Hello, long time lurker - first time poster here. I've been using a Crown Grahic (at night!) for around 3 years, and I love the simplicity of it along with the excellent photos it produces.

Well, wanting to expand into the possibillities of using shutter-less lenses I purchased a project (pre anniversary?) Speed Graphic for not much money. Despite grotty appearances it's potentially very usable with a bit of tidying up - bellows are sound, as is the shutter curtain.

There is damage to the spring tension adjuster in the fact that the end has sheared off, see photos:





The question is, can I get a replacement part anywhere? And will I need the entire 'spool' that the shutter curtain is attached to? Graflex repair shops are a bit think on the ground in the UK...

Or alternatively is there a bodge anyone can suggest that will allow me to select the tension...if it was a pristine example I'd not consider this but it's beaten up and missing bits so I personally don't think it matters too much!

Thanks, Andy

And here's a picture of the beast itself - don't laugh!

The lower roller assembly consists of a shaft, spring, and roller. The shaft goes the full width of the body with the spring attached to the shaft on one end and the roller the curtain is attached to on the other. Tension is obtained by turning the shaft then setting the tensioning plate on without the shaft unwinding. If you have the broken off part you might try soldering it back in place with silver solder or find another body of the same format and rob the lower roller assembly from it or use this one to fix the yet to be purchased body.

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately the broken bit is long gone so other than finding a replacement I think it'd be a case of attaching something to the end. I'm wondering if anyone has a closeup picture of what is supposed to be there so I can think about an improvisation?

The Pre Anniversary may be simular to the Anniversary, see
http://www.southbristolviews.com/pics/Graphic/manual-pdf/AnniversaryService1.pdf
A Graflex SLR shaft will most likely be different.

this may be a 'ReNew'd camera. During the WWII civilians couldn't buy new cameras, but Graflex started (well just marketed) their long standing concept of refurbishing old cameras and bring them up to modern standards.

The body and front standard is undoubtedly a Pre-Ann, but the rails, front standard and shutter hardware have been painted "war time" black rather than Pre-Ann grey. A 1940s style Kalart was added and somewhere along the line a post war style front slider was added. (The viewfinder came from a Watson camera, so that was an after factory modification)