Dark slide repair (Graflex 23)

[john wilton]

The handle has broken off the dark slide of my Graflex 23 roll holder at the edge of the handle. As the slide inserts all the way to the handle there is no way to splice it, the broken end is right at the mouth of the slot. It seems unlikely there is any adhesive adequate to handle the stresses of a butt-glue of the broken ends. A cut film holder's slide is too short to substitute. Slide is about 0.5mm thick. Is there a material that could be cut with a knife that could substitute?

[Ulrich Drolshagen]

There is a tool called "Japanspachtel" in German. May be something like japanese spatula in English. These are made of very thin and flexible steel sheets. You may be able to cut a replacement out of one of the larger ones.

Ulrich

[Archphoto]

What size is it ?
Maybe you could use a darkslide form a MF camera or rollfim back.

Peter

[JasonC]

John, you could try Phenolic sheet, vulcanized fibre sheet, or Delrin sheet. They could all cut by hand if in thin sheet. All of them are available at www.mcmaster.com.

Jason.

[Robert Brummitt]

I went to my local art and craft store that has small sheets of aluminum and tin. I then measured and cut one sheet to fit my missing dark slide. I folded one end several times and then taped it with black cloth for a handle.
It works fine for my purposes and cost me less then $5.

[GPS]

There is a tool called "Japanspachtel" in German. May be something like japanese spatula in English. These are made of very thin and flexible steel sheets. You may be able to cut a replacement out of one of the larger ones.

Ulrich

That steel is very hard to cut (certainly not with a knife as the OP wanted)!
Aluminum sheet of 0.5mm is quite soft and deforms easily. Some plastics serve well and are elastic to avoid durable deformation. I choose them from different plastic covers found in a paper-shop.

[mandoman7]

What about finding one from a broken holder and sanding it down to the desired size? I'm not a machinist, but it seems like a belt sander could be used to shape it easily.

JY

[Archphoto]

If you want to go for steel, which is best and you have an over-size slide, sratch the outlines on the steel and use a Dremel (or look-alike) to shape it.

Peter

[GPS]

If you want to go for steel, which is best and you have an over-size slide, sratch the outlines on the steel and use a Dremel (or look-alike) to shape it.

Peter

Just out of sheer curiosity - which tool out of the Dremel collection you would use to shape the steel slide to the given dimension?

[Archphoto]

A cutting blade for getting the rough size, a sander and/or grinder for the finer work.

Dremel look-alikes are sold in Europe for € 15,- for a complete set.