My Bolex Has Caught A Virus!

[Andrew Glenn Miller]

Just a cleaning concern, when I stumbled upon this! :blink:

 

 

I decided to pick up my old h16 and stumbled on this little creature living under my pressure plate. Would this be hardened emulsion?

 

"The inside of the apparatus must be kept very clean. Slight deposits of dust or emulsion may form in the gate or on the pressure pad during the passage of film. These, and the aperture in particular, should be carefully cleaned by means of a clean cloth wound around the end of a pencil. If the emulsion deposit has hardened, damp the cloth slightly and wipe with a dry cloth." - Bolex Paillard Manual

 

Before I attempt to clean along the gate, is there anything I should be aware of. I've read to watch out for the shutter plate (should this never be touched or cleaned?).

 

 

Also is this something I should worry about on my pressure plate, seems to have the smallest spider web effect, and there are two of them..

[Tom Jensen]

I can't see it but just clean it. You won't hurt anything.

[Andrew Glenn Miller]

Shot at 2012-01-10

 

The serve re-sized them, unfortunately I don't have access to a digital camera as well.

 

Shot at 2012-01-10

[Chris Millar]

Not sure what it is from the pictures ...

 

Shutter plate, if you mean the shutter blades - don't touch them if you can help it - they are reasonably sturdy, but any kink or bend and you might get clearance and/or balance issues. You shouldn't need to touch it anyway, best would be to leave the shutter open so it's not an option.

 

Shutter plate, if you mean the aperture plate - can be touched, in fact you should be touching at least with compressed air (or orange wood sticks) to remove the classic hairs and other gunk.

 

Looks like you have an older steel type plate in there, pretty dang robust! The side leaf spring guides might/will need a clean if you haven't done it, and from your pic it looks like its them that have the issue ?? I think you could probably push them all the way in and the elasticity of the steel would cope with it and you wouldn't get any permanent loss of spring, but best avoid asking that question and support the back of it with a toothpick or something as you go to town cleaning it - I found isopropyl alcohol dandy for these purposes, but I've typically been a to hell with it lets just try and see kinda guy with my bolexes (I have put a lot more force into things than I'd ever suggest here online, it's something you get a feel for, usually after breaking a few). Anyway, maybe isopropanol is bad for some unknown reason (it did soak away a little of the internal black paint, but not the light sealant, nor the what I think was the real original bolex black paint, mine must of been touched up at some stage)

 

I like the idea behind the cloth and pencil - they figure that if you go too hard you're only going to be pushing lead onto the gear instead of the end of a flat head screw driver

 

Basically, do what you have to to get that gunk off without scratching the pressure pad surface - if you have to scratch it or it is effectively left unusable as that gunk is still on it (etching/corrosion ??) then its off to ebay to buy some clunker of a bolex with a broken 'anything but the pressure pad' for spares - cheaper than you might think, and you get to play with it too, maybe fix it.

[Andrew Glenn Miller]

Not sure what it is from the pictures ...

 

Shutter plate, if you mean the shutter blades - don't touch them if you can help it - they are reasonably sturdy, but any kink or bend and you might get clearance and/or balance issues. You shouldn't need to touch it anyway, best would be to leave the shutter open so it's not an option.

 

Shutter plate, if you mean the aperture plate - can be touched, in fact you should be touching at least with compressed air (or orange wood sticks) to remove the classic hairs and other gunk.

 

Looks like you have an older steel type plate in there, pretty dang robust! The side leaf spring guides might/will need a clean if you haven't done it, and from your pic it looks like its them that have the issue ?? I think you could probably push them all the way in and the elasticity of the steel would cope with it and you wouldn't get any permanent loss of spring, but best avoid asking that question and support the back of it with a toothpick or something as you go to town cleaning it - I found isopropyl alcohol dandy for these purposes, but I've typically been a to hell with it lets just try and see kinda guy with my bolexes (I have put a lot more force into things than I'd ever suggest here online, it's something you get a feel for, usually after breaking a few). Anyway, maybe isopropanol is bad for some unknown reason (it did soak away a little of the internal black paint, but not the light sealant, nor the what I think was the real original bolex black paint, mine must of been touched up at some stage)

 

I like the idea behind the cloth and pencil - they figure that if you go too hard you're only going to be pushing lead onto the gear instead of the end of a flat head screw driver

 

Basically, do what you have to to get that gunk off without scratching the pressure pad surface - if you have to scratch it or it is effectively left unusable as that gunk is still on it (etching/corrosion ??) then its off to ebay to buy some clunker of a bolex with a broken 'anything but the pressure pad' for spares - cheaper than you might think, and you get to play with it too, maybe fix it.

 

Aperture plate would be the steel type plate that is inside with my pressure pad, correct? Is there a way to lock the shutter blades open? (All I can think of is switching it to 'T' mode and holding the shutter against the 'P'.

 

Thanks to the both of you. Time to clean!!

[Andrew Glenn Miller]

P.S.

 

I am remembering now. I believe my camera used to be a double perf system. Anywho, it was converted to single perf at some point in time, half a century ago..

 

I bought it when I was interning in New York one summer, the seller told me he did some work on it. It seems to have a very precise shutter, also seems to be in tip top shape, besides the recent intruder! Time to test my luck with the octameter.