[Frameworks] Rewind crank for Bolex.

[David Tetzlaff]

If you can't find one, you can make one DIY with a rotary tool (Dremel-type) or a hacksaw. Take the Bolex to the hardware store and look/ask for steel tension pins. These are little cylinders with a slot down one side. (The slot is so they can be squeezed together a bit, forced into a hole, and then they spring back, securing themselves into the hole. But that's not what you want to do, of course.) 

Find the size that fits most closely (without forcing) into the diameter of the socket on the Bolex where the crank goes. It won't go in all the way, because it only has the slot on one side, and the Bolex socket has two pins. 

So, you need something to cut a notch opposite the slot so the part will go over and engage the other pin on the Bolex. Thus, the hacksaw or Dremel. (You actually don't need a hacksaw frame, just a blade would do, but you want to be careful not to cut yourself. Also, you can't just make a straight cut down because the slot needs to be wider than the kerf on the saw blade. So you'd have to wiggle it at different angles to get a wider hole.)

One that end fits into the socket on the Bolex, you just need something to grab the other end so you can turn it. A pair of pliers would do. Or you could cut another notch opposite the slot on the 'handle' end, and put a nail (dull down the point first) or some other piece of thin but firm metal in there to make a kind of T you can grab.

It's a quick job if you have a Dremel with the standard cutting blades, messy and annoying if you just have a hacksaw blade. And if you just have pliers to turn it, it'a lot more awkward than an actual Bolex crank. 

But it WILL backwind the film, so if you can't find a real Bolex crank there is an alternative FWIW.