Wooden View Camera Refurbishing

I recently purchased an older wooden view camera that appeared to be

in pretty good condition. Beautiful wood. Gee... if I could just

shine up those brass fittings a little, the camera would be REALLY

nice. As I tried to remove the small brass screws that held the

spring on the ground glass back, two of the screws broke off leaving

a portion of the screw in the wood.

 

Any suggestions on how I might remove the remains of the two screws

or repair the current damage?

Is there a reasonably safe method to remove the remaining fittings

for cleaning?

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/help.

Erich

 

Much depends on the size of the screws you broke. If they are large enough, Sears sells a broken screw removal took that works quite well.

If they are very small, you may have to drill them out and glue in a dowel and redrill for another screw.

 

Good luck

 

Kevin

Better yet - Find a good wordworking supply shop in your area and talk to them. They can help with the screw issue and any other issues that may come up. Woodworking can be a real art at times.

Been there, done that. Not on a camera though. I was making an adapter to hold a 4x5 back on an 8x10 camera. I broke brand new brass screws going in. It doesn't take much. After that I drilled test holes and tried them first, to see how big a pilot hole I needed.

 

I have had some success in taking screws out with rocking them back and forth instead of just turning them out in one direction.

 

The problem with drilling out that small a screw, is the drill bit will jump off the end of the screw and get into the wood. (Even with a good drill press.) I ended up drilling next to the screw and then diging the screw out with a pick.

 

You then drill a much larger hole (1/4") and fill it with a hard wood dowel. (Glue with elmers and cut and sand flush) However, the end grain in the dowell takes stain diferently than the normal grain of the wood. You end up with a darker 1/4" spot. (You can buy special plug cutters and make your own dowels out of simular wood (so the grain runs accross the width of the dowel) and then you can actually match the grain and the direction.)

 

Another option would be to move a short distance away and remount the clip in a slightly different spot.

 

Beyond that if it is an expensive collectable camera, I would take it to a machinist and have him drill the screw out. They have very small drill bits with very large shanks so that they can't bend, and a good milling machine will hold the drill bit exactly on the end of the screw so it can't walk into the wood.

 

You can then either put a tooth pick in the hole and go back with the same size screw or go one size up. ( I have a camera that was rebuilt professionally and he replaced every screw with one size larger.)

 

Of course the universal answer which is probably the best is: "send it to Steve Grimes".

 

Neal

I would try extracting the end of the screw using small pointed pliers then use a longer or larger screw in its place as the hole will be enlarged. If you cannot reach the broken end with pliers it might be possible to use a larger and shorter screw. If that fails and the camera is not wildly valuable you could reuse the good holes and drill a matching new one in a pattern which looked as close to the original as possible. You could then glue dummy screwheads into the holes where the broken ones are. A trick to avoid snapping off screws in their holes (or bolts corroded into an alloy casting for that matter) is to slightly tighten then reverse the pressure etc back and forth to break the join that has formed. Delicacy of touch is required though and also a good fitting screw driver. I my experience there are some screws that will just not come out without doing them violence and knowing when to stop dismantling is a valuable knack. Good luck!

Best way I can think of is to find a small scrap of steel, about 1/4" thick and drill a pilot hole through it. Use the same size drill that you would use for the replacement screw. Then clamp it in place directly over the broken screw and drill all the way through to the other side of the back. Use a sheet metal screw for a replacement so that you can run it in past the remains of the broken screw.

Take it with lateral thinking - shine the fittings while on the camera! Put around them sticking paper (that doesn't damage the lacker) and shine and shine and shine...

Hi

 

I would first try a "pin vice". It's a small chuck with a handle attached, that may work if there is about a 1/16" of the screw protruding. If that fails try to find a piece of thin wall tubing, stainless or brass with an ID just an hair (don't ask) over the major diameter of screw threads. File some teeth on the end of the tube that should be 2-3 inches long and place the tube over the screw and drill down in small steps untill the screw comes out. Plug hole with plug made with a matching color hardwood and epoxy in place. Trim the plug flush re-drill to fit new screw....take photos.

 

Good luck

Richard Martel

There is an off the shelf tool available from Woodworkers Warehouse called a Screw Extractor.

 

http://www.woodworkerswarehouse.com/

 

You get a set of three in different sizes for $15. They are, essentially, the 'hollow drill bits' described above. You drill out a hole slightly larger than the screw and patch as described above.

I read these posts and I must say, having restored a few old view cameras, you have gotten some very good advice here. I thought I was the only person who was a combination woodworker and photographer! Does anyone else have a problem with sawdust in their darkroom?

Peter may have just cost me $15.00 plus shipping.

And I don't even have a broken screw right now.

 

Neal