Hello:

I purchased on eBay a used bellows "from a 4x5 Speed Graphic, not sure which model, all pretty much the same..."

This has 8 'ears', 2 at each corner at the back, looking like they were pried free of whatever they were mounted to. Inth efront, there is an attached 'mounting flange' that has holes and a lip. Along the side of the bellows are 3 rectangular 'loops', perhaps to support the bellows or perhaps guide either a shutter release cable or rangefinder cable.

Does anyone recognize this from it's description, and are there many variations?

I intend to use it with a Speed Graphic I dont' have yet, allegedly in poor condition but shutter working. I hear it has no back and no lensboard and the bellows is 'shot'. I was goign to homebrew/DIY the missing parts and this beats having to fold my own bellows. Whether there are different dimensions for bellows for different vintages won't be an obstacle, but I'd like to know.

Thank you

Murray

Next question on this bellows:

It extends fine and looks good (haven't leak checked yet), but everytime I extend it, he folds seem 'sticky', and it makes noise and some are more reluctant to let go of each other.

Should I clean the outside with something?

I read somewhere that oil products are not good (like neatsfoot oil). It occurred to me that the fabric lining on some bellows probably wouldn't like oil - artist's canvas has to be treated (gesso) to protect it from oil paint.

I would probably just slightly dampen a paper towel with Windex, but I'll await recommendations.

Thanks

Murray

No, don't use any oil based products on the bellows unless you are 100% positive they are _very_ old and made of leather (not likely). They are probably the standard vinyl material. Think "car dashboard"!
Most people recomend against products like "Armour All". I don't like that one myself. But I have used for years and like very much STP "Son of a Gun" on any vinyl products including bellows. Another good recommendation you'll hear is Pledge spray wax in the lemmon variety. Oddly enough, lemon Pledge is one of the best cleaning and preserving products available for almost any material from wood, leather, vinly, etc...
If your bellows are stiff, I would do a treatment of "Son of a Gun" first. I spray mine, wipe down, close and let sit for a week or two. It will actually soften old hardened vinyl a bit. Then I go to step two...
If your bellows are fairly flexible, give it a cleaning and wipe it down with lemmon Pledge. To clean it, you can use mild soapy water up through any commercial vinyl cleaner. So far I have found that the "Son of a Gun" and Pledge do th cleaning just fine and I don't use anything else. Windex should also work fine!
By the way, those "loops" (and the seam) are the bottom of the bellows...
One more thing. If you find you have to make a patch on the outside of the bellows, make sure you give that area a good cleaning with someting like isopropyl alcohol. I get the 91% at the drug store. None of the recommended products will stick to a dirty, oily bellows... (yes, I am speaking from experience ) I do like to 'fill in' those tiny corner holes on the outside of the older bellows, mostly for looks. The real light-tite patch goes on the inside...