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Vanishing Vulcanite


Austinite

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Who's recovered their Leica M before? The vulcanite on my M3 had decided to disinigrate before my very eyes. It's almost naked on one side now. I've read about camera leathers in Vermont, USA but I'm wondering how much of a PITA it is to do yourself?

Hi

 

Getting all the old vulc off can be difficult getting a precut cover back on easy, but some leathers can be slippery, easy to remove and start again.

 

Noel

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It is a PITA to do it yourself. the mixture of paint-stripper and a sharpened bamboo chopstick did the trick for me, but calculate about 4h if it is the first time you do it. YMMV ;-)

 

I had good experiences with cameraleather, some users seem to have probs with response-times.

 

I stuck to this instructions:

cameraleather.com Leica M series Vulcanite Removal

 

and had good results. I would say if you have the chance to try it on a beater go for it, if it is a priced museum grade body with a tiny spec of lost vulcanite...... go to a pro.

 

cheers

Josef

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I had Morgan Sparks redo the vulcanite on a lens mount for me and I was so impressed that I then did a camera body (not a Leica), following his online instructions. It went smoothly and about a year later I sold that body for a multiple of what I paid for it+the recovering. If you're apprehensive about doing the job yourself, turn it over to almost any good camera repair person. It isn't hard to do yourself...you just need a little patience.

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The main PITA is removeing the remaining vulcanite. If you decide to go ahead make sure that you mask the chrome so as not to damage it with a slipping tool. I removed it with a scalpel and a strong craft knife. I used the kit from Aki-Asahi and was very pleased with the result. Assembly was easy after the base material was stripped.

 

Best,

 

normclarke.

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I recovered my M with a Cameraleather covering using the 'wet' covering method. You smear fast-evapourating liquid hand wash as lubricant to give yourself time to get the covering perfectly aligned before the hand wash evapourates and the covering sticks to the body. There are full instructions on the Camerleather website and it's straightforward to do.

 

Pete.

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