Graflex.org

[evegir]

Is there anyone out there who has built a better mouse trap re the XLRF focus tips? I believe there was a gent in Washington state who was making metal castings. Any ideas? I have a couple of dead bodies in my closet . . .!

[antjam65]

I got this at:

http://www.greenspun.com/com/mliu/medformat/medpresscompo.html

"It's often possible to buy an XLRF body with a broken focus ring for a mere pittence because, obviously, the camera is useless. I bought one for parts that was so nice I decided to solve the problem by manufacturing replica focus rings out of polyurethane plastic which I now use on my two bodies. They work great. If anyone needs a focus ring or wants to know how to do it themselves, email me. Installation is generally simple.
(Bartn51729@aol.com)"

Maybe you could contact this guy. If you get anywhere with this problem, please post your findings.
Best of luck,
AJ

[jdman]

I have an XL that just works great in the summer, but at 40 degrees forget it. I have sanded, lubricated, dis-assembled, installed a speed handle. But for the life of me I cannot under stand what temperature has do do with plastic. This a great camera, but boy someone was really asleep at Graflex whan this camera was designed.Russ

[DIYJohn]

I think a correction is needed to the post made in December 2001. The person who makes the replica focus rings is Leonard Flanagan. His e-mail address is ldflan@hotmail.com . I have not tried one yet, but am ordering one now. Good luck!

John

[antjam65]

Hi John,
Please let us know how the new focus ring works out.
Thanks,
AJ

[blwallen]

I just bought three of these on eBay and did my routine housecleaning operation to freshen up the viewfinders. I suspect these were pool cameras for a newspaper. Focusing is different for each. One is very difficult to focus, one a bit better, and one is generally easy. I will do a further tear-down of the worst one and report the results.

TIP. Graflex obviously understood this was a problem and provided a focusing lever, which is a plastic ring that fastens over the knurled ring and has a short arm that extends at 90 degrees from this circle. This greatly improves focusing operations and as Road and Track used to say, the control fell readily to hand. If aesthetics aren't a major issue, I suspect you could make something like this from a large hose clamp and a strip of old inner tube for extra friction and to protect the knurled ring. You might find some kind of small lever/handle at the hardware store that had a threaded core with a matching machine screw that could be fastened to the clamp through a hole. Something like this:
http://uisacad.uis.edu/~bwall1/MPC/HMFocusRing.gif

Brian Wallen