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Swapped the light seal foam on a Polaroid SX-70 with a 3mm adhesive felt from a craft store, and the camera stopped ejecting pictures halfway.
Turns out the original foam's slight give was part of the film pack's ejection path, so what's a better material that won't jam but still seals light?
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thompson.nathan1mo agoMost Upvoted
Look, it's a piece of foam. People are acting like you need NASA grade materials. The original stuff was probably just cheap open cell foam that degraded. Grab some thin craft foam, the kind that's a little spongy, and cut a strip. If it jams, shave it down a bit. These old cameras aren't that delicate.
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wright.lisa1mo ago
Been there, that halfway jam is the worst. You need something with a tiny bit of squish. A thin strip of closed-cell foam weather stripping might work, the kind that's like 2mm thick. It compresses just enough without being stiff like felt.
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fox.derek1mo ago
Lisa's right about that squish being key. It's a whole thing with modern stuff, right? We design everything to be so tight and perfect that we forget about the tiny give needed for real life. That halfway jam happens with cabinet doors, phone cases, all sorts of things. The fix is almost always a little bit of softness, not more hard force. Your weather stripping idea is spot on for that.
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