Swiss cheesy to be precise. My ten year old has shamed me into actually using some of the vintage gear that clutters my office. First choice was the 4x5 RB Graflex. All seems well except the curtains have more pinholes than the proverbial wheel of cheese.

After looking through the archives without conclusive results, I am asking if rebuilt shutters are available. Or are there other solutions??
Many thanks,

John

You can try Fred Lustig in Reno, Neveda to see if he has the proper part. If he does not have it or if you are handy you can make the replacement shutter curtain yourself; while I have not done it myself I have seen the process described in detail in the Tomosy series of repair technician books on fixing old cameras. See his book RESTORING CLASSIC AND COLLECTABLE CAMERAS, ISBN 0-936262-59-1. He shows the procedure on a speed graphic, but I believe the shutter in your RB can be repaired the same way. They are really simple mechanisms.

Thanks for the feedback. I understand that Mr. Lustig has been facing health problems, sadly. Rather than burden the gentleman with camera questions, I took a close look at the shutter. I agree with your assessment that it looks fairly uncomplicated. I ordered Tomosy's book on Amazon. If that looks promising I will attempt the replacement myself. I also have a query in to Fargo Enterprises asking if their shutter curtain material is known to be suitable for Graflex FP shutters.

If not, do you have other ideas on sourcing the shutter material?

Many thanks for the counsel,

John C

Hi. Here's another source for shutter curtain material. http://www.micro-tools.com/Merchant2/restore.htm
I haven't used it, but this site was recommended to me by one of the guys. Fred.

Email me at bsaunders1@bak.rr.com

Hey, Fred, that Micro-Tools link is a great source---many thanks! They even have that nylon focus gear for the Kodak 750H Carousel. Great prices, too.

Henry

Thanks for the link on Micro-Tools. I took a look and it seems to be the same place as Fargo. I have sent an email to them asking if one of their thicknesses (.008 or .013 inch) would be suitable for the Graflex. Also, it looks to me like the curtain is a single piece - must be 50 inches long anyways. I have also asked if that type of length is available.

John

Fargo Enterprizes and Micro Tools are one and the same. The shutter curtain material they sell is a potential problem. The rubber coating will stick to itself if wet or damp. DO NOT USE.
Charles

The material from Micro Tools is about the only source for material these days, and I have fabricated 3 curtains with this material...without the problem as you suggest it has....after reading your post I soaked a piece of scrap material, and I cannot get it to stick????? Dont know what the problem may have been with the material you had, please ship the curtain to me and I will fix it for you...OK Bert

I threw the $90, 2 foot by 3 1/2 foot piece in the trash months ago. The rubber stuck to itself and pulled loose from the frabic when attempting to seperate.
<a href=http://www.adoramacamera.com/catalog.tpl?op=details&sid=1067395676847305&sku=VWFCL>This Focus Cloth</a> may work and its a lot less and very strong.
Charles

_________________
While a picture may be worth a thousand words, a quality photograph is worth a million.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2003-10-28 18:59 ]</font>

Fargo is a great place for materials and tools. Regarding the curtain material, Tomosy discusses using a liner from a changing bag in his repair article. He also describes how you can build the shutter out of separate pieces of curtain to save material, or if a single large piece is not available. See if you can find a used (cheap) change bag for the material.

After quite a bit of trolling around I came up with a possible second source of shutter curtain material (other than Micro-Tools). The gentleman in question is Akihiro Asahi in Japan. He can be reached at

aki_asahi@tokai-webwalker.com

Cannot vouch in any way. I requested a piece 16 x 80 inches (enough for two shutters, methinks) and he said that would cost $120 US. He said the material is made in Japan and is absolutely lighttight at 0.2mm, which is 0.008 inches. I measured my 4x5 Graflex shutter at 10 points and came up with exactly .008 on 7 of the points, so I am guessing this is plenty close enough.

Also, I may have a contact at a premier US fabric maker. I am going to ask him to see whether they offer some really high-zoot material such as a Kevlar weave that might be suitable for shutter-making. If so, you might have a 100-year shutter material. Will post back in a few weeks if anything comes of it.

John

Just wanted to be clear that when I wrote "cannot vouch in any way", I was saying only that I have no knowledge of the supplier in question. I did not mean to imply anything negative at all.