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120 folder - good bellows and lens, but busted shutter - how to repurpose?

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jay moussy

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Jun 10, 2019
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Location
Eastern MA, USA
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I somehow acquired a 120 folder, made by Balda.
Radionar 105mm 4.5, but busted Pronto (T, B, 100, 50, 25) shutter

How to repurpose, the whole, or parts?

Note: I could open the Pronto shutter, and make it a learning experience, with a remote chance of getting lucky, short of broken springs and such.
 
Pinhole camera?
 
That's a simple shutter, and most problems with it are easy to fix. Often the failure is oil creeping onto the blades, making them stick together. That and other problems are easy to fix.
 
You can remove the shutter block, put the camera on its back, fill the bellows with dirt, and plant a bonsai tree in the lens board opening. Sort of a craggy mountain effect. Some small pebbles around the trunk should finish it off nicely.

Oh wait, I bet that wasn't the kind of 'repurposing' you meant....
 
Assuming the problem is dried lube: If you can remove the shutter and remove the lenses from the shutter then you can give a go at soaking and flushing with cigarette lighter fluid (Ronsonol). When the shutter is wet and soaked try exercising the shutter. Cognoscenti shudder with such advice ("The shutter may work for a few years but then it will...") - but it will be working far better than it is now. Shutters run dry just fine if they are only for occasional use, so there is no need to re-lubricate.
 
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