muld in and outside of bellows

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Its me again. As read older messages i forgot to ask how to remove some muld spots from the bellows. The flat where we live is close to river and walls are wet. There is high humidity.

Thanks a lot

-- Martin Kapostas (martin.kapostas@kappapackaging.com), December 11, 2001

Answers

Martin: Try a Q-Tip dampened in alcohol. It should remove it and kill the spores. Don't use too much alcohol...you don't want to soak the bellows.

Regards,

-- Doug Paramore (Dougmary@alaweb.com), December 11, 2001.


Another technique to kill mold in cameras is fuming in thymol, or formaldehyde... After mold growths are swabed with alcohol,(as above) camera is placed in old fishtank with a heavy sealed lid or other leakproof SEALED box... This box is placed in a location with VERY good ventilation... (preferably outdoors on a porch or other safe area...) Next to camera is a small tray or open film can with some sponge or wad of paper towel to be used as blotter for formaldehyde, or even plain "LISTERINE" mouthwash... (contains thymol) Careful, these are POISONS!!! Don't breathe any!!! Keep this project away from pets and kids!!! Wet the blotter with one of these, and place into sealed box with camera for 2 or 3 days... Then, vent off the poison fumes (outdoors) away from living things, (like yourself) and let camera air out (in safe place, because item will smell of fumes) for a couple of days... This will kill molds... I haven't had a problem with it, but some finishes, and plastics might have a reaction to the fumes, as well as uncleaned molds on glass, metals, etc... If there is a uncleaned mold spot on finish or glass, there might be patch where the mold was... (usually because of the mold) This has worked for me on really stinky mouldy cameras and manuals etc... Be careful, and don't hold me responsible for anything!!!! You should test this on a non- valuable item, before your prize camera is treated, just in case...This is a last resort method for extreme case

-- Steven Kafcsak (kafsaki@yahoo.com), April 23, 2002.

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