Re-doing the leatherette on the 2000ES

[Wolfram Malukker]

Got this Chinon CE-II/Sears 2000ES going again, but the leatherette was peeling up and shrunken. I had some tolex leftover from recovering a guitar case and an amplifier in the past, and it was the right thickness.

Carefully cleaned all the old goo off and re-glued with the water-based tolex glue that I've used with this stuff before-If you follow the directions it works great, but it's still removable with some effort.

Here's how it was when I got it, I added the blue 3D printed body cap.

Got the old covers peeled off and stuck to a sheet of paper to measure them-they were about 1mm too small so I added 1.5mm and trimmed from there.

After cutting out the first few pieces, I got them glued on and they look OK.

Doesn't look too bad, I think. Certainly good enough for me!

As soon as I get the light seals replaced in the back door, I'll have to take it out and have some fun with it.

 

[Dan Daniel]

Looks nice. You even handled the curved corners nicely.

What can you tell me about this Tolex stuff and the glue? Water-based sounds nice. Does it grab well? Go on easily?

 

[Wolfram Malukker]

Tolex and Tolex glue are sold to recover guitar amplifiers and guitar cases, it's basically a thin cloth backed vinyl leatherette. Basically the same thing as what is sold for camera work but you buy it by the yard.

I have no idea what the tolex glue is, other than it's essentially a water-based rubber cement type contact adhesive. You brush it on both surfaces you want to bond, then let it dry until it starts to grab a finger, then press them together-it has a good grab but it's repositionable if you don't wait *too* long before sticking the sides together.

I get both from Antique Electronic Supply or MojoTone.

https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/grill_cloth_tolex_piping?filters=980a275c272a980

Mojotone Tolex Cleaner- 6 Ounce Bottle

www.mojotone.com

Mojotone has the smaller bottles of tolex glue, AES only has quarts and gallons. It took about two teaspoons to do this one camera. A half yard of tolex would do half a dozen cameras, and there are LOTS of colors and patterns to choose from. I have some purple and bright BRIGHT green too.

 

[choiliefan]

Thanks for posting those links.
Lots of good stuff and a new source for handles and hardware without gouging on the pricing.
There's even some covering similar to what's on my ancient Conn saxophone case.
Oh, and your camera looks terrific...

 

[Wolfram Malukker]

I think I underestimated about how much half a yard would cover. Half a yard would probably put most DIY camera guys in abundance for years.

 

[Wolfram Malukker]

Might get to find out just how peelable the leatherette is next week, I am having a difficult time getting the lightmeter dialed in. I need to find a way to measure the shutter speed and see if it's metering correctly and the meter needle is just not doing the job, it appears to only go halfway up even when metering a bare lightbulb.