Goof Off is still pretty strong and a good choice
Goof Off is still pretty strong and a good choice
Tin Can
I used the highly flammable contact cement for making bellows the last time: installing the stiffeners, affixing the black cloth inside layer, and attaching to the frames on the camera. I had access to a fume hood, however, for doing the work. It is a pain to work with and messy and the fumes are intense w/o ventilation. Indeed, a year plus later, if I open that camera it still smells like the contact cement if you get up close.
The previous bellows was made almost entirely with a craft glue that comes in a brown bottle, ?Tacky Glue?
+1 that you want something flexible, super glue is NOT that. On wooden pens and other small objects super glue makes a nice hard varnish!
Hide glue dries hard, but would be good for wood camera repair of the wood parts (not the bellows) especially if the camera will never see rain in outdoors use. Hide glue can be un-done, the usual wood glues don't stick to themselves when they are dry. Consequently, it's a pain to do restoration work with them: you have to remove it ALL which usually means removing some of the wood substrate.
I've used the titebond pre-made hide glue for fixing two wooden cameras and their film holders. Both cameras are in the neighborhood of 100 years old. I may convert over to using hide glue for essentially all my woodworking. I flatter myself that someone might want to repair something I've made after I'm dead and gone, and I'd like it to be relatively easy for them to do! Hide glue also has a longer open time and washes out of clothing and off my skin unlike some other glues.
+1 for the Goof Off. 3M makes a citrus (limonene) based solvent type adhesive remover, expensive and potent stuff. Goo Gone works too and I buy it in tiny bottles. It's natural, but I keep it off my hands.
In the USA an outfit called "Zoro" (only one "R") has some liquid glues for sale - 4-6 oz. jar with a brush. They are the tamed-down version of classic VOC (volatile organic compound) solvent products, now re-formulated to be safer & eco-friendly. Used some to install a new bellows on a Kodak Model 2 Whole-plate camera. Sets quickly but not instantly, so you can move things around & align them, but don't have to clamp things overnight as if it was "wood shop" class.-alfredian
I was told, when I bought my Arca Swiss camera, that Loctite 480 Black was the recommended glue to reaffix loose bellows. Since I ended up sending it to Precision Camera Works for a full overhaul, I never needed to buy the Loctite, but figured I'd pass along the tip.
Trichloro has been banned from use for a long time. It killed just too many people. No joke. I don't know how anyone is acquiring it unless from a chem supply house. It was sold as movie film cleaner. PEC is a safer substitute. Anything called "VOC compliant" just means it isn't smog forming, related to air-quality labeling, not to human safety! Trichloro was sold as "safety solvent" because it wasn't flammable, again not related to human physiology. It got added to things like siding stains. Ironically, an electrician working nearby got goofy and managed to burn down the house. In a number of cases house painters got goofy and fell off scaffolding and died. Janitors would use it to remove wax and gum from floors because it wouldn't damage vinyl tile; but it was originally developed as an anesthetic, the janitors would pass out and be found dead on the floor in the morning because Trichloro is heavier than air and they had asphyxiated. These are all cases I knew about personally, and didn't read about! But the main reason DOW stopped industrial mfg is because of carcinogenic dioxins which remained in solution as a by-product. Most suitable glues like Pliobond or Barge Cement contain solvents like Xylene or Toluene, so you want to use them with ventilation. Ever meet a glue-sniffer? Precisely the same thing. Acetone is much safer but evaporates just too quickly to be the primary solvent. Goof Off might attack a vinyl bellows. Always do a tiny spot test first, where it won't hurt anything.
Pliobond is what I've used for years for attaching bellows. It works. Clamp your work well and let it rest, in clamps, overnight. I've used it for bellows from sub-4x5 to 12x20.
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