I have a 4x5 Speed and now I am preparing a 2 x 3 Crown.
Both are in good shape except the lensboard locks were a bit loose.
I made neater (?) sketches of what I did here in case it is of use to anyone with similar loose locks.
Firstly I sketched out the original design from the 4 x5 parts list (The 2 x 3 Crown uses identical parts except the lock plates are smaller.)
The problems with aging of the original design, is that washers go missing, the wear loosens the locks, the nuts start to pull through the soft bellows flange, and the screws tend to bind in the original nuts , they are then difficult to tighten because there is no way to hold the nuts from turning.
I took all the hardware off both cameras and re-assembled correctly on the 2 x 3 ( Option '0" of my sketch). However the locks were still rather loose.
So the inner washers were removed and the outer washers were replaced by metric M3 washers which are thicker and of larger outside diameter while still being a good fit on the original Graflex special screw ( Option 1 of my sketch)
That fixed the 2 x 3 Crown.
I use heavy medium format lenses on the 4 x 5 Speed, probably heavier than the design intended.
On the lathe I machined new Tee nuts with larger outer diameter to better clamp the bellows flange and thicker so they can be gripped with pliers for tightening.
Instead of making a stepped bolt, I used 4 more identical T nuts and M2 stainless machine screws. The larger diameter on the front helps hold the lock plates parallel to the lens board. (See Option 2 of my sketch and the dimensioned sketch of the new T nuts.) There are 8 required per camera.
That fixed the Speed, now the cameras can be held by the straps without fear the lenses might fall off.
Both are in good shape except the lensboard locks were a bit loose.
I made neater (?) sketches of what I did here in case it is of use to anyone with similar loose locks.
Firstly I sketched out the original design from the 4 x5 parts list (The 2 x 3 Crown uses identical parts except the lock plates are smaller.)
The problems with aging of the original design, is that washers go missing, the wear loosens the locks, the nuts start to pull through the soft bellows flange, and the screws tend to bind in the original nuts , they are then difficult to tighten because there is no way to hold the nuts from turning.
I took all the hardware off both cameras and re-assembled correctly on the 2 x 3 ( Option '0" of my sketch). However the locks were still rather loose.
So the inner washers were removed and the outer washers were replaced by metric M3 washers which are thicker and of larger outside diameter while still being a good fit on the original Graflex special screw ( Option 1 of my sketch)
That fixed the 2 x 3 Crown.
I use heavy medium format lenses on the 4 x 5 Speed, probably heavier than the design intended.
On the lathe I machined new Tee nuts with larger outer diameter to better clamp the bellows flange and thicker so they can be gripped with pliers for tightening.
Instead of making a stepped bolt, I used 4 more identical T nuts and M2 stainless machine screws. The larger diameter on the front helps hold the lock plates parallel to the lens board. (See Option 2 of my sketch and the dimensioned sketch of the new T nuts.) There are 8 required per camera.
That fixed the Speed, now the cameras can be held by the straps without fear the lenses might fall off.
