Peter De Smidt
26-Jun-2015, 19:16
Since I'd like to use some barrel lenses on my Kodak Century No. 7 8x10 camera, I made an adapter for a Sinar Copal shutter. Many people have done similar things before, but I wrote up what I did just in case someone might find it helpful.
I started with an old Century lens board that had some holes and cracks in it, and the finish was in very bad shape. I flooded the finished side with denatured alcohol, and the finish got soft, meaning that it was shellac. I applied more alcohol and wiped off the old finish. I lightly sanded the lens board, being very careful not to go through the wood's patina, and I filled the cracks and holes. I used spray shellac as the finish. It looks very good in person, although there's some orange peal. I could rub out the flaws, but I'm not in any rush.
Next, I took a Sinar lens board, the kind with a raised circular panel. The Sinar part number is 441.31.300. These might've been for using lenses in shutters on a Sinar Shutter in the early days, i.e. pre-DB mounts. If you unscrew the top hat section, you get a hole about 4.5" in diameter, which is great.
Using the Sinar board as a template, I routed out a hole in a piece of hobby plywood; and I contact cemented a piece of EPDM rubber on each of the two main faces of the plywood to act as gaskets.
If you measure a Sinar Bellows frame and a Sinar lens board, you'll notice that the lens board is about 1mm taller than the bellows frame. While you can squeeze a lens board onto the shutter, this really compresses the foam strip on the shutter. To avoid this, I ripped off 1/2mm off of the top and bottom edges of the Sinar lens board and painted the cut edges black. I bolted Sinar board to the plywood and Century board:
http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae37/peterdesmidt/Sinar_Shutter_Plate_zpsjncltfoh.jpg (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/peterdesmidt/media/Sinar_Shutter_Plate_zpsjncltfoh.jpg.html)
http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae37/peterdesmidt/Sinar_Shutter_Plate_2_zpsapanrg7l.jpg (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/peterdesmidt/media/Sinar_Shutter_Plate_2_zpsapanrg7l.jpg.html)
The Sinar Shutter attaches to the lens board just as it would to a Sinar Bellows:
http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae37/peterdesmidt/sinar_shutter_45_zpsxof9rx3a.jpg (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/peterdesmidt/media/sinar_shutter_45_zpsxof9rx3a.jpg.html)
A coupling frame attaches to the Sinar shutter normally:
http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae37/peterdesmidt/Side_zpstxniufe5.jpg (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/peterdesmidt/media/Side_zpstxniufe5.jpg.html)
I started with an old Century lens board that had some holes and cracks in it, and the finish was in very bad shape. I flooded the finished side with denatured alcohol, and the finish got soft, meaning that it was shellac. I applied more alcohol and wiped off the old finish. I lightly sanded the lens board, being very careful not to go through the wood's patina, and I filled the cracks and holes. I used spray shellac as the finish. It looks very good in person, although there's some orange peal. I could rub out the flaws, but I'm not in any rush.
Next, I took a Sinar lens board, the kind with a raised circular panel. The Sinar part number is 441.31.300. These might've been for using lenses in shutters on a Sinar Shutter in the early days, i.e. pre-DB mounts. If you unscrew the top hat section, you get a hole about 4.5" in diameter, which is great.
Using the Sinar board as a template, I routed out a hole in a piece of hobby plywood; and I contact cemented a piece of EPDM rubber on each of the two main faces of the plywood to act as gaskets.
If you measure a Sinar Bellows frame and a Sinar lens board, you'll notice that the lens board is about 1mm taller than the bellows frame. While you can squeeze a lens board onto the shutter, this really compresses the foam strip on the shutter. To avoid this, I ripped off 1/2mm off of the top and bottom edges of the Sinar lens board and painted the cut edges black. I bolted Sinar board to the plywood and Century board:
http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae37/peterdesmidt/Sinar_Shutter_Plate_zpsjncltfoh.jpg (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/peterdesmidt/media/Sinar_Shutter_Plate_zpsjncltfoh.jpg.html)
http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae37/peterdesmidt/Sinar_Shutter_Plate_2_zpsapanrg7l.jpg (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/peterdesmidt/media/Sinar_Shutter_Plate_2_zpsapanrg7l.jpg.html)
The Sinar Shutter attaches to the lens board just as it would to a Sinar Bellows:
http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae37/peterdesmidt/sinar_shutter_45_zpsxof9rx3a.jpg (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/peterdesmidt/media/sinar_shutter_45_zpsxof9rx3a.jpg.html)
A coupling frame attaches to the Sinar shutter normally:
http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae37/peterdesmidt/Side_zpstxniufe5.jpg (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/peterdesmidt/media/Side_zpstxniufe5.jpg.html)