Bronica Back Foam Sealer Replacement How-to

From: [email protected] (DKTEAT)
Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
Subject: Re: Foam sealer replacement in Bronica
Date: 06 Sep 1999

I have not had one leak around the sides but have had two leak where the dark slide goes in.

One gave me a light line between frames with very faint fogging and only in bright light.

The other gave me fogging over the entire frame in almost any light.

Replacing the foam around the door is not a bad idea but I doubt it will solve the problem.

I did my own because I got tired, after the third time of returning it to the shop and not having it come back fixed, of wasting film. They refunded my money but didn't pay for the film. The following is what worked for me, I do not do camera repair for a living so use the following at your own risk.

With back off camera: First remove any film, the insert and the darkslide (by inserting the end of a pen and depressing retainer pin while holding pushing darkslide in to relieve pressure on pin). Anyway there are a number of small screws around the perimeter of the plate that goes against the camera body, 10 on the back I am looking at. They are small and delicate, you need to remove these to get the cover off. Do not remove the two (one on either side) of the dark slide, you will get those later.

Gently pry out the plate, it will probably take a little work but it will come, JUST BE GENTLE so as not to bend it. Once out you will find there is a "protrusion" covered with felt, under the felt is a spring loaded rod attached to the back side, this is used to close the darkslide slot when the darkslide is removed. On both the backs I had that leaked this slide was stuck open on one or both ends from corrosion. By removing the remaining two screws you free this up and it can be cleaned.

I removed all the old felt, most of it peeled off, went to the fabric shop and bought some regular velvet and replaced what I had removed using contact cement. Make sure to not over do it with the contact cement, a little goes a LONG way.

When done reassemble in reverse order.

This corrected the problem in both backs and saved me almost $100 a back to have them rebuilt. One word of caution, the screws are small and fragile, if you bugger one up or break it off it may not be the end of the world but it is a real pain SO GO EASY. Also make sure not to drop anything in, fool with or remove the gears you can see when removing the cover, you are just asking for trouble.

By the way, my greatest fear when I started rebuilding the first back is that I would remove the cover and a Kajillian Springs & parts would go flying everywhere. This doesn't happen, but I do make a habit of working on a clean WHITE flower sack (smooth) towel. Make it easier to find little screws when you drop them and keeps them from ending up on the floor. Also make sure you have a little bowl handy to put your parts in as you remove them.

This project is best done when your spouse is gone, your kids are gone, the dog & cat are gone so there are absolutely not distractions....

Good luck and let me know how it turns out!

Don
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