flat springs for contact printing frame

[Alex Wei]

Hi, guys,
I'm in a process of building a contact printing frame (8X10), but have no idea where to find the flat springs, do you have any suggestions where to find those?

Thanks,

Alex W.

[Pete Watkins]

My method was horribly basic. I bought some flat strips of brass about 1/2 an inch wide and belted them with a hammer until they became springy, worked for me. Used it, prooved it and I'm using the printing frame this week.
Best wishes,
Pete

[Alan Butcher]

McMaster-Carr has spring steel

http://www.mcmaster.com/

--
Alan

[Alex Wei]

Thanks, waiting for the shipping from McMaster.

[Nancy Goodrich]

I'd love to make my own contact frames, too, but haven't been able to make the springs. I visited the McMaster-Carr site, but it made my head spin. What spring steel did you order for the frame?

I also like the Watkins method.

Thank you,
Nancy

[Alex Wei]

Nancy, I ended up using 1/16 inch thick brass, about 1 inch wide, dose the job perfectly. I found it in my local machine shop. They use a roller press to make it curve.

[Nancy Goodrich]

Thank you so much!

[jb7]

I've never seen a contact printing frame,
so I had to work it out from first principles-
This design uses case clasps, (is that what they're called?) and works ok for me-

This one is 12x16-

A prototype, obviously, the final product will be in walnut...



http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5439/dsc5413.jpg

[Turner Reich]

Get some thin strips of Bamboo and glue them together with some poly, water cured glue, and clamp them with a bend in them. When cured they will be excellent springs.

[silvermachine]

I've never seen a contact printing frame,
so I had to work it out from first principles-
This design uses case clasps, (is that what they're called?) and works ok for me-

This one is 12x16-

A prototype, obviously, the final product will be in walnut...



http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5439/dsc5413.jpg

Think you`re gonna have problems with slippage, and re-alignment during checking, this is why the design traditionally has spring steel lockouts on the back. Instead of lockouts though, you could follow same trad design, but use small door bolts. All the best.
Daaah, just saw you posted a lifetime ago.

[jb7]

Think you`re gonna have problems with slippage, and re-alignment during checking, this is why the design traditionally has spring steel lockouts on the back. Instead of lockouts though, you could follow same trad design, but use small door bolts. All the best.
Daaah, just saw you posted a lifetime ago.

Thanks.

Now that I've used it, for like, a lifetime, I know that it isn't the best design. It works, but it's heavy.
However, it doesn't have any of the problems you predicted, and I've removed the spring latches altogether, since the proved to be unnecessary.

I've just modified it to print 11x17 too, so at least there was some foresight in the dimensioning...

[Jac@stafford.net]

Hacksaw blades have a lot of spring and don't wear out.
Cut them with a dremel if necessary.

jb7's 2007 design is cool. To eliminate slippage he could put registration pins inside the frame to keep both sides in the same position when closing. An alternative is to cut a notch on one frame and an expression on the other so that they can only fit in the same position every time.

I have a Linhof punch that punches the film, then have registration pins inside the film area. They can be removed when necessary.

[jb7]

Hacksaw blades have a lot of spring and don't wear out.
Cut them with a dremel if necessary.

jb7's 2007 design is cool. To eliminate slippage he could put registration pins inside the frame to keep both sides in the same position when closing. An alternative is to cut a notch on one frame and an expression on the other so that they can only fit in the same position every time.

I have a Linhof punch that punches the film, then have registration pins inside the film area. They can be removed when necessary.

Thanks again- really, this time...

I'm not sure I understand the term 'slippage', especially since I don't think I suffer from it. Although it isn't described by the picture, registration is accomplished by a 1" thick piece of closed cell foam attached to the base which registers with the recess in the upper frame. The frame is loaded by removing the top, flipping it over, positioning the negative, placing the paper over it, fitting the base, then flipping it over again. I really should replace the base with a piece of 1/4 instead of 3/4", but it was all I had available at the time... The 3/4" base is unnecessarily heavy...