bigeye
Well-known
Installed a leather bellowsfrom Dennis and Elena Workman on my new Speedex with excellent results: http://www.workmansphotography.com/bellows_one.html It was shipped quickly and I was able to install it in less than an hour yesterday
AS Dennis warned, it pressured the door at first, but worked-in by today. It's made out of light leather with a cloth liner. Perfect, really, just as shown in his pictureS. Used contact cement and an xacto to carefully trim the excess.
BTW, I had bought the Speedex off Ebay and it looks like a previous owner had pulled, cleaned and lubed the front and middle elements. After installing the leather bellows, I tried to recalibrate the focusing ring using a screen from my 4x5, but the focus would not change from ~8' no matter how many turns on the front element I made in or out(!). This defied, um, science. The camera is so simple that I couldn't figure out the how the focal length could change without changing focal point.
I then realized that my assumption about the front element being cleaned was only half-right. The middle element unscrewed from the back of the front, but I noticed that the unit actually had 2 small lens carriers, which I checked against Reichert's photos. So, the middle's threads were clean and the front and middle were still fused (at 8'). They wouldn't budge - as discovered by every Agfa/Ansco owner.
Rather than using Dave R's somewhat scary "double-hose clamp" method, I put the tea kettle on and dropped the cell into the hot water. 10 mins later, it easily unscrewed by hand. It took a few minutes to remove the pernicious goo - as it cooled, it tried to retain it's fused state; very un-lubricant like properties. Found naptha removed it easily.
Order returned after screwing the now separated middle element into the shutter with the SK Grimes spanner and free wheeling front element. The lesson, I guess, is that if you cannot change focus at all, the middle element is moving with the front.
- Charlie
AS Dennis warned, it pressured the door at first, but worked-in by today. It's made out of light leather with a cloth liner. Perfect, really, just as shown in his pictureS. Used contact cement and an xacto to carefully trim the excess.
BTW, I had bought the Speedex off Ebay and it looks like a previous owner had pulled, cleaned and lubed the front and middle elements. After installing the leather bellows, I tried to recalibrate the focusing ring using a screen from my 4x5, but the focus would not change from ~8' no matter how many turns on the front element I made in or out(!). This defied, um, science. The camera is so simple that I couldn't figure out the how the focal length could change without changing focal point.
I then realized that my assumption about the front element being cleaned was only half-right. The middle element unscrewed from the back of the front, but I noticed that the unit actually had 2 small lens carriers, which I checked against Reichert's photos. So, the middle's threads were clean and the front and middle were still fused (at 8'). They wouldn't budge - as discovered by every Agfa/Ansco owner.
Rather than using Dave R's somewhat scary "double-hose clamp" method, I put the tea kettle on and dropped the cell into the hot water. 10 mins later, it easily unscrewed by hand. It took a few minutes to remove the pernicious goo - as it cooled, it tried to retain it's fused state; very un-lubricant like properties. Found naptha removed it easily.
Order returned after screwing the now separated middle element into the shutter with the SK Grimes spanner and free wheeling front element. The lesson, I guess, is that if you cannot change focus at all, the middle element is moving with the front.
- Charlie