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View Full Version : Help! I need mounting flanges!



Ash
22-Jan-2007, 11:55
I'm after a source for various diameter lens mount flanges. I've a bunch of barrel lenses and no way of attaching them to the Cambo monorail nor to the kodak (4x5/halfplate) field cam.


Does anyone have a link to a company that can provide, or else does anyone here produce them for their own purposes and have access to machines needed to make me a couple?


Any help would be great, I'm dying to use these lenses!


Thanks!!

Ole Tjugen
22-Jan-2007, 12:29
After having accumulated lenses in every known age, diameter and thread possible (and then some), I have learned that there just aren't enough lens flanges to go around. If you happen to find one in the right diameter it's bound to be the wrong thread. The problem is that there was no standard sizes when these things were made - or maybe there were, but if so there must have been hundreds of different standards!

A caliper and a thread gauge will sometimes help in specifying what flange you want, but that doesn't mean you'll find one or even that it will fit if you do find one!

SK Grimes can make them, but unfortunaltely the cost will be higher than the lens in most cases.

The solution is to get a Universal Iris Lens Mount. These ingenious thingys mount on a lensboard like an ordinary (though big and bulky) flange, and allows you to mount any lens up to the mount's maximum size. unfortunately this is becoming well known, and the prices have recently gone through the roof. But it's still cheaper than 20 custom flanges...

Ash
22-Jan-2007, 12:43
Ole, looks like you have all the answers anyway!!

http://www.apug.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6352&d=1165244456


Any links to universal iris manufacturers?

Ole Tjugen
22-Jan-2007, 12:53
Ole, looks like you have all the answers anyway!!
...
Any links to universal iris manufacturers?

Not all the answers, but I do have some experience with old barrel lenses... :p

I don't believe they're made any longer. And that leaves ebay and other second-hand sources. At least you won't be bidding against me; I have enough for now!

GPS
22-Jan-2007, 13:24
There used to be such modern "putty" material hardening in hot water - it was available in DIY shops and advertised exactly for this purpose - making nuts around threads... Hard enough to hold a lens.

Ash
22-Jan-2007, 13:27
I was thinking along those lines, but it will probably look a little nasty. I'll be looking out for clamps I think - place the lens in a correct diameter lensboard, and clamp the reverse to hold it securely. Less permanent than putty, but hopefully as secure

Alan Davenport
22-Jan-2007, 13:29
I had a flange made by SK Grimes about 3 or 4 years ago. The cost was surprisingly low, only around $25 US.

GPS
22-Jan-2007, 13:53
I was thinking along those lines, but it will probably look a little nasty. I'll be looking out for clamps I think - place the lens in a correct diameter lensboard, and clamp the reverse to hold it securely. Less permanent than putty, but hopefully as secure

Not necessarily nasty - once hardened it can be filed to whatever nice shape you like! Even black painted. Clamps take too much space and they like getting loose. You could also try a thicker isolated wire - two coils around the lens and tightened with turning the loose ends to the desired pressure on the body. The lens threads will cut their own shape to it and the whole thing will serve as a flange.

Ole Tjugen
22-Jan-2007, 14:46
I had a flange made by SK Grimes about 3 or 4 years ago. The cost was surprisingly low, only around $25 US.

Multiply those $25 by 20, add 20 lensboards (those are custom-fit too - or three custom-fit adapters to some kind of standard, and 20 of those lens boards), and a couple of iris mounts turn out to be cheaper.

Admittedly I paid about $300 for one of them, but that one came attached to a nice camera. :)

http://www.bruraholo.no/Cameras/Reisekamera/DSCN0422.JPG
13x18cm plate camera, ca. 1900, with iris mount and a Goerz Doppel-Anastigmat Serie III "Dagor" 180mm f:6.3.

Ash
22-Jan-2007, 15:13
Man... all I want is one or two of those iris mounts!!

Glenn Thoreson
22-Jan-2007, 15:14
Well, this may sound silly to some, but I have mounted flangeless barrel lenses simply by drilling the hole in the board snug enough that I can actually screw the lens into it. It probably only works on wood boards, though. I have also mounted them by simply applying 3 dollops of hot glue to the threads on the reverse side of the board. Hot glue is just melted plastic and it's reversible. Also, if you grease the threads up good and stick it through the board, you can apply some JB Weld around the back, and when hard, you should be able to unscrew the lens. Last report about custom mounting rings that I heard was closer to 45 bucks each. That's why I use a lot of rubber bands and stuff.

Ash
22-Jan-2007, 15:55
Glenn, I've used the snug-fit approach for a couple lenses, but I'm not sure it'll work with heavier ones. I guess I may have to stick with that anyway. I need to make some lensboards if I can't source a custom iris do-jobber

Gordon Moat
22-Jan-2007, 18:29
I just recently had a lucky find of a seller on EBAY with many different mounts for barrel lenses:

http://stores.ebay.com/artinprogress

Since he had an exchange policy on the first one I got, I figured I would take a chance on it. So after getting the first, we had a few e-mail exchanges and he figured out a replacement that would work for me. So I mailed back the first one, and when I got the second mounting ring, it was a perfect fit.

The other item I got recently was a Wista/Linhof board with a 64mm hole in it, from KEH (http://www.keh.com) in Atlanta. That board was only $15, though I will need to put four small holes into it to hold the lens and flange in place. Probably get that done this week.
:cool:

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

Erich Hoeber
22-Jan-2007, 19:15
I regularly mount barrel lenses using one of those hot glue guns to put a bead of glue around the threads in the back. It's some sort of thermoplastic. The stuff holds incredibly well and can be peeled off again without damaging the lens. It also works well for adding filter threads to the front of lenses. I use a few dots of glue to attach one of those step-up rings to the front and viola! Anyway, it works for me, YMMV.

Erich

Paul Fitzgerald
22-Jan-2007, 20:11
Ash,

"Glenn, I've used the snug-fit approach for a couple lenses, but I'm not sure it'll work with heavier ones. I guess I may have to stick with that anyway. "

Think in reverse, most barrel lenses can be mounted THRU the lens board from the rear. Just make the hole the same size as the barrel OD and bevel the rear to match the flair at the rear of the barrel, then 4 screws with washers to engage the flat of the lens flange. On most barrel lenses the adjuster ring unscrews off after removing the connecting screw, a good time to clean and lube it. This way of mounting means the lens CANNOT fall off or come loose.

This way of mounting cannot be used with Voigtlanders and some others, not enough room between the adjuster ring and the rear flange for the board.

Have fun with it.

RichSBV
22-Jan-2007, 23:32
If you're worried about glueing your lens to the board by using hot melt or JB-weld, simply wrap the threads with the silicon (maybe teflon) plumbers tape before you do the glueing. It will unscrew just fine. Only use one layer of tape though and pull it tight so the threads stick out... I've used hot glue a couple of times. It worked well for me but not in the long run. After a few usages and knocking around a bit, it came apart, luckily not on the camera. Good for temporary though...

Pete Watkins
22-Jan-2007, 23:56
Ash,
Try SRB Film Service in Luton. You might have to send them the lens and I have no idea what they would charge. If you're not in a rush they often have a stand at the Focus exhibition.
Best Wishes,
Pete.

GPS
23-Jan-2007, 07:37
There is yet another DIY way how you can hold a lens on a lens board. 3 L shaped metal pieces screwed to the back side of the lens board, spaced 120° around the lens barrel, having each a screw that can exert pressure against the lens barrel while screwed. In order not to damage the lens barrel you can put a pad between the screw and the barrel, or a collar around the barrel (or just parts of it) made of semi rigid plastic or just harder plastic with a rubber pad. Will hold the lens with secure pressure, can be unmounted and can be used for different barrel diameters.

Ash
23-Jan-2007, 12:14
Thanks for all the help, looks like I have a few methods to try!!

andy bessette
23-Jan-2007, 19:03
As I have no affiliation with this seller, only want to offer a heads-up to fellow LFP'ers, this looks like a solution:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Universal-Lens-Mounting-Ring_W0QQitemZ320075157898QQihZ011QQcategoryZ30076QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

best, andy

ps: mods, if this post is unacceptable, I will understand the reason for its' removal.

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