...I have an old Speed Graphic speed table plafe, with the speed and tension settings. Lots of the paint scraped off. Wondering if anyone knew either 1)an easy way to repaint it short of squinting through a magnifying glass with a fine paintbrush coated with black enamel, or; 2)anyone who restores these? I've seen a few places that restore amps and speaker face plates, but wondering if anyone knew of an easy method to do it myself? It's a small thing, but it's got me thinking.

jeff

Er... that's "Plate," not plafe. Don't even know what a plafe is.

jeff

Plate, Schmate! I'd remove the old paint, repaint it with your favorite aerosol black laquer and let it cure for a month. Then find some 600-1200 wet or dry sand paper, (from the local auto store) and a thick piece of glass or marble....somethin' flat and rigid. hold the sand paper down with some light oil or soapy water and move the plate over the sandpaper taking off the paint on the raised areas which sould be the numbers, letters, etc.

Not exactly the Museum approved way of doing it, but then a Museum wouldn't want to refinish it anyway.

Les

I good idea: I like it. Clearly, it wouldn't make the plate look any worse than it does now. No chemicals, no expensive processes.

jeff

BETTER WAY----use damp cloth and >SILVER POLISH<--to polish and clean anything that is left on the plate---then with a toothpick add a >teensy< drop of gloss black enamel paint >(1)< area at a time......after covering all affected areas, put it in the oven at 175 degrees for about 30 minutes! Polish, add paint and heat as often as necessary! And note
>>to much paint<<
is worse than no paint..AND NOT MEANING TO BE CRITICAL of Les's response..BUT..... >sandpaper is the quickest way to destroy< the remaining brass, from what is a very shallow impression to begin with! Nearly impossible to hold equal pressure over the entire plate, and the result is thin and thick spots! Automotive rubbing compound will also work, but is more abrasive than Silver polish!
This method also works for the lensboard slide locks w/Speed and Crown on them! Been doing it this way, for over 20 years!! Bert

Well, rather than start another thread, I'll just continue this one with a different subject: I have a Kalart focuspot, probably an early one (not like the telescoping on in the ad featured elsewhere in this site). Just a straight tube with a screw-on eyepiece, kept in place by a brace screwed to the fs winding plate. Wonder if anyone knows if there were originally ant y optice in it, or if it was just the empty tube?

jeff

Jeff, are you talking about the magnifier which screws into the rangefinder - cause I never heard of a telescoping Focuspot? If so, that's a Focuscope. And, are you asking if it had ANY optics? I had the earlier, rigid model and, yes, it had optics. Had too to magnify. Maybe I don't understand, since I can't figure out what a "fs winding plate" is. Can you give more details?

Ah yes, my wonderful attempt at posting while under the influence of sudafed, sore throat, sinuses and insomnia. Yes, let us substitute "Focuscope" for "Focuspot." First, this is an anniversary model speed graphic. I have a feeling that some of this is someone's home-made solution. In this case, what I have is a tube that does not screw onto the fiewfinder but fits inside the bezel (is this what it's called) that the modern telescoping focuscopes would screw onto. There is an eyepiece that slips onto the tube at the other end. This eyepiece is threaded so that it screws into a little brace or bracket that is itself screwed onto the focal plane shutter winding wing-dingy (we substitute "wing-dingy" for "plate" here; that is, it screws to the external plate that holds the winding knob, gears and hardware, etc). I suspect the eyepiece and bracket it screws into are original, and the tube is a later replacement... stock piece of tubing cut to fit. I see no provisions in this tube for holding optics, so that was why I was wondering if the older ones magnify. Looks like I did not misspell too many words this time, and in re-reading the post, it sounds better to me. Helpful?

jeff

Quote:

<snip> jeff

I used to have a Mini Speed with the Focuscope attached to a bracket behind the range finder. It wasn't actually in contact with the rf. Old-style chromed rf with external adjusting thingees. Is this what you have? I thought it was all standard issue, could be wrong. Don't recall if there was glass in the focuscope tube.

Cheers,

Dan

I've seen scopes like this on ebay, but looking there now I cannot see any examples. It's just the brace attached to the external hardware, the eyepiece that screws into the brace, and the tube. And on more careful examination it looks like the tube is even smaller than the inside diameter of the rangefinder viewer, so it HAS to be a someone's home-made remedy. Looks interesting though. Might look into finding lenses small enough to fit the tube that will magnify the image at some point.

jeff

I wouldn't bet on it being home made. It sounds just like one I have. I think it's on my Mini-Speed? Possibly a 4x5 Crown though? I'd have to dig them out to check. But I do remember being a bit upset about it. Especially since the slightest knock pops it right out of the holder... And yep, just a plain metal tube with an inside diameter just a bit smaller than the RF. I never bothered to see if I could improve it's mounting...

Sounds like it. The camera itself externally crappy condition; looks like once a year someone gave it a fresh coat of black paint then left it in the sun. The tube itself looks like it has been dinged a few times, the half mirror in the rangefinder had been dislodged, so I'm not surprised the lens has popped out. Just one magnifying lens in yours? Makes it sound like it'll be easy to replace if I just start surfing the scientici instruments sites.

jeff

Vic, I have 4 of those "things", 2 have optics. One is short with rubber eyecup, one telescopes, one is short no optics. These all seem to fit the later model internal thread Kalarts. The brushed chrome Kalarts have no internal threads,but the anniversary I have had a bracket with a long tube no optics. The threads on this one will not fit the new Kalarts. The Hugo Meyer has external threads on the viewing port, and I have never seen a tube for these.Russ

I have one of these tubes with magnifying lenses in it. Measures 1-3/4" long and 13/32" at the threaded end.

Makes using a Century with roll film back a lot easier especially if you have a dominant right eye.

Not sure if this is a Kalhart accessory or a third party one. It is in natural aluminum, and I have seen Centurys on e-Prey with it.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: tsgrimm on 2004-06-06 10:26 ]</font>

I am familiar with two types of these tubes. The Focuscope had magnifying optics and usually had a telescoping tube. I guess that was to satisfy my mother, who was constantly yelling " you're gonna put your eye out with that thing!" The other was a plain aluminum extension tube.