LOL, dont get your knickers in a knot. No, its not a joke--but all mentaly challenged monkeying aside, just in case we are on different tracks, i am refering to removing the retaining ring, for the lens/shutter, not just the rear lens cell. which i assumed Scotty was refering to, as the rear lens cell would unlikely present him any problem at all.
i assume he is referring to the tips of the tool rubbing on the folds of the bellows closest to the front standard--which are more often than not covering or at least partly covering the retaining ring when the bellows are folded, if not then they are very close and the edges of the tool tips can and do often rub against the folded bellows. to avoid that and also because it is better to remove the shutter/lens unit with the front standard locked in place so all linkages etc line up, the unit and retaining ring is best removed with the bellows extended, that way the folds dont cover the retaining ring and are further away from the retaining ring, to give clearance for the tips of the wrench.
I, on the other hand, figured he
had to be talking about the ends of the cross-rods, because he is talking about taping them up. Taping up the tips wouldn't make any sense. They would rub even harder -- and wouldn't fit in the slots. If it's the tips he's talking about, and they are SCRATCHING, he is using tips that are too wide and that have burrs. The outside edges are supposed to be rounded and smooth. He's also trying to take a full turn when he only has room enough for a quarter turn.
the lens wrench i am talking about are those black ones available everywhere (ebay as well) that are inexspensive, but no matter how much you tighten them they are dodgy, still come loose and tend not to hold their shape well, sure silicon or whatever is a partial fix but i prefer to have tools that work correctly without mucking about--the more exspensive stainless steel wrench from microtools are infinately better at not coming loose or flexing/twisting and they have the long reach version that works on 6x9....you can get by with the cheap black tools but once you have used the stainless steel wrenches you would never go back
I've got some of those I use for odd things, like a Canonet's lens elements. For those, you are going to have to grind the tips to shape and I don't want to mess up part of a $100 wrench set that will then only be good for Canonets. Also, the cheaper ones have those pencil point types that you can put together with the points backward (so they point outward). With the tips ground right, those are not going to scratch anything at all.
9 or 10 inch is an exageration, i didnt say anything about that length needed so i am not sure what makes you think it needs to be that length! a 6x9 camera is about 4 inch in depth from the film plane to retaining ring, so if you made your tube tool a couple of inch longer to give more to hold is all you need
I don't just do folders. You're forgetting about some of the oddball plate cameras, box cameras and medium format press cameras. 9 or 10 inches is not an exaggeration, if you just want to make one set of wrenches. To be fair, I usually use tools ground out of putty knives for those.
the common black painted tool that people use is barely 4.5 inch overall in length and just 2.5 inch to the lower bar, it will sometimes or often work on 6x6 with bellows extended, but not long enough for 6x9 without the lower bar fowling the bellows. which is why microtools sell the the long reach stainless steel version
the tube or flat bar tool made to fit works perfectly, no twist or flex at all, no fiddling about with adjusting the size and you can apply pressure evenly. you should make one up, am sure you would be converted. undoing the retaining ring with the bellows closed is just a nuisance and leads to the chance of the bellows being damaged IMO, far quicker, easier and less risk with them extended IMO
For those kind of cameras, I usually get them just started with a wrench when the bellows are closed(even the long kind are not really long enough with the bellows extended) and then use a tool ground from a putty knife (or my fingers) to take it the rest of the way off with the bellows open or partly open. I really hate using putty knives though.
the stainless steel tool that microtools sell tightens up fine but those black ones are a pain, they are only cheap after all and the tolerances on them are pretty sloppy, if you only want to work on an occasional camera and dont mind mucking about with silicon and other things to limit the flexing and twist, or you want to save a dollar then they work..but the stainless ones are far better...the tube tool or flat bar works just as good or better again though, and can work out a bunch cheaper than any
I don't care about flexing and twist. It can be a nuisance, but that won't hurt anything. Only thing that bothers me is if the things come loose and start spreading while you are working with them. A touch of silicone fixes that. Yeah, the Microtools long set is good, and I've got a set in my kit, but the tips are too expensive to grind down to fit certain cameras.
Incidentally, unless you are fond of scratched lens elements, you
DON'T want to do that thing I've been hearing about where you grind down the tips of a set of needle nosed pliers. I can't believe anyone has
ever done that and managed to keep both tips in the slots while using it.
