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MMD > Archives > June 1996 > 1996.06.06 > 03Prev  Next


Re: Folding Bellows
By Craig Brougher

Dale Dohler asked about flat folds to bellows. What I meant by a "flat fold" can best be described by visualizing an open bellows without any folds in it. You have just recovered it. Now, just mentally insert a ruler straight across the open end of the cloth and close the bellows on it. Bingo-- you have a "flat" fold.

A "peak" fold is made by stabbing your index finger at the center of the bellows cloth in the open end, grabbing the sides of the cloth there with your thumb and middle finger, and causing peaks to form on the outside corners as you close the bellows.

One final note: It is still possible to form peaks whose creases "travel" a little at the center of the bellows as it opens and closes. This also will "strip" the rubber out of a bellows in a few years' time. So I suggest that before you finalize your crease by clamping it closed, that you move the folds around just a little first, watching how it appears to travel. If the inside center peak seems to grow and shrink as you gently work the bellows, then change the depth of the peaks until you see no more movement. Then clamp it. You will add (probably) ten years to the life of any bellows that way.

Craig B.


(Message sent Thu 6 Jun 1996, 12:37:08 GMT, from time zone GMT.)

Key Words in Subject:  Bellows, Folding

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