Sears Tower folding camera - scratches film

Hi all,

I have a Sears Tower 51 (i think) folding camera. It draws nice lines across rolls of film. When my wife and I bought it, it had a roll of film in it which came out like this:


Some of that fungus or whatever appears to have stuck to the inside of the camera where the film glides across, causing the scratches:



I've tried lifting it with lens cleaning fluid and a microfibre cloth, but that didn't do much. Any ideas how to lift that stuff without scratching the surface permanently?

After doing some Google research its probably a Sears Tower Folding 120 http://www.cameramanuals.org/sears/sears_tower_folding_120.pdf which Camerapedia list as a Tower 51 120 folding made by USC (United States Camera) or Conley Camera Company http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Sears .

I would use 90% Isopropyl Alcohol on a cotton ball or swab and clean all surfaces that film passes over.

If you can feel it, try scraping it off with your fingernail. If not, I would just try different things, getting more aggressive each time. You can't really make it worse, so go for it.

Are you sure it's fungus? Or metal pitting from age? Odd as it may seem, old metal on and in vintage cameras and especially the cheaper consumer folding ones of the 1950s, can be fragile, and scratches easily even with fingernails.

Many of the older folding cameras seem prone to pitting. Some time ago I tried restoring a Zeiss Nettar 6x9 (which also scratched film, among its many problems) for use, but I eventually gave up due to the endless small problems I had to deal with, from holes in the bellows to metal pitting to wonky shutter speeds to fungus on the lens blades to interior paint peeling. This Nettar is now a shelf queen as the exterior looks to be in pristine condition, too bad about the rest.

The bellows on your Sears look to be in good condition and order but you should check them for fungus as well as light leaks.

Good luck with it all.Restoring a camera can be fun, but try to not go overboard with the work involved. Common sense would be that if your Sears is too much of a handful to deal with and continues to scratch your films, you should just bite the bullet and find another in better condition. There are many of these out there.

I think I have one of those (not sure if it's the same model). It used to belong to a long-dead second cousin.

That white stuff on the metal might be oxidation, as it is on mine. Mine also has some pitting on the rollers and film gate. I've not run film through it. I know you can get those rollers out relatively easily, but if you're like me, they go back in the box with the camera due to procrastination, lol.

I've considered using some very fine steel wool to try to polish things up, but have not gone any further because the shutter hangs. I'm sure it's simple enough for my low skill level, but I'm unsure how I would reassemble it if I were to drill-out the rivet.

Maroon Scotch Bright general purpose pads work very well on metal to remove oxidation and surface rust.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3m-7447-074...:g:gcgAAOSwHnFV4JEf&item=231669139469&vxp=mtr
They should be sold in single or double packs in local hardware stores in the sandpaper section.

Rollers should turn freely with just a slight touch.

scrape off as much of the lifted stuff as possable using a fingernail and or a fine grit 400 wet dry sand paper on a toungue depressor to assure its a flat surface.

Then use a 600grit wet dry sanding paper on a tongue depressor till its just about mirror finished.