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Kodak 2D 8x10 camera repairs
I've been looking at an old Kodak 2D 8x10 camera as a project - The
bellows have many holes (looks like it is falling apart from age) and the ground glass is 1/2 broken out. Would it be feasible to refinish the wood (that is in decent condition) and add a new bellows and ground glass? The price is cheap for the wood frame. How expensive would it be to get a new bellows and ground glass, AND how hard would it be to install them (are there any alignment problems with the ground glass on the 2D?) Any help would be most appreciated! -Chase |
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Kodak 2D 8x10 camera repairs
In article , Chase Martin
wrote: I've been looking at an old Kodak 2D 8x10 camera as a project - The bellows have many holes (looks like it is falling apart from age) and the ground glass is 1/2 broken out. Would it be feasible to refinish the wood (that is in decent condition) and add a new bellows and ground glass? The price is cheap for the wood frame. How expensive would it be to get a new bellows and ground glass, AND how hard would it be to install them (are there any alignment problems with the ground glass on the 2D?) Ground glass is cheap and easy. Two for $20. A cut on the corners with a household glass cutter and you are set. Alignment of the GG is not difficult providing the seating area isn't eaten up. Even then, a little wood and glue and a good micro-ruler will suffice to fix it. A new bellows is spendy. IMHO, a wood-worn 2d is not such a great camera that it's worth a new bellows when you can find another for the price of a bellows alone. A bellows that's not cracked except at the corners and has only a dozen (gasp) or fewer light leaks can be patched. A whole lot of those 8x10 wooden cameras are missing the rear rail, which limits you to lenses that will focus with the remaining front rail. The rails are matched (same stamped numbers) so it's handy to have the original. Making one is a positive pain in the butt - finding the brass riders, matching the fit, making it easily removable. One other thing - many old wood cameras' lens board is darned small; too small to use a modernn lens - if modern lenses concern you then your selection is somewhat limited. If old lenses are fine (and many really are good, IMHO) then shutters should concern you. A lot of the original shutters were crap new, long of tooth or junk now, and there's more money to spend. Discouraged yet? I'd rather you were not disappointed, strung out, spending important time, remanufacturing a camera using the same money you would spend on a better camera. Unless you enjoy it. |
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Kodak 2D 8x10 camera repairs
Chase Martin wrote in message . ..
I've been looking at an old Kodak 2D 8x10 camera as a project - The bellows have many holes (looks like it is falling apart from age) and the ground glass is 1/2 broken out. Would it be feasible to refinish the wood (that is in decent condition) and add a new bellows and ground glass? The price is cheap for the wood frame. How expensive would it be to get a new bellows and ground glass, AND how hard would it be to install them (are there any alignment problems with the ground glass on the 2D?) Any help would be most appreciated! -Chase As jjs stated, ground glass replacement is easy. Just a swap. My 2D had bellows problems as well. But some black gaffer's tape and the corners all sealed up nicely. (Duct tape often is NOT light-tight but, I suspect, most gaffer's tape is. What you do with it depends on what you want to get out of it. A 2D with polished brass & finished wood might be really pretty and impressive to take outside. Chick magnet? Fortunately the 2D has a 6"x6" lensboard so you use most any lens around. (I don't know of any that are too large for that 5.5" hole!) My lensboards are made from 2 layers of hobby plywood from the local hobby shop. Just cut appropriately & glue together. And cheaper. Enjoy it. They're fun. Collin |
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Kodak 2D 8x10 camera repairs
Before you start stripping and refinishing the wood you might look into the use
of Rennaisance Wax to clean and polish it. There's been a thread running in the Midwest Large Format Mailing List about Rennaisance Wax for the past couple of days so I looked up the manufacturer's website and got some info (of course, it IS the manufacturer's website so I wouldn't expect them to be particularly humble about the qualities of their product). It does state that RW can be used to clean as well as polish wooden surfaces...it's possible that one application to clean the sludge off and a second to polish up the wood might be all you need rather than the onerous process of refinishing...even though the RW seems a little pricey, it's probably still worth a try. The finish on the wood is most likely either shellac or lacquer; the vehicle for shellac is alcohol (denatured) and the vehicle for lacquer is acetone. The Rennaisance Wax is a petroleum based product so it wouldn't actually remove any of the original finish (a plus in my book) and would be removeable with mineral spirits (which would not affect the original finish either). The usual test to see which finish the wood has is to dip a cotton swab in denatured alcohol and touch it to that legenday inconspicuous area and see if any finish comes off on the swab...if so: shellac. You can try it again with a dab of acetone to see it it's lacquer. Varnish was seldom, if ever, used in commercial applications because it took too long to dry. Something like Johnson's Paste wax or Butcher's was would work as well...they are both based on Carnauba wax...and are probabaly more readily available (hardware store) than the Rennaisance Wax. Best of luck...I've worked on a few "derelicts" and it's been rewarding. argon |
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Kodak 2D 8x10 camera repairs
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