The focusing hood material (later gen synthetic) on my Super Graphic is done for. The bottom panel detaches from the material sides pretty easily by removing the retaining rail/clips, so I'm assuming I'll be able to use that to hold the new assembly together as long as the material is thin enough.

Two questions:
1) Is there a "right" way to detach the fabric from the top panel / attach new material?
2) What should I use to replace the material with?

Thanks!

Quote:

The bottom panel detaches from the material sides pretty easily by removing the retaining rail/clips

This confuses me. Are you referring to removing the focus hood from the focus panel?

The side cloths are crimped into the top and bottom panels of the focus hood. After looking at mine I would use a wood chisel, 3/4 to 1 inch, and pry the crimp open just enough to allow the material to be removed easily.
To install new material cut to proper size I would slide it into the slot, place the crimpable edge with cloth between two pieces of hardwood in a vice and tighten the jaws until the cloth is held firmly in place or place the panel smooth side down on a block of hardwood such as Oak 1x2, place a second block of hardwood on top of the crimpable ridge and drive it down firm against the cloth with a medium weight hammer.

For replacement cloth you can use some shutter cloth from Micro Tools, bellows cloth from a player piano parts company, high thread count black cotton cloth or black nylon then paint one side with two to four thin coats of carbon black acrylic artist paint such as Golden #1040, http://www.goldenpaints.com//products/color/infopg.php?K=0001040 .

I have never had to replace the material and do not know what the original is. The service manual only shows p/n 36082-G1 Hood Assembly-focusing and p/n 36087-P1 Clip-Dark slide as the only parts.

On my focusing hood, the sides are crimped onto the top panel as you described, but on the bottom, instead of the fold being crimped down, there's a tiny steel c-channel-style piece of material clamping the material in. It appears to have originally been glued down. i was able to remove the c-channel strips along both sides of the bottom flap to free the remnants of fabric.

I will try the chisel/clamp for the top edges. I am hunting around for fabric samples now. Thanks for the advice!