[LargeFormat] Bellows Repair using Acrylic Paint

[philip lambert]

This is valuable knowledge. Can we know the brand of acrylic paint to use.
We have an artists' supplies shop here but I wouldn't trust their advice re
cameras. PL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clive Warren" <Clive.Warren@megacycle.co.uk>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 1:48 PM
Subject: [LargeFormat] Bellows Repair using Acrylic Paint


> Given all the rain here in the UK, I took some time out to check the
> bellows of a couple of old cameras that I want to use as soon as the
> weather cheers up a bit. Yep, you guessed it, pinholes! Shining a mag
light
> through the bellows and looking carefully at different angles across the
> length of the bellows I found a few problem areas on each camera.
>
> I "borrowed" some acrylic paint from an artist friend with the idea that
> there was no way I could be bothered with Elmers glue, PVA glue, soot
> black, two drops of castor oil, eye of newt, skin of toad and any of the
> other recipes that have been discussed in the past. The exercise was a
> complete success with the bellows remaining flexible and the pinholes
> sorted. On some red bellows I started with a couple of thin coats of
black,
> followed by a couple of thin coats of red. You cannot see the repairs!
More
> importantly, the pinholes have gone.
>
> Encouraged by this success I then attacked a set of bellows that I had
long
> ago decided were beyond redemption with light clearly visible through
> canvas threads and again - although this time with four or five coats of
> paint - complete success. Even with the multiple coats of paint the
bellows
> remain flexible enough to allow max and min extensions.
>
> The bellows were painted with the standards fully extended. It remains to
> be seen how well they hold up to regular use but will let you know in a
few
> months.
>
> Even if the repairs only last for 6 months, this has saved me several
> hundred UK pounds - which at the moment is good thing!
>
> Cheers,
>             Clive
>
>
>
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