Advice needed

[Edwin]

Hi guys,

just received my Electro 35 from the States today!!!

Very excited and wanted to start playing with it right away... But... The light seals have all turned gluey... Think need to get them replaced before I can start testing out this baby.

Anyone out there know where I can get it done in Singapore and roughly wat's the cost? Did a search on Ebay and saw someone selling replacement seals? Somebody tried that oredi??? :dunno:

 

[whoelse]

Hi guys,

just received my Electro 35 from the States today!!!

Very excited and wanted to start playing with it right away... But... The light seals have all turned gluey... Think need to get them replaced before I can start testing out this baby.

Anyone out there know where I can get it done in Singapore and roughly wat's the cost? Did a search on Ebay and saw someone selling replacement seals? Somebody tried that oredi??? :dunno:

Camera workshop or Prime charge around $30 if I'm correct. A friend DIY buying the foam and basically comes with various size with double sided tape. 1 pack like cost $6.90 dunno where he bought. Some ppl said go to lab ask for empty film canisters and use the seal material inside works oso.

 

[Edwin]

Camera workshop or Prime charge around $30 if I'm correct. A friend DIY buying the foam and basically comes with various size with double sided tape. 1 pack like cost $6.90 dunno where he bought. Some ppl said go to lab ask for empty film canisters and use the seal material inside works oso.

Thanks for the reply!!!

Any idea how long it would take to replace the seals at TCW or Prime? Very tempted to DIY but lack the experience in film cameras...

 

[kelvinang]

Actually it's not difficult, you just need about 10 mins of concentration. Don't hurry, else you get ugly-looking but fully functional mirror foam

Somemore, the guy who I bought the seal replacements from provides a detailed guide in the package to DIY the change.

Email jon_goodman@yahoo.com to place your order. He sells DIY kits on eBay for USD 6 per basic kit (enough foam replacement for a few dozen cameras!). Postage to Singapore is USD 0.90.

A disclaimer: I am not affiliated to him nor do I get commission for each sale... purely just an extremely satisfied customer.

 

[rubric]

I've ordered from Jon Goodman too. Great after sales service. If you're reluctant to spend $30 or order from ebay, you can cut the black foam off an unwanted mouse pad. You'll need a steady hand for that. Alternatively, buy a thin sheet of black foam from Art Friend. Smallest size is A5 I believe, and about a dollar at most. It's easy to replace the seals, just messy and a more time consuming than you think. Use lighter fluid to dissolve the old ones first, just try not to touch the fluid much as it's carcinogenic. Scrape off the old melted bits with toothpick. Repeat till clean and push the cut piece of foam into the rail. Easy peasy, and very fulfilling! :bsmilie:

 

[Edwin]

Thanks for the excellent and helpful advice... :thumbsup:

After much hesitation, decided to do a DIY to replace the light seal... Just one more thing though... Do I just need to replace the light seal on the camera body or do I need to add some material on the film door to further ensure the blockage of light into the film chamber??? Read this on the Net and I think my Electro used to have some sort of tape on the film door... What kinda of material to use for this??? :dunno:

 

[kelvinang]

Thanks for the excellent and helpful advice... :thumbsup:

After much hesitation, decided to do a DIY to replace the light seal... Just one more thing though... Do I just need to replace the light seal on the camera body or do I need to add some material on the film door to further ensure the blockage of light into the film chamber??? Read this on the Net and I think my Electro used to have some sort of tape on the film door... What kinda of material to use for this??? :dunno:

Generally speaking... the light seals at the door should be good enough to keep the box light-tight, even if it had also turned glooey or not as thick as it was. The only way to find out is to shoot a roll and check for light leaks. If the photos look fine, then I guess you do not have to "fix" it (it's not "broken"!)

In case you need to fix that, a tip given to me by a friend on replacing the light seals at the door - use knitting yarn. Dig out as much glooey deposits as you can, perhaps leaving a little inside to act as "glue" to keep the yarn in the grooves. Early day cameras has such yarn as light seals, and one advantage they have over their rubbery counterpart is that unlike the rubbery/sponge version, they do not decay even after decades.

Alternatively, if you are buying a DIY kit from Jon Goodman, his kit includes thin strips of the foam material, about 1mm in width, which you can stuff into the grooves of the body to act as light seals. The yarn method or this one both works for me.

I guess there's no hard and fast rules on what to use. Maybe someday you will share with us on a method using 3M foam tapes and black marker... (which I had wanted to try actually, but ended up buying a DIY kit )

 

[Edwin]

Firstly, Merry X'mas to all!!!

Secondly, just say that I managed to DIY the light seal and I must say they do look good for one done by a first timer...

I started by cleaning away the old seal using lighter fluid. (Thanks to rubic for the tip.) Using paper towel dipped in the solvent and pushing thru' with a toothpick.

For the camera body, I stuff it with strips of foam from an old mouse pad. Have to do some coaxing with a toothpick before they slip into the groove nicely. Actually I had cut thicker than required strips so that they will stay nicely inside without any adhesive.

As for the film door, I chose to use the meshy side of the velcro... Again cut into strips and using double side tape, stuck to the edges of the film door.

The whole process took me 3 hours, with the major part of the time trying to dig out as much of the gluey stuff as possible. Total cost incurred... Think less than 5 bucks.

 

[whoelse]

and fun too right?

 

[kelvinang]

That's good to hear! Fixing the light seals should be a very cheap thing to do, and relatively easy. I was hunting for materials to do it but couldn't get them (cheap enough). In your case it seems you got materials readily available at home so, why not?

Was under the impression you need mirror foam replacement... opps!

 

[Edwin]

It was all sweat and hardwork man... But definitely satisfaction to the max...