> Interesting! I like seeing this idea confirmed. Terry's suggestion of doing
> it with tape is ok for a leak or two but my C1 Calumet was starting to leak
> on all four conrers on the accordian folds and it would have taken me a
> week to tape it up. This stuff is more of a bellows restorer than a
> patching material. Anyone with any experience knows that bellows are sort
> of like roofs, once the leaks start patching is only a temporary fix.
Note that I haven't actually made a bellows using fabric treated with this
stuff (Plasti-Dip ?). I only tried coating a piece of linen to evaluate
the possibility. It did seem to work, although it took about 5 coats.
Six coats would probably have been better, and I think that this will also
depend on the density of the fabric weave. My piece of scrap linen was
fairly threadbare and coarse. Also the result wasn't what I thought was
particularly pleasing. Anyone wanting to try this should do a test before
spraying it on their favorite old bellows. It might also be possible to
dissolve something like a latex rubber in a solvent such as toluene to
make a patch material. Haven't tried that though. 3M does sell a tape
(3M 235 Photographic Tape) they say is "Light Blocking for photographic
bellows and glare." You can see the product profile at:
http://www.mmm.com/market/industrial/solutions/6prepress.html
Might be worth a try?
Right now I'm making bellows from a rubberized cordura nylon, but am
always looking for thin, opaque, flexible, and durable materials that
might be suitable. Glued the first one of these into my homebuilt 4x5
last night, so don't know how well it will perform yet. If you have any
suggestions, or know of a good source for small lots of morrocan leather
please mail me privately.
- Wayde
(wallen@boulder.nist.gov)