Technique to remove glue from IIIf body

[wlaidlaw]

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1 hour ago, pico said:

How about isopropyl alcohol? Denatured, certainly, but would it work? Acetone?

 

Jac, 

It works to some extent but for old shellac glue, I have found that a mixture of methyl and ethyl alcohol works much better. Acetone will lift the enamel if it is a black body and also removes any paint infilling of engraving. 

Wilson

[wlaidlaw]

1 hour ago, tobey bilek said:

The solvent for shellac is ethanol or denatured alcohol. Methanol is poison to humans as is denatured.

Tobey,

Methanol is really not that dangerous unless you drink it. For years I handled large quantities for our F2 cars in European Hill Climb championship cars before it was banned for reasons nobody could explain. The so-called racing gasoline (BMW racing fuel) we used after methanol was banned, was far nastier stuff, which had to be handled with industrial rubber gloves and with charcoal filter breathing masks due to its high benzene, anilene and toluene content. We use to buy our methanol in 205L drums. We also used methanol  in historic racing for pre-war Grand Prix cars like Alfa Romeo Monza and Maserati 6CM, where it is still permitted. One advantage is that if it goes on fire, unlike gasoline it can be extinguished with water. The downside is that the flames are invisible. 

Wilson

[pico]

2 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

The downside is that the flames are invisible. 

So amazing and true! On the US Air Force flight line we never had such an issue. JP* was just filthy. (cannot talk about whatever the Blackbird ate.)

 

[Pyrogallol]

Reading this subject with interest, liked the idea of replacing the vulcanite on an old Leica but so far have not had one that needed replacement. But I have just ordered an Aki Asahi replacement cover for a Nikon S. Has anyone had experience of removing the original covering from a Nikon rangefinder body?

[Xícara de Café]

Hope you get some feedback on Nikon S glue! Here is the finished product with the hugostudio.com cladding. Worked nicely. I dabbed alcohol (70% ethanol) with a cotton bud (the ones on sticks - don't try normal cotton wool, it gets caught up on the adhesive) to the sticky side of the cover before applying. Dabbed it only on the tricky regions, where the self-timer and dial go. It was a shame to lose the original vulcanite but this cladding has slightly better grip.

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[wlaidlaw]

BTW don't try using acetone with cotton buds with plastic sticks. I was trying to remove some spicks of paint over-spray (beyond the masked area) on a lamp whose stem I had resprayed satin black with an aerosol. I dipped the cotton bud into my bottle of acetone and the whole head of the cotton bud fell off with the stick instantly dissolving - doh!

Wilson

[Ko.Fe.]

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Just for future use. I recovered IIf and M4-2. No thinners or else was used. Just mechanical and alcohol to clean my fingers grease  .

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Edited June 20, 2019 by Ko.Fe.

[qqphot]

Does anyone have a preference or opinion on aki-asahi vs hugostudio skins? I'm going to need to re-skin my IIIg soon and wondering if one is clearly preferable. They both seem to look great from the examples people have posted.  Mostly curious about durability and/or the effectiveness and workability of the adhesive.

[wlaidlaw]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Both equally good. I always get reskins done professionally because I am just not that good with handiwork. One thing you can do if using real leather re-skins, is to put a smear of pure alcohol gel (no hand softeners or perfume) on the sticky side of the re-skin. You can then move it around until you have a perfect fit. The alcohol will then evaporate through the leather over around 48 hours, leaving a perfect finish. I have watched professionals doing a reskin and they have a number of special tools like a tiny roller to get the leather pressed down at the edges and various spatulas and a larger roller to keep the skin taut as they apply it. 

Wilson

Edited July 13, 2022 by wlaidlaw

[derleicaman]

I used Purell hand sanitizer while reskinning an M7. Worked a treat, and allowed me to get the new skin positioned perfectly. There are different versions, and I think the one to use is the original

[Kl@usW.]

vor 17 Stunden schrieb derleicaman:

hand sanitizer

frequently has "Glycerol" or other stuff added to  make your skin feel less dry after sanitation. I came across this after cleaning my computer-and phone screen with sanitizer left a nasty smear... May be it doesn't matter with the skin of the camera though

[wlaidlaw]

2 hours ago, Kl@usW. said:

frequently has "Glycerol" or other stuff added to  make your skin feel less dry after sanitation. I came across this after cleaning my computer-and phone screen with sanitizer left a nasty smear... May be it doesn't matter with the skin of the camera though

No it really does matter. If you use alcohol gel with moisturiser, skin protector or perfume, the covering will never stick properly. As Bill says above, original Purell, is a good recommendation. Otherwise go to your local pharmacy and ask for medical/surgical alcohol gel, without additives, then check on the list of ingredients. 

Wilson

[derleicaman]

8 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

No it really does matter. If you use alcohol gel with moisturiser, skin protector or perfume, the covering will never stick properly. As Bill says above, original Purell, is a good recommendation. Otherwise go to your local pharmacy and ask for medical/surgical alcohol gel, without additives, then check on the list of ingredients. 

Wilson

Thanks for confirming that Wilson. After I posted I looked around for the bottle I had, and couldn't find it. 

[250swb]

To go all the way, way back to the original question most (all?) glues for coverings are contact adhesives, and these are removed with white spirit, don't even bother with alcohol unless you want a long term project. To apply coverings you want to do what people applying race car decals and race numbers do to get them down smoothly, water and a weak solution of washing up liquid. The washing up liquid allows time and slip for the race number to be positioned and the air bubbles to be squeezed out, the water then dries and the decal can be finally pressed down into position, same for camera coverings.

[wlaidlaw]

The original 1930's glue smells like a slightly fishy shellac product and is mid brown in colour. Meths seems to dissolve it quite well, which would make sense if it was a shellac based glue.The older Brits amongst us may remember Seccotine, which was a fish and shellac glue with a particularly pungent odour. My mother who regularly dropped and broke things, would glue them back together (badly) with Seccotine. 

Wilson

[qqphot]

I've been experimenting on the vulcanite of a 135mm Hektor on which half of it has already flaked off. Whatever adhesive was under it surprised me by wiping away very quickly and completely with acetone, leaving a smooth surface.  No idea what I'll do with it after removing the damaged vulcanite, because I'd need to manually cut a new cover and getting the screw holes punched out in the right positions sounds like an exercise in futility. But it is an inexpensive lens and will be none the worse naked, anyway.

[Pyrogallol]

I bought a 90mm Elmar, 3 element screw, recently with most of the vulcanite band missing. The rest practically fell off leaving a lightly ribbed metal surface underneath.

 

I had some textured black leather of the right thickness and glued that on. Making the holes for the screws was not very neat, being leather the fibres did not cut neatly and the band would stretch if pulled.

But it looks better than it did.

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[wlaidlaw]

I bought a set of machine punches, when I fondly imagined I was going to do my own recovering. My totally botched job on my M8 persuaded me otherwise. However the holes were punched very neatly. I use soft copper underneath for the punch to bite into. I did cut some very neat felt washers to go at the bottom of my FILCA and IXMOO reloadable cassettes and even some huge ones for my KOOBF cassettes for my 250FF. 

Wilson

[Pierre68]

On 7/13/2022 at 9:51 PM, wlaidlaw said:

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Both equally good. I always get reskins done professionally because I am just not that good with handiwork. One thing you can do if using real leather re-skins, is to put a smear of pure alcohol gel (no hand softeners or perfume) on the sticky side of the re-skin. You can then move it around until you have a perfect fit. The alcohol will then evaporate through the leather over around 48 hours, leaving a perfect finish. I have watched professionals doing a reskin and they have a number of special tools like a tiny roller to get the leather pressed down at the edges and various spatulas and a larger roller to keep the skin taut as they apply it. 

Wilson

Hello wlaidlaw can I ask you where you send your Leica when you need a reskin?

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[wlaidlaw]

Sadly Kelvin at Protech Camera Service UK near Uckfield in Sussex, only a few miles away from my UK house, who did a lot of my simpler work like recovers and VF alignments (his father was a Leica UK technician and he had picked up a lot of his knowledge and has the special tools), has now retired from working on classic cameras and now only works on DSLR's doing things like IR conversions. I have told him (I know him very well for many years) that I think he is making a mistake and that the DSLR business will slow down to a trickle, whereas there is a desperate need for Leica technicians, as long as they can get the parts, which currently is a major problem for all Leica technicians. I have even offered to let him borrow my Leica repair manuals (rare as rocking horse poo). 

Wilson

Edited September 29, 2022 by wlaidlaw