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Hi
I am going to replace the light baffles on my Nikkormat Ftn, Yashica GT and Yashica GX.
After looking at the Micro-Tools site, I have some questions.
1) Which thickness would I require for the Nikkormat?
2) Which thickness would I require for the Yashicas?
3) In the descriptions, they say the imported material is less dense than the domestic version. Is this good or bad?
4) Which is the better choice for performance (not application)- with adhesive or without?
thanks
Allan
I never used the Micro-Tool stuff but rather 'foamies' or sponge rubber from a crafts shop. They only have it in approx. 2mm thickness which is appropriate in most cases. For small stripes thickness is not an important issue since they will compress anyway. Thickness matters more when you need wide sprides which will not be compressed very easily.
I used another make of 'foamies' which was much less dense but I think the more dense stuff is more suitable.
It is not easy to put self-adhesive stripes into narrow grooves. Actually stripes in grooves hardly need any glue - they keep there by themselves. You can glue wider stripes to the camera body with plain household glue.
Alan - In the US the "foamies" Winfried refers to are sold at Wal-Mart. They are sheets of colored foam - choose black of course. When the backing is removed they have a self-adhesive side. Look in the arts and crafts section. I had to try three times before I found someone who recognized what I was talking about and could direct me to them. Very handy. Thanks to Kar for the original suggestion.
Alan - the 2mm cellular neoprene (foamies) is the stuff to use for the SLR mirror buffer - as indicated by the previous respondent.
However - if you are referring to the light-traps of the camera's back door - there is a much much better solution.
If you look at the pre-WW2 Exaktas and similar quality cameras you will find that the back-door grooves contain a textile rope. It is in fact cotton. And those light-traps are inevitably as good today as they were 60 years ago.
Clean out the old gunked foam rubber stuff but do not swab out with petrol or whatever. Rather leave the slightly sticky residual in place.
Procure some black knitting yarn of the non-hairy variety (ie: At least 80% Acrylic rather than pure wool).
You can singe the ends to prevent unravel.
Just lay the yarn in the groove and bed it with the edge of a 6 inch engineers rule.
If you wish, you can apply a microdot of contact adhesive to secure the ends. But ONLY a microdot !
I have just been landed with a camera which was so enhanced but with so much contact adhesive that the camera back is not stuck solid! Duh!
The "stuck" part was at the gap of the top track which because of the film-counter zeroing lever, has to be in two parts so that the projection on the camera-back can trigger it.
Stuart Willis
ethos@uq.net.au