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Author Topic: Repair Cement For Lens Tony Gallimore Expert Film Handler Posts: 108 From: Willis, Virginia, USA Registered: Jul 2009 posted 11-19-2009 09:43 PM                     I was hoping some of you gents could direct me to a source for lens cement or someone who would perform the repair for me. I understand some types of cement have a hazardous materials rating and are very costly to have shipped. I have a Kollmorgen Hi-Lux Variable Anamorphic Lens that was in storage for about ten years. During that time the cement yellowed and crumbled. I discovered this when I removed it from storage and disassembled it for cleaning. Since this is one of a matched pair, I would like to repair it and return it to service. Any ideas or information from you guys sure would be appreciated. Thanks! Tony  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-20-2009 12:35 AM                       I was going to duck and cover, until I saw in your profile you're putting together a home screening room! I would think Schneider could do the work, but it won't be cheap. Btw, I have an old Hi-Lux variable from my hometown drive-in, that was used there when I was a kid. It's a paperweight on my desk, and I will never part with it.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-20-2009 05:03 AM                     ...and you may have to make contact with a booth supply dealer to make arrangements for lens repair since the lens manufacturer usually won't deal with customers directly. ...Just a protocol these people uses.. Good luck-Monte  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-20-2009 05:24 AM                        Tony, it sure would be easier and a lot cheaper to buy a used anamorphic, unless you have a specific need for the Hi-Lux's ability to vary the expansion ratio. If not probably for the cost of the cement you can get a lens that will not be such a light hog and with better resolution. Is there a need for the variable? If you project an SMPTE hatch test film (can't recall the PA number off hand), you will see that those variables don't vary evenly across they frame. They can have more stretch on one end than the other. Plus, unless you have some hands-on experience in lens manufacture, I wouldn't try glueing the elements yourself. The manufacture has equipment that can apply a micro thin layer of glue evenly across the lens that you can't do by hand with a brush. Unless you just like to tinker. Lastly, unlike Tim, there are plenty of used theatre equipment dealers who WILL part with their Hi-Lux paperweights for a very reasonable cost I'm sure.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2009 07:51 AM                        Have you tried asking a place that repairs cameras? Most of them will work on lenses, although they probably have never seen anamorphics before. It's worth asking, anyway.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2009 09:42 AM                     It is not worth repairing. Having Schneider repair it would cost more than a good used late model anamorphic bought off of e-bay. The elemments in an anamorphic have to be aligned to with in .01deg for the image to be sharp.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 11-20-2009 12:00 PM                        50%+ light loss in a new Hi-Lux. I may well have one for you. Oh Ya, yellow color at no extra charge. Mr Hadden must have sold 100's of these. Louis  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-20-2009 12:56 PM                       Louis, I think Mr. Hadden sold the one I have. It was from Sky-Vue, Winchester. Frank, my love is purely for sentimental reasons.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2009 02:34 PM                     Edmond Scientific optical division used to sell Canadian Balsam cement I am not sure what the companies name is now  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-20-2009 03:17 PM                     I was once told by a man who worked on Submarine periscope optics that (IIRC) perspex dissolved in Acetone was what they used. I don't know about the US or Canada, but here you'd have the devils own job trying to obtain Acetone these days.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Taylor Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 601 From: Chatham, NJ/East Hampton, NY Registered: Apr 2000 posted 11-20-2009 04:22 PM                     here they sell it for $2 in any hardware store (acetone)  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2009 04:49 PM                     Canada balsam cement: http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/b1077.html I would look at this more like a science project than as a repair project. Use it to study how lenses work rather than a way to rejuvenate an old lens. As the others say, you are unlikely to find anybody to repair it unless you want to pay big bucks. The equipment needed for you to do the job would also be prohibitively expensive. Unless you have some kind of attachment to those lenses, it would pay you just to get new ones. However, if you realize that the lens won't work the way it is you will see that you have almost nothing to lose by trying to repair it yourself. If you break it, you haven't lost anything. If you get it back working, even reasonably well, you are ahead of the game. And, in the process, you will have learned something about lenses and how they work. Look at it that way and you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-20-2009 04:54 PM                     Not here! You could once upon a time buy it readily but nowadays anything vaguely useful is banned less you drink it and die. Carbon Tetrachloride, beloved solvent of horologist. Can't get that because it causes cancer if you immerse yourself in it. Easy answer is not to be a dumbass and get it on your skin, but no, the Orwellian government of the UK banned the stuff. Methylated Spirits, it's flammable and poisonous if consumed. When I was a wee boy we used it for powering model steam engines and camping stoves. Can't buy it in a chemists shop now but go down the road to the local outdoors emporium and you can buy it by the gallon Acetone is pretty much unobtainable now unless you're a lab. Last gallon I got came from France, where you can buy it in the supermarkets. I'm waiting for the knock at the door after posting that I have Acetone... Great Britain, where you have to have a licence to get married, own a gun, drive a car, watch TV or carry out electrical work in your own home. Oh and be vetted to drive your relatives/friends/neighbours children to school scouts, football etc. About the only thing uncontrolled here is breeding. You couldn't make it up. Drive 3mph over the limit and you'll be prosecuted. Shoot a burglar in your home and you'll go to jail. Commit rape and you'll probably never be caught. Will the last man to leave the UK in disgust please remember to turn the lights off? Probably lights will have been banned by then as someone might be offended by their brightness or strain a finger operating the switch.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 11-20-2009 06:10 PM                     Not to be a stickler but per the rules we might want to keep this out of political areas...  |  IP: Logged Ian Parfrey Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1049 From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E Registered: Feb 2009 posted 11-20-2009 06:37 PM                     I'm not too sure that this is particular to the UK. Very similar things are happening here in Oz, so I guess the only "political" reference would be in the realm of "political correctness" re: mothering of the population and removing their own ability to make common sense decisions. So, Pete, if it helps- you're not alone.  |  IP: Logged

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