Tachihara Bellows Replacement
My recently acquired Tachihara 4X5 at one time in its life had the bellows mangled when the person using it did not fold it correctly. The camera is a bit like origami when it comes to folding.
I elected to change the bellows and I sourced one from eTone on their eBay store. They offer four colors, Red, Blue, Green and the common black. I decided on green as it was not as common ad Black or Red and contrasts nicely with the Japanese Cherry Wood that was used to make the camera.
Removing the majority of the bellows was a matter of carefully tearing it away from the wood. I found no real instructions online, even after spending an afternoon scouring the internet. I peeled away as much of the old bellows as possibly using fingers and some heavy tweezers. The balance of the bellows material and the glue was scraped off using my Sandvik gasket scraper left over from my days as an auto mechanic. A company sells a knock off of the scraper on Amazon, Bahco 645 Scraper. The advantage of this type of scraper is you draw it towards you to scrape, you have much more control on the scraping action and it is nearly impossible to gouge the wood. If you do, you were being pretty heavy handed!
The bellows will be attached using Pliobond 30 Contact Adhesive. Finishing the folds on the bellows prior to gluing will be taken care of with a small tube of Pliobond 10 Adhesive. I highly recommend getting a package of disposable "acid brushes" to apply the Pliobond. You will want to use them once! I used five during the entire process...
The two flaps on the lens end (LH) need to be folded over and glued to make the end of the bellows square, so 11:00 and 4:00 portions get folded and glued. Note there is a crease line already there, this will be the fold line when you glue. Brush the Pliobond on the black area, wait until tacky, about 3-4 minutes depending on the thickness and substrate. (very important) and fold over. Be aware, the glue is called a Contact Adhesive for a reason, this truly means if you waited the appropriate amount of time, the bond will be instant and virtually un-reversible. The corners of the screen end (RH) need to be tacked down with adhesive prior to installation and subsequent trimming.
After scraping as much of the old adhesive as I could from the front standard, I prepped the front of the bellows by gluing and folding over the two side flaps to get a square front. I then placed this against the standard and masked any exposed wood with painter's tape. A light brushed coating of the Pliobond 30 adhesive was brushed into place. The taped margins allowed me to place the bellows (similarly coated with adhesive) into position the first (and only) time. I will coat the remaining exposed wood with a little polyurethane spar varnish where the original varnish got scraped away. Right image shows the freshly glued bellows/front standard. While the contact is immediate, 12-14 hours will be required for full strength.
The body made a nice weight while the bond on the bellows to front standard was setting up. Bellows/front standard are kinda hidden under the body. I then took painter's masking tape and masked the "film side" of the opening to prevent glue from getting where I did not want it to mar the surface. The solvent that will soften the Pliobond will destroy any paint or varnish used on the camera.
I applied the adhesive to the inner part of the body and to the flange on the bellows. You must work fairly quickly as waiting too long, the adhesive will not adhere well. My guess is you have about 3-4 minutes after the application to make the bond. I coated the wooden surfaces first as they are less porous than the cloth of the bellows and will dry slower. It is my advice to practice placing the bellows into the body several times prior to applying the Pliobond to get a feel for how it will fit. You have one shot at placement no matter how lightly the two surfaces touch.
I had a bunch of small spring clamps and I used them to clamp the four corners where there were multiple layers of material. I had applied adhesive between the layers prior to installation of the bellows. While I was waiting for the adhesive to bond, I took the time to add a small glass bubble level that I sourced from McMaster-Carr. Part # 2201A61 which has a sensitivity of 0.453"/Foot, 130 min/0.1" The level is 3/8" in diameter and 3/16" tall. I mounted it using 3M grey mounting tape.
Finished bellows installation and tarnished brass hardware plated. It looks really good!
4/11/2025
Gold Plating Tarnished Brass Hardware
The bellows came out so nice, I decided to repair the peeling lacquered brass on the body. I got a small jewelry plating kit from Becker Industries, they sell small plating kits in a variety of metals including Gold (several types), Rhodium and Silver. I got 24K Gold the kit was $59
Left side shown before stripping the lacquer and the bare brass part. Right side show the part after 4 minutes in the electroplating bath. A dramatic improvement!
I got a little Hot Waxing pot (used for hair removal) to get the solution up to temperature and keep it stabilized. Seemed better than putting the little jar in the microwave. I 3D printed a ring to hold the little jar in suspension and filled it with water up to just under the ring. On the right is the connections the supplied wall wart uses to hold the part. You can see a little gold plate on the alligator clip. LOL
I decided holding and plating one screw at a time was foolish, so i drilled some holes in a small piece of brass strip. Right side shows the finished screws, still in the bracket.
Here's a video of plating one of the parts
I took the camera farther apart and cleaned and plated the bottom parts. Un-plated (L) and Plated (R) in the lefthand picture.
Finished parts for the bottom portion of the body shown on right. I decided to not polish the parts as they are quite thin and sized to fit flush with the wood on the top.
Looks pretty sweet!!
5/5/2025