Preventing cracked vulcanite?

I had this problem 20 years ago. I stripped the vulcanite off and recovered it with a covering from Cameraleather.com. The leather is still good 20 years later. Good luck.
 
charjohncarter said:
I remember when Amour-All first came out it was said to increase cracking of dashboards, I don't if that is right or an urban myth.
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Unfortunately this was true. I was an "early adopter" to Armour-All in the mid 1970's and my buddy and I had the same model car. I Armour-All'd my dash regularly and he never touched his. Mine cracked out in under four years and his was trouble free. It also did weird things to the sidewalls of tires. They may have changed the formula since the 1970's, but I stopped using it.

Best,
-Tim
 
Ronald M said:
Real vulcanite can not be redone.
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Not strictly true, as I mentioned earlier:

Yes CRR used to offer the service but he has retired. This involved getting the 'gutta percha' in hard sheets like lasagna, heating it and hot moulding the correct pattern for the year onto it then heating it again to soften and bending it round the camera.

So the challenge would be to:

A) Find a source for plain smooth sheets of the material

B) Take a cast of the surface of the type of vulcanite finish to be replicated

C) Patch this cast together to make a large enough sheet

D) Start experimenting with heat, knives and glue!!!

Sort this lot out and the world will be knocking on your door!
 
I just send a IIIF with a similar problem as original poster in for a CLA at a reputable EU tech and was informed the replacement would cost €75+VAT.
I hope he can re-attach the vulcanite, but OK'ed the replacement if deemed necessary.

Like the OP, this camera has lived its life in a leather case and had likely only been in contact with finger grease when the owner removed it from the case to change film.
Maybe finger grease is the magic ingrediens for a long vulcanite life?
 
Nitroplait said:
Maybe finger grease is the magic ingrediens for a long vulcanite life?
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The key of a long vulcanite life is the same as a long bike tyre life : very low daylight amount, constant mid-low temperature and constant low humidity level (but humidity nonetheless). You don't grease nor wax vulcanized rubber, it ain't goat leather nor chestnut tree wood. Vulcanite won't last forever, this is just not possible. Want to own an old Leica but don't want to have to deal with vulcanite replacement issues ? Think of fondling something else. Want to never die ? Think of living somewhere else. :D
 
Highway 61 said:
The key of a long vulcanite life is the same as a long bike tyre life : very low daylight amount, constant mid-low temperature and constant low humidity level (but humidity nonetheless). You don't grease nor wax vulcanized rubber, it ain't goat leather nor chestnut tree wood. Vulcanite won't last forever, this is just not possible. Want to own an old Leica but don't want to have to deal with vulcanite replacement issues ? Think of fondling something else. Want to never die ? Think of living somewhere else. :D
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Whether finger grease has properties beneficial or not to Vulcanite remains to proven. The complexity of the subject is not trivial: https://www.nemeng.com/leica/032b.shtml

Besides, Your response to my quote doesn’t become less morbid just because you add a smily.
 
If not Armor-All (per Tim, above), how about some of the pleather/vegan leather/leatherette conditioners? The dealership where I bought my car recommended using such products, and remarkably they did not sell any themselves, so I gave a little more weight to their recommendation. Of course rubber and polyurethane are not the same material, so there might not be any benefit for vulcanite --or they might even cause harm.

I'm willing to try on my M. I'll post back in 50 years to let you know how the camera is getting along. Wait, I'll probably be gone by then. I'll ask my son to follow up for me :).
 
froyd said:
I'm willing to try on my M.
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The last Leicas to be covered with vulcanite were the M4-2 and M4-P. Most of them now exhibit a somehow cracked vulcanite already. I have seen some with huge areas of cracked and missing covering, and some with only the typical spot of missing vulcanite around the baseplate hook, the rest of the covering remaining in perfect shape. It all depends on how that vulcanized rubber material molecules behaved over time, and this happens accordingly to the long run camera storage conditions, this is easy to understand when you look at the oldest models : I had a IIIf with a 100% perfect vulcanite, and a IIIa with a totally brittle, cracked and debonded one.

I wouldn't apply any "conditioner" to any camera covering, not wanting that stuff to outgas while the camera is in its bag, finding its way towards all areas it could harm (rangefinder optics, in particular).

Keep your camera clean, don't keep "cleaning" your camera, especially with any odd "conditioning" stuff. Your original vulcanite has reached its terminus and is to be replaced ? Remove it, clean the camera shell surface, cleanly replace it with an excellent Aki-Asahi vinyle leatherette or genuine leather kit, then think of something else and use your Leica to take pictures. ;)
 
charjohncarter said:
Is there a service to replace the covers (if I ever needed it)? I would not want to do this myself. Rick Oleson did a great job on my Olympus 35RC, and I think I would want some else to place it.
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I sent mine to Gus Lazzari a few years back for a CLA, and he did a fine job replacing the vulcanite.
 
GarageBoy said:
Are there good treatments for vulcanite to keep it soft, or it's just 70+ year old plastic that will crack? I see plenty of pre war cameras with vulcanite that's just fine
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Nothing but speculation apparently, judging from the responses so far.
Some will promote their opinion as truth, but I hope you know better.
 
I was suggested the Mother’s protectant stuff. I apply it about once a year. This would be the third year. Hasn’t hurt anything yet but I hope it keeps the vulcanite on my IIIf pristine a bit longer, I’d like to keep this camera as original as possible
 
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