Very good!

Concerning a previous post, I have been making things and reverse engineering things for myself for the last 60 years and can tell you it's difficult to expect to underprice foreign suppliers ever since the internet started, if that is what you plan on doing. If it's just for you and friends, that's a good thing!

One thing I think might help as long as it doesn't jeopardize any needed strength to hold things would be to drill a small hole presently where the umbrella shaft is touching the stainless. Just a hole big enough to allow you to bring the umbrella closer to the flashes.

There are a "million" other things that could be done to it but that depends on how far you want to go, etc.

Several times I have been given old Sears lenses. Most of them, (about 4) had the M-42 mount. The ones that didn't have M-42 mount, fit my Pentax dslr cameras just fine. They were Richo type which used Pentax mount.

A couple years back I removed the slides from a dozen or so. After asking around, nobody wanted them or even knew anyone that might want them, so I threw them away.

Presently I'm digitizing the slides.

That's old history. I use Pentax and for the last couple years, at least, they have settings that cover from 8mm to 2000mm.

I have successfully used my 60 year old 500mm, (with x2 sometimes), at the moon, stars, and birds while trying to be very still and hand held.

Several manufactures already have or are switching to in body stab because of it's great ability. Even the mirrorless Nikon Z series has switched to IBIS.

Tattooed eyelids... that sounds like the Three Stooges! LoL

Your asking a tough question.

The entire unit is a Pentax Auto Bellows A.

The bellows themselves appear to be sort of a lightly covered rubberized cardboard. I really doubt if it really is cardboard but I have no idea what else to call it.

I doubt if my bellows have had anything since the mid 1980's and are in like new condition right now. In a bunch more years they may start to crack, (I'll likely croak first. LoL) but I have a habit of wanting my stuff to last and be like new forever.

I have a 30 year old pair of rubberized Pentax binoculars that I rubbed boot waterproofing wax/mink oil on when first purchased. They are used often and immaculate even after several rough times!

Maybe I'll either leave it along or on a quiet day I'll carefully apply the waterproofing. ???

I've got an older modern bellows and would like to know what others use to stop the bellows portion from going bad and still work as designed?

*At first I was thinking about spraying something like silicon on the bellows but feel like that might attract too much dust.

(Thanks for the feedback.)

For cold weather, use the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries. They're available at almost every store that sells Energizer Bunny batteries.

They're about the best common batteries out there!

Setup your flash with a wireless remote. Do this in a safe but close position to the sleds.

This would be similar to taking a band concert. Where the subject is already lite up. You could move around.

Use manual setting on your camera.

Doing this would also prevent a "white out" appearance if you use an on camera flash in the snowfall. (Think of driving your car in a snow storm with the bright lights on. Yuck!)

On camera flash will delete some of the light going to the subject also.

Sandisk has a gaurenty. As far as I've ever seen they give a free card recovery program when you buy a genuine Sandisk memory card.

In over 20 years, I've never used the program for a Sandisk card but do own several offerings.

For other brands I've had to use the Recover program several times after their card got to about two to three years old. That included virtually every other brand SD card except, Sony and Samsung. Those worked as reliable as Sandisk SD cards.

I do admit that the Sandisk company has replaced two cards out of about 20 cards used total. That was because of the plastic "lock" switch breaking. They have menopausal problems sending a free replacement.

If your card is not a Sandisk, purchase the Recover program like many have mentioned above.

This may not be the correct answer but you might be low on ink.

The cost of replacement in a violent assignment.