I just saw the very nice site on the construction of an 8x10 camera and had a suggestion. In the text it is mentioned contact cement was not successful as an adhesive. I am not too surprised because this stuff is horrible to apply as a thin and uniform coat using a brush or other obvious method. However, spraying seems to work, using the cement offered in spray cans. It is more expensive than the normal kind, but the extra cost is worth it, I think. Contact cement is robust and flexible, making a quite strong bond. As far as I have seen, it stays functional for a long time (I would not be happy to have my bellows fall apart because the wrong cement dried up after just a year or two.) It also has the virtue of drying before the bond is closed, a potential problem with solvent evaporation cements used with non-porous bellows coverings.
One problem which must be solved is the keeping the spray from blowing away the little reinforcement/stiffener strips which some of you will be using. I hold them down with fine monofilament fishing line or sewing thread. There are surely other ways but this one is easy enough. I have also been tempted to try silicone as a glue. It has one nasty feature; it forms a film very quickly and I worry about whether the joint will be good if such a film develops. Conversely, this is a material which ages very gracefully and it is very flexible. It can be thinned (naphtha or white spirit) but it tends to be viscous unless very heavily thinned. (I believe the solution is thixotropic.) (If I spelled that wrong, please forgive me and let us know what is correct; my spelling checker doesn't know the word and neither does my "Spelling Ace"!) It should be ok if you can close the joint quickly after application of the silicone. Bob _______________________________________________ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
