve K

[Milonian]

Brilliant! Exactly right - there are two slots to take up the extra width versus the lens board opening. I removed the brass top lens board holder strip and all became obvious! Thank you very much - that's made my day as I hate not getting everything back in the right place - even down to making all the screws face in the same direction as they did in the factory!

Kind regards from Scotland
Gordon

[Tim Meisburger]

Nice work! Please do show us the finished article.

[Milonian]

Nice work! Please do show us the finished article.

Not finished yet. I may decide to replace the tabs that stop the bellows from drooping but my bellows material is a bit more stiff so they don't sag anyway. The leather was basically brown dust - the original black finish had gone so I was left with the under layers and they had dried out to such an extent that there was a pile of dust wherever the camera was put down. That's my old leather 3/4 length jacket! The bellows are made from an IKEA blackout blind - like light canvas on the outside and with an acrylic/rubberized coating on the inside. It holds a fold without the card stiffeners but I made them and installed them anyway. Totally light tight - very pleased with that find as I also restored a Gundlach-Manhattan Criterion View camera and I had used leatherette as advised by the best bellows maker in UK (he says you can't source real leather that's thin enough any more). I think this may be better than leatherette.
The back was hanging off and the spring had broken a piece of the back and it was lost, so I used a piece of mahogany and filled the space. That allowed the left spring to work properly so that film backs can be slid in as was intended. The brass spring mechanism had gone on the left side too so I sourced some brass of the correct thickness and hand made a replica.
The focus /slide mechanism had jammed completely so that needed to be fixed.
I'm no leatherworker so that part was a bit of a trial but I think the results are pretty good. I added two strips to the sides of the case for some added protection from knocks - not authentic, I know, but practical.
When I put it all back together I wound it out to the full triple extension - everything fine - then when I tried to wind it back in, it wouldn't. Had to take the whole mechanism apart again, move the tiny spring back, reset it and replace - aarrgghh!
Working now though.
Not much of a pic but you'll get the idea. It's the rarer one with the black acrylic lens plunger things - still haven't found out the proper name for these!
The revolving back has been fully re-covered - it's not on the camera in this pic.
Lots of painstaking, trial and error stuff but very rewarding to get it back to full working condition. Next is to use it - thinking of doing wet plate collodion stuff but worried about chemicals. I think it was a dry plate camera anyway so maybe I won't. Maybe just good old film.
B&L f8 - f128 approx 10" with speeds 1 to 100 plus B and T that all seem to be working. Some separation in front elements but you can't have everything!