isolette bellows leaks

I just picked up an Isolette with the typical bellow corner leaks. I have seen

info about using liquid electrical tape on the outside, or a product called

Jacquard that one person painted on the inside, and another used on the

outside. It is supposed to remain flexable when dry. Does anyone hvae any

experience with either of these products, or can recommend another solution,

short of replacing the bellows. (That will ultimately be done in the future)

Thanks.

 

Craig

I've used black silicon and high durability black nail polish with success. The silicon tends to go on messy, but it can be trimmed and sanded when it sets.

I'm not crazy about liquid electrical tape. I used liquid electrical tape undiluted on the bellows of a Kodak Bantam and it worked in the short run. It was not flexible enough and began to tear the bellows.

Caig,

 

I sent you an email regarding this. When I used the camera there were no bellows leaks. Please just return it and I'll refund your cost, or I'll replace it with a Perkeo-I that I've used very recently.

Just about anything that's flexible, opaque and will stick will work.

 

On the first bellows I patched the corners on (an 8x10 view camera 25 years ago), I put some contact cement on the worn corner (with bellows extended), allowed to dry, then followed up with some flat black paint from the hardware store. It worked surprisingly well.

 

Later I found the tool dip stuff (Plastidip is one brand) in the hardware store. Thin a bit and apply a few coats, letting each one dry, and use it only on the affected part because it's really not very flexible.

 

Regular artist's acrylic paint can work too.

 

I think the contact cement-paint combination worked so well because the paint bonded to the contact cement and thus didn't chip off. Acrylic or latex paint is inherently flexible, latex probably a little bit more so; latex paint with extra latex would be ideal if it were available!

 

Hope this helps.

That is nice of the seller to offer you a refund or exchange. But the solution is very simple... 3M or GE black silicone. Flexable, yet not sticky when cured and opaque enough for use on cameras.