Refurbishing 4x5 Dark Slides

[Neil Smith]

I picked up a job lot of 4x5 dark slides 8 are good 5 are ready for retirement and another 7 have had the hinge tape covered with gaffer tape. I want to replace the gaffer tape with the correct cloth tape that is used for dark slide hinges, can anybody tell me what kind of tape it is, and where I can get it.

Any help gratefully received thanks

Neil

[Sandeha Lynch]

I would hardly imagine that the old stuff on wooden holders is made these days unless it also serves for bookbinding or some other craft. I've used twin layers of very thin cloth ribbon and a flexible glue. Just a functional workaround as it doesn't slip around the way gaffer tape does.

[Michael]

Neil - "Correct" tape may not be critical. The other day I checked the hinges of a DDS that I bought new, recently. They certainly aren't light-tight: the holder relies on rigid design to prevent light leaks. Maybe a suitable fabric, glued on, would be a good refurbishment.

If I'm misconstruing you in writing this, please accept my apologies.

[Paul Owen]

You need some Brodart Cloth tape. It si self-adhesive and is used to repair the spines of books. I bought some from Ebay UK a few weeks ago and it cost £13.99 for a roll. It comes in all colours too as well as black :)

Search for "Brodart" on Ebay or Google?

[Neil Smith]

Thanks for the help, I picked up some cloth tape used for sealing the cabinets of taxidermy cases which seems to have worked ok. Michael was right about the design of the hinge, the cloth isn't light tight its the way it fits that keeps it light tight.

Neil

[alfie]

Another thing to do is to blow out the felt darkslide seal with an airline, lots of dust came out of mine!