Graflex.org

[Digimassa]

Some years ago I bought a Baby Speed Graphic, to my shame i must say I didn´t shoot any pictures untill now as I couldn´t attach my roll film back, now I found on ebay another back, which could solve my problems (at least I hope it does)Please follow the first link to watch my Baby and the 2nd to watch this item on ebay.
My questions are now, can I attach the rollfilm back to this back without screwing around and does my screen glass and folding hood match to this back from ebay?
Thanks in advance
Martin






[ This Message was edited by: Digimassa on 2004-05-16 07:04 ]

[Les]

nice web page and good photos.

What you have is indeed a Graphic or Spring back, not a Graflok back.

Graflok backs replace the springs with a chrome strut that attaches to the body by two hooks.

It also has two slide locks that can hold accessories (like roll film holders) onto the camera when the back is removed.

Officially, what you need is a "Spring adapter kit" which is nothing more than a pair of modified springs with fingers that hold the roll holder in.

Other people have claimed success with a couple of washers.

_________________
"In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison

[Digimassa]

Thanks for that quick answer, it was here before I finished my editing^^, maybe I own this things you call adapter for spring back, but its a work of 15 minutes to screw the screen holder out and the film back in, and I cannot do this in action as at least I will loose the screws^^
Thanks for kind words about my page, have a look at http://miksch-media.com/1664

[ This Message was edited by: Digimassa on 2004-05-16 07:10 ]

[Les]

Well I see the Ground Glass part of the Graflok back, but the other piece in the background, whle it looks like a Graflok back it seems to me modified in some way. Can I see a close up of the backround piece?

It'll be afternoon before I can get back. I"m off to tear the siding off of my house and pull a bathroom window to fix the rotten sill.

Les



_________________
"In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison

[t.r.sanford]

If you wish to remove and replace the rollfilm holder in the field, then a "Graflok" back would make your life a good deal easier.

There is, indeed, something peculiar about the "Graflok" frame shown in the last picture. The focusing panel is for a "Graflok" back, and it looks as though it will attach to the frame. But the frame should be square, the same size as your present "Graphic" back, and should carry two chromed slides, top and bottom, which lock an accessory into the back.

[Digimassa]

Les, wish you a good job fixing your house;
This picture is from ebay, so I have to ask for a bigger one,
and ref this spring adapters, I make a lot of shots by SLR, so I want to see through lense and not through a viewfinder, so I must be able to attach roll film back quickly.
And I dont know what is a "washer", my dictionary says either a woman or a machine to wash and I cant imagine how to use this^^
Martin

[t.r.sanford]

The "washer" Les mentioned is a metal disk with a hole through it (perhaps Dichtungsring?) used in conjunction with a bolt. The idea would be to get two of them, remove the two bolts that run through the centers of the flat springs, put your rollfilm adapter between the rails, place a washer over the threaded holes at top and bottom, then run the bolts back in. You'd need washers of sufficient diameter to extend over the flanges at top and bottom of the rollfilm adapter.

If you got a couple of thumbscrews whose diameter and thread were the same as those of the original Graflex bolts, you could make the change quickly. But a "Graflok" back would be faster and easier.

[Digimassa]

t.r.sanford, thanks for that hint, maybe i got it. I heard this story with the washers some years ago and never understood it; the trick is, as springs are elastic you can bend them out a little, first one side, than the other. I think the word for the metal disc with little hole inside is "Beilagscheibe" , freely translated: add-on-disk, a "Dichtungsring" is rubber, its a seal within metal parts screwed together^^

[t.r.sanford]

The rubber item you mention is also a "washer" (it's used to stop faucets from leaking). There are limitations to computerized translation dictionaries!

The metal washers replace the springs. They don't need to be flexible; in fact, you wouldn't want them to be. The important point would be whether the flanges on the rollfilm adapter are just as high, or a little bit higher, than the "Graphic" back rails. If they are lower, then a washer wouldn't work; you'd need to make some kind of fitting that bent around the rail to contact the flange, like the spring-steel fingers Les described.

[Digimassa]

Uuuh, so I didn´t get^^

[t.r.sanford]

Well, imagine that you remove the focusing panel and its flat springs by taking the bolts out. You are looking at two rails, top and bottom, with a threaded hole in each.

Now imagine that you have two washers about 15mm. in diameter, with holes about 3mm. in diameter, and you place them over the threaded holes in the rails. One edge of each washer will extend into the space left by removal of the focusing panel.

If you place the rollfilm adapter between the rails, the flanges on either side will touch the rails, top and bottom. If they're the same thickness as the rails, then the two washers will contact them, and will keep the rollfilm adapter from falling out.

If the flanges are a little thicker -- if they're a bit higher than the rails -- the washers still would work.

If the flanges are thinner -- if they're lower than the rails -- then you would need to do something so the washers (or a couple of small pieces of sheet metal) would make solid contact with the flanges, to hold the rollfilm adapter firmly in place.

[Digimassa]

t.r.sanford,
now I´ve got it, just fix the washers with screws instead of the springs, but this will not work with a Baby 2 1/4 x 3 1/4, the back is to small, the roll film holder is to big, there is no place to screw something, I think its good working with larger backs but not with my tiny one.^^
I asked this ebay seller for better images and maybe tomorrow he sends me, I will post and hope you can say more.
Thank you verry much for your patience explaining me this washer secret,
Martin

[t.r.sanford]

If your rollfilm adapter will not fit between the rails on the back of your miniature "Speed" when the focusing panel is removed, it may not be designed for a 2¼x3¼ "Graphic" in the first place.

A "Graflok" back for the 2¼x3¼ "Speed" will be exactly the same size as your "Graphic" back, with the same rail spacing -- remember, it was designed to accept customers' existing "Graphic" accessories.

If your rollfilm adapter is too big for the "Graphic" rails, it will be too big for a "Graflok" too.

[Digimassa]

Dear Sir,
please dont be that kind of harsh to me.
As you can see, my backs fit perfectly between the rails, but its a work of 10 minutes to make any kind of screwing there^^



[ This Message was edited by: Digimassa on 2004-05-16 17:42 ]

[t.r.sanford]

I certainly can see your point. I don't have a 23 "Graphic" back to look at, but I can see by looking at a rollfilm holder that there wouldn't be much clearance between the flange and the socket for the bolt.

A "Graflok" back, then, will solve your problem, and I'd be interested to know more about the one you're looking at. I've never seen anything quite like it.

Alternatively, might you make two little toggles (perhaps washers with one edge ground flat) that could be rotated to retain, or to allow inserting and removing, the back? Once the back was off, it would be easy to get at the bolts to install the groundglass panel.