Steve's Adventures in Bellows Building Land

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

After a bit of tidying up at the weekend, I found an old changing bag with a broken zip which I don't use any more. I decided to cut it up and make it into a set of 5" x 4" bellows with the help of the laser cutter we have at work.

I have already documented this on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150831112427011.400754.538602010&type=1

I know some people don't like Facebook as they think their souls will be stolen after just one visit so I will start to add some pictures here in subsequent posts.

Feel free to point, laugh and tell me where I went wrong or alternatively, post your own bellows making hints and tips.

Steve.

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

I started off with a sheet of polyester about 0.3mm thick and laminated a high strength sheet adhesive to both sides. Then I used our laser cutter to cut out the shapes of the stiffener ribs. The rear was taped up to prevent the pieces from falling out. The laser was also used to mark out various laminating lines to the front so I could line up the covering cloth and cut it to the correct length.

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

I then removed half of the release liner from the first set of stiffeners and lined up the edge of the outer cover down the centre line. This is the side which will have the overlapping join.
I then carried on removing the release liner pieces from each set of stiffeners and sticking the cloth down until it was stuck to all four sets.

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

Then it was turned over and the tape was removed followed by the outer framework leaving just the stiffener ribs stuck to the outer cover material.

ChristopherCoy · May 22, 2012

Nice. I'm going to eventually try this with some translucent material that light can pass through.

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

Then the inner cloth was applied in the same manner as the outer cloth. The join was offset by about 30mm to prevent excessive build up of thickness in one area.

The last picture shows an extra strip of adhesive along the overlapping edge. This is the outer cover. The inner cloth has already been finished in a similar manner.

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

Now for the fun bit - folding. You usually need to use all three of you hands to do this. A second brain can be useful too.

The rotary cutter sitting on the top is to stop it unravelling itself. Something I would not be too pleased about!

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

The two heaviest books I could find at the time being used to teach the material what its new shape is going to be.

I think the titles are quite appropriate.

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

Finally, a couple of trial runs I made earlier using paper and a polythene bag. If Lomo are interested in making a view camera with lots of light leaks, they can contact me to supply the bellows.

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

ChristopherCoy said:
Nice. I'm going to eventually try this with some translucent material that light can pass through.

What will you use that for?

Steve.

ChristopherCoy · May 22, 2012

Steve Smith said:
What will you use that for?

Steve.

I have a broken PLC that I want to do this with...

Steve Smith · May 22, 2012

I see. I would do that with clear polyester stiffeners and just the outer cover made from a translucent PVC or similar material.

I have always wanted to build a shed with a bellows style roof. Just think of two of the sides and rotate it by 45 degrees. The guttering would be fun to do.

Steve.

ic-racer · May 22, 2012

Wow, very nice!
I did something similar. A 'poor-man's' version where I used scissors to cut the polyester ribs free in the middle and left the ribs attached at the ends. Then cut the ends free after gluing to the first fabric with spray-on contact cement.

Steve Smith · May 23, 2012

I have enough cloth left over to make another set so I am going to do an experiment.

In this first set of bellows the inner and outer cloths are only stuck together by the adhesive on the stiffeners. they are free to move away from each other in the surrounding areas although the folds will most likely keep them together.

I want to make another set with the outer cloth laminated in the same way but with a piece of adhesive over the whole of the inner cloth so the two are also joined together in the areas around the stiffeners.

I don't know if it will make any difference but I will find out soon!

Steve.

SMBooth · May 23, 2012

ChristopherCoy said:
I have a broken PLC that I want to do this with...

View attachment 51437

Thats cool...

Curt · May 23, 2012

When I made my first bellows I used some cloth from the fabric store that was as light blocking as I could find while being fairly thin. I bought some thin blank liner also. Then I made a layout on very thin Kraft paper and glued stiffeners onto it. Over that I glued, with spray adhesive again, a layer of tin foil. Over the tin foil I glued the backing cloth. Then I folded and glued the overlap together. I don't have the bellows out to photograph it right now but some thirty years later it doesn't leak. It's been sitting most of the time. I made the camera out if Brass and Cherry predominately with hand tools. The key is light tight and flexible.

For my new project I had an 11x14 bellows made. I do believe in self made though as much as possible. When I get up my horses I'm completing the 11x14 film holders I started. I made a traditional holder and it's nearly identical to the original specifications laid out a century ago. now with the working holder and the drawings I can go at will.

Curt

himself · May 23, 2012

looks to have worked really well and lasers... wow, I had to cut all mine out one by one with a Stanley knife.
oh, and how come you only went for black, surely something a little more fun could have been in order

Newt_on_Swings · May 23, 2012

I want a laser cutter.

Steve Smith · May 23, 2012

himself said:
and how come you only went for black, surely something a little more fun could have been in order

The only reason I made the bellows was because I had the changing bag which was no longer any good. Other colours would be good though.

Curt said:
a layer of tin foil.

I like the idea of the foil. not just to make it light tight but because it would hold the folded corners in the right shape. (can't cut it on the laser though!).

Steve.

ChristopherCoy · May 23, 2012

SMBooth said:
Thats cool...

Yeah, I had decided that I was just going to use a drill press and drill a hole through it, which I'd place a metal tube through, but then I found this guys shop on etsy....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CECorkLightingCo/sold?ref=shopinfo_sales_leftnav

After thinking about it, aside from the bellows, I think I could probably make one of these on my own.

himself · May 23, 2012

Steve Smith said:
The only reason I made the bellows was because I had the changing bag which was no longer any good. Other colours would be good though.
[...]

shoulda run to the local charity shop and picked up an old bit of material, I suppose you still could, but then it may end up being too thick to fold properly.

Steve Smith · May 23, 2012

Perhaps one of my Hawaiian shirts on the outside.

Steve.

himself · May 23, 2012

now you're thinking

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