on my crown graphic i have a broken steel link which connects the long "bed" part of the rail yoke to the short "body" section. the link has broken off the shorter section but is still connected to the longer. this effectively makes it sluggish to rack the rails out far enough in order to adjust the eccentric screw on the back (short) part of the rail yoke in order to adjust the kalart rangefinder for infinity. it can be done by though be holding the 2 yoke sections together tightly until the shorter section gets aligned into the bed black "guide" track. so long as i leave the bed perpendicular (not dropped) the broken link really does not affect camera usage. the rails rack fine for the short span necessary in order to focus using distance scales as approximate guides..it's just annoying that it is something that's not right that should be fixed. my question i guess is whether anyone can recommend anything to replace the broken link like perhaps a piece of taut dental wire or picture wire or would it be better to hunt around for a replacement yoke from a junker camera & then when i get one i'll have to transfer the infinity stops & distance scale & eccentric screw mount to the "new" yoke. i wonder if i'm the only schmuck out there who has had this problem. in any event atleast my rangefinder adjustment project is coming along well. thanks for any advice that anyone can offer!!! --george--

Check ebay and watch for parts cameras....you will eventually find a carcass that someone is selling and if you are patient you will be able to get one for around $25.00 or so....depending on how much of a carcass it is I actually got a complete crown minus the lens that was disassembled for $45.00, it took about 20 minutes to put it back together.

the only danger, if you have not encountered ebay before, is that it is very easy to get addicted

If the yoke link is indeed broken, as opposed to just having "come aloose," then I would guess that replacement is the way to go. If, however, the problem is caused by a missing link pin, then you could press fit a new pin fashioned from a piece of drill rod into the hole. Of course, if the old pin has broken off then you will have to drill it out and omig-d now it begins to sound like a real pain in the bleep. Good luck!

Go to http://www.acecam.com and check the links to repair. Somewhere one night while surfing camera sites I saw a listing for a machinist that would make any part for any camera. There is also a company somewhere that will make new bellows for any camera. I can't remember where I saw the listings and I didn't add them to my favorites. I've also found interesting sites by using the ISP search engine ; try large format camera repair, see what happens.

I've seen a yoke on ebay within the past month so keep looking there as you might get lucky. You might also try http://www.peachtreecamerarepair.com for repair advice/service. They have my Crown 23 for CLA right now and have an inventory of classic/antique parts for repair.