Donald Qualls
Allowing Ads
Pursuant to using 35mm film for panoramic format in my RB67, I have a 3D printed frame mask for 35mm film. Installing this requires removing the original 6x7 frame mask (which also forms the body side of the dark slide slot).
Under this mask is a little spring loaded latch lever that engages a notch in the dark slide to prevent removing the dark slide while the roll film holder is off the camera. The spring for this latch is a lopsided hairpin of fine wire that just sits in a shallow notch in the shell frame; it's retained by the frame mask plate.
With the frame mask plate off, it can wander or even fly -- as it did on about my tenth attempt to get it back in its proper spot long enough to get the new frame mask plate fully seated. The first time it escaped, it only went a few inches, and I found it, still on my desk, after a couple minutes of lifting things and looking under them; the second time, I heard it land in a large box of crumpled paper packing material intended to ship my Graphic View when I sell it (replaced by a Graphic View II with centered tilts and a Graflok back). A sweep with a strong magnet yielded nothing.
If I can't get one, I may be able to bend a replacement out of music wire; I have some experience doing this kind of bending, and while the dimensions are fairly critical, the wire size probably isn't (that is, if the spring is a little too stiff or too soft, it's not a problem). It would be much simpler, however, to obtain a correct replacement spring if anyone has one to spare.
If it matters, this is a ProS model 6x7 on 220 back, lever advance (not motor drive).
Under this mask is a little spring loaded latch lever that engages a notch in the dark slide to prevent removing the dark slide while the roll film holder is off the camera. The spring for this latch is a lopsided hairpin of fine wire that just sits in a shallow notch in the shell frame; it's retained by the frame mask plate.
With the frame mask plate off, it can wander or even fly -- as it did on about my tenth attempt to get it back in its proper spot long enough to get the new frame mask plate fully seated. The first time it escaped, it only went a few inches, and I found it, still on my desk, after a couple minutes of lifting things and looking under them; the second time, I heard it land in a large box of crumpled paper packing material intended to ship my Graphic View when I sell it (replaced by a Graphic View II with centered tilts and a Graflok back). A sweep with a strong magnet yielded nothing.
If I can't get one, I may be able to bend a replacement out of music wire; I have some experience doing this kind of bending, and while the dimensions are fairly critical, the wire size probably isn't (that is, if the spring is a little too stiff or too soft, it's not a problem). It would be much simpler, however, to obtain a correct replacement spring if anyone has one to spare.
If it matters, this is a ProS model 6x7 on 220 back, lever advance (not motor drive).