Bellows pinhole leaks

[PikitAndShoot]

has anyone tried RTV silicon gasket maker?

 

[FallisPhoto]

has anyone tried RTV silicon gasket maker?

I've seen it done. In my opinion, you have to put it on too thickly (in order to make it opaque enough) for it to be a good option -- unless your bellows liner is a modern rubberized fabric. In that case, it is the bellows liner that makes it light-tight, not the outer covering. Thing is, if your bellows is that modern, it probably doesn't have leaks.

 

[FallisPhoto]

Good points and words of caution, thank you for that.

I'm reasonably optimistic in the circumstances of the experiment, as the pinholes are in a small group well away from the mounting surfaces (cardboard, glue ...) and the application is very thin, so I'm hoping that rigidity won't be too much of an issue. The attraction of the idea was that the lamp black should give dense 'dark coverage'. Anyway, time, and a number of open/shut flexings of the bellows will tell ...

Well, watercolor lampblack or black gouache mixed with flexible bookbinder's glue is the classic option. Good luck!

 

[optikhit]

Do you have any ball-pen? If the hole is small, you need not to paint the whole bellows, just cover a bit of the oil-ink (black) on it instead. I have the same problem with my Iskra, and it works well now.

 

[citizen99]

Well, watercolor lampblack or black gouache mixed with flexible bookbinder's glue is the classic option. Good luck!

Ah, I hadn't heard of that before, sounds very logical 🙂 .