Lee wide angle hood repair

C

CJV8

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I've just acquired a Lee wide angle hood, but the bellows are partially detached from the front and rear frames/plates. Does anyone have any pearls of wisdom as to the sort of adhesive best used to make repairs and re-glue the bellows?20220411_115233.jpg20220411_115159.jpg
 
You could use Uhu All Purpose Adhesive. It comes in a yellow tube and is available from stationers as well as DIY shops. That's the stuff I use when I make cameras and glue the bellows in place. Very easy to use and the surplus squeeze-out is easily removed.

Alan
 
Evostick Contact a=Adhesive is better, that is what Camera/Custom Bellows have used for decades.

Ian
 
Ian, making bellows is not quite the same as doing the repair shown here. Evostik has working properties that make it very good for gluing large surfaces together and getting them flat without any clamping needed. But for a small repair job like this, Uhu All Purpose is a better bet. It is very strong, and easier to use, because it is re-positionable and the two gluing surfaces can be slid into alignment. With evostik, alignment has to be exact when the two surfaces touch because it sticks on contact. Just like it says on the tin...
 
I'd pinged an email to Lee to see if they had any suggestions when I first discovered the problem and they use 3M 300LSE double sided tape. Great that they're happy to help out in supporting older Lee items, I just wish the shop I'd bought the hood from was as supportive. I've only bought from them twice and twice I've had faulty products that couldn't possibly have been their fault, let's just say I can't aFford to buy from them again.
Thanks for all the help though folks, very much appreciated! Just need to decide which method to go for, and hopefully don't have to follow up with "I've ruined a Lee wide angle hood....".
 
Last edited:
CJV8 said:
I'd pinged an email to Lee to see if they had any suggestions when I first discovered the problem and they use 3M 300LSE double sided tape. Great that they're happy to help out in supporting older Lee items, I just wish the shop I'd bought the hood from was as supportive. I've only bought from them twice and twice I've had faulty products that couldn't possibly have been their fault, let's just say I can't aFford to buy from them again.
Thanks for all the help though folks, very much appreciated! Just need to decide which method to go for, and hopefully don't have to follow up with "I've ruined a Lee wide angle hood....".
Click to expand...

If it was originally glued with double sided tape, it might still be stuck to one of the surfaces. You might want to scrape this off and clean up both surfaces before re- gluing, whichever re-gluing method you use.

Alan
 
If it was originally glued with double sided tape, it might still be stuck to one of the surfaces. You might want to scrape this off and clean up both surfaces before re- gluing
Click to expand...

That'll be the fun part. I think I might aswell fully detach the plates to get them cleaned up with some white spirit.
 
Stage 1 complete, the messy part. The hood is now fully dismantled and cleaned up. The tape residue is very gooey and sticky and after trying to scrape it off with a plastic scraper, wipe it off with white spirit, the quickest method was to 'roll' the residue off with my thumb and then clean down with white spirit. It does involve lots of hand washing as the stuff gets all over your hands and you start reapplying the goop you've just removed!

I'll attempt stage 2 in a few days, should be a cleaner affair...20220418_170927.jpg
 
A lot later than expected, but the hood is now all fixed. I had my doubts about the doubled sided tape but followed the guidance about temperture ranges for application etc. It took a while as I would attach a piece of tape to one side, clamp it up and then leave it on the radiator for a few hours, and then repeat until all 8 pieces were attached. Then it was a fiddly job of clamping on the front or rear frames.

The 3M stuff sticks like the proverbial, it's absolutely solid! Worth bearing in mind if anyone has need of a double sided tape of some worth.20220517_173628.jpg
 
My goodness, am I glad to find this thread. I have decided to use my compendium hoods, originally bought for my Ebony, with my Nikon D850 for landscape work.

Removing one of them from its pouch and expanding it revealed that the black paint on the outside was cracking and, expanding it further separated the bellows from the plates.

So, thank you @CJV8 for your "tutorial". I shall now have to source some 3M 300LSE double sided tape.

Any idea of the best paint for the outside?
 
I sourced a small amount of the 300LSE from Ebay, rather than buying a roll.
 
Drop me a PM, I'll help out if I have enough to cover your requirements.
 
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