Temping bellows?

<p>On cameras- especially folders- with less-than-perfect bellows, has anyone tried reenforcing them with a cone of some other material on the inside? I'm going to be trying this with my newly acquired No 2 Autographic Brownie tomarrow... but has anyone else had that thought?</p>

<p>Couple more thoughts:<br>

* Yes, it is now unfoldable. Hope I don't forget that in the field. <br>

*Can we use a more flexible material on the inside (say the plastic photo paper comes in) to line the bellows from the inside, so we don't have to make a whole new bellows? </p>

<p>Here's one way to make bellows dark if they are not already shot-- I got some black fabric paint, thinned it some with water, then painted it onto the inside fabric of the bellows, and gave the corners an extra coating. I bent a paint brush 90 degrees at the tip to reach.</p>

<p>You can use 3M tape, Liquid Electrical Tape or black fabric paint like John suggests to seal pinholes and small tears. For bigger tears I'd try finding replacement bellows. They do pop up on Ebay sometimes.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

<A HREF="http://www.photo.net/large-format-photography-forum/00X2nH">There is no way to patch or repair bellows worthy of discussion in a forum on this, or any other web site</A>. Bad bellows have to be replaced.

<p><a href="http://www.craigcamera.com/research_KodakBellows.htm">http://www.craigcamera.com/research_KodakBellows.htm</a><br>

The above link might get you a part number and then Ebay might have them for $15.<br>

<a href="http://stores.ebay.com/frendakfurnari_Kodak-Replacement-Bellows_W0QQ_fsubZ3QQ_scZ1QQ_sidZ4615120QQ_sopZ1QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322">http://stores.ebay.com/frendakfurnari_Kodak-Replacement-Bellows_W0QQ_fsubZ3QQ_scZ1QQ_sidZ4615120QQ_sopZ1QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322</a></p>

<p>Anyone needing the 27717 Bellows listed in Jim's link drop me an email. I have several and you can have one for cost of shipping. Apparently these fit the No2 folding Auto Brownie.</p>

<p>Tom, I'm a little afraid of trying to replace the bellows (not something I want to mess up)... how hard is it?</p>

<p>Jacob, I have never replaced the bellows on this particular model camera. I bought them for a project camera I intended to build but they ended up being smaller than what I had expected. They have 4 screws that usually go in from the inside that hold it to the front standard and there is a lip that attaches the rear of the bellows to the camera. Without having the camera in my hands, that is about all I can tell you. You are welcome to one of these if you want to give it a try, or if you know someone who can do it for you. Send me an email if you are interested. These are original Kodak replacement bellows still in factory wrappings.</p>

I too have considered ways of repairing bellows from the inside. Noah Schwartz notwithstanding, I have toyed with the idea of placing black construction paper on the inside. I seemed to remember seeing something in an Origami book. I thought If I could fold it properly at that angle, I would then fix/glue it in a few places. On one project the Graflex Jr I don't want to put cloth tape on the bellowes even though it's only in one area and would hardly be noticeable. I've toyed with the LET idea and I have procured black nail polish form my punk/gothic wannabe daughter! I was already to go with the LET but then my neighbor "helped" me fix the belows to the front element so now I can't extend them all the way to dab and dry properly!