Threading Stainless Steel Shafts

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Hi Jim!,

I'm just catching up here. Been too busy. I have a big Wilton vice and the rod turned once during threading leaving a score mark even though I used a rag around it to prevent that. I think my lube was inadequate and my technique not good enough. I have no problem with brass at all. Cut threads and cold rolled threads are like night and day. Another issue is the threaded nut or knob. All tapped threads are not created equal. Some are tight some are loose and some are perfect. I'm surprised I got the Seneca shaft just right in retrospect. This is an iPhone photo of the thread I cut day before yesterday. It's smooth to the touch when turned between the fingers and nuts fit right. I'm sure the alignment is satisfactory. When the die handle is spun it travels in a straight path and doesn't wobble. Does anyone think I'm obsessing here? Jim, why didn't you use threaded rod? Curt

I wanted a special length and a smooth rod inside. It really did not make any difference in the end. I could have used a SS threaded rod and cut it to size. Don't worry about catching up. Build baby build!!!

[Tin Can]

I need to stay away from this thread. I cannot start building cameras, Next Winter...

I will try to lurk quietly

[Curt]

I wanted a special length and a smooth rod inside. It really did not make any difference in the end. I could have used a SS threaded rod and cut it to size. Don't worry about catching up. Build baby build!!!

You told me to take my time, now I'm anxiety ridden, it's all I think about. Time is relative as Einstein once said.

[Curt]

Curt, any tips on holder making would be greatly appreciated, very few of us can afford ULF holders.

Or just an idea of how to go about it, I have thoughts, I think, wait I am obsessing.

you know, spread the wealth!

Maybe I could afford ULF, but it would require selling all my cameras, and that is not happening. I want more not less...

And right now I need to go print that 2X3 of me on RC 5X7, just because.

There's nothing to it! Get an old wood holder, 4x5, 5x7, it doesn't have to be ancient or of any specific brand just not plastic. Remove the top rivets and carefully take it apart. There in you will have your eyes opened to the minds of the craftsman of long ago. Seriously, each cut, shape, size, position, and material is right there. It's not like there is a titanium alloy of unknown origin inside there. Maybe some half century dust, pixie dust as the kids say.

It took me nine months of bit piece samples and thought before I took the plunge. A year in all. In the end I had a notebook of; "Try this" and / or "this" and a holder. A human can be conceived and born in less time!

Lately I've gone through the sketches and drawings, some of which I had to study again to understand, and rewrite them out in the one hundred twenty something major steps required to complete one. Preparation , tooling, all in a specific order and to some precise dimensions. Calipers and micrometers on wood? Of course, parallax with a ruler isn't precise. It's good, and great for other woodworking projects. I had a custom four wing shaper cutter made for my Powermatic 27. Why the shaper? I can turn the cutter over and reverse the spindle direction on the shaper. The table is magnicificant and the set up is a dream. I don't use the power feeder on this project. Just for moldings. The holder I made is double sided, no cheating there. It takes a certain mindset to make these. I don't perform more than one operation a day. If I started to gun them out they would certainly have problems. That's not to say they have to take three or four months to make. When I start to run parts I'll do the number I need. If a person makes them one at a time the temptation to make an adjustment or two along the way would result in say ten individual film holders and not a set with the same specifications.

I don't know what gives with the file upload. This is the only one that would work of the holder. I had a message saying I didn't have access to my photos. I just wanted to put a picture to show the holder I was talking about. I have another species picked out, this was for the prototype model. There was a sheet of 11x14 xray film in it at the time. Regular film fits too. It can be turned facing down without the film dropping out. Back to threading; there are eight stainless steel screws in each holder!

[Tin Can]

Not my skill set, I made a small wood boat once, not even close.

I'll think about it.

Thanks for the info!

[Curt]

Randy, I upped my skill set on all of this. For me it is a matter of wanting something so I looked around and thought why not. Who was it who said "Don't wait for your ship to come in, row out to it". What I can't make I buy, what I can't find I have made. Pure tanacity and a willingness to focus on a task has gotten progress. There are others doing it and I'm always excited when I have success. The first camera I made from scratch was a 4x5 Wista like model in cherry and brass. All from the hobby shop down the street from the apartment where my wife and I were living. I was in college so I worked on a coffee table in the evening.

I bought tiny taps and dies from that shop too, 1 72. Why? That's what they had. That's practically too small. That size was for bolting brass parts together. I used 4 40 for the knobs. It worked fine but I swore I'd use larger and more practical sizes. Some standardization helps. For the back springs I used bankers clips. They're stainless steel spring and bent into a clip shape. I cut them apart with several cutoff disks in a Dremmel. Then I drilled holes in them for mounting. That was a chore. By hand drill it didn't work so I bought a small drill press. The bellows I made with fabric from the fabric store. It was layered with aluminun foil and another cloth. It's light tight. I used that Bender ground glass. Nearly all homemade. Making a tapered pleated bellows wasn't as hard as I thought. I think there was a Popular Photography or Modern Photography article on how to. If you want it bad enough you can make it happen.

[Tin Can]

Curt,

Thanks for the encouragement! I built that boat, because I had never worked with wood. It became a sculpture, and I learned to bend wood. I still have that boat hanging on the wall inside my house. I like boats.

I like cameras, perhaps too much, as useable sculpture. Just as this message came in, I was considering that I have all the big parts for a point and shoot 8X10, like the one just sold here, a few minutes ago. I may start with that.

I also restore things, used to be cars and motorcycles, cameras are a better inside sport.

Thanks, and we all can't wait to see your camera!

[Drew Wiley]

Curt & Randy - what was so weird is that this guy was mfg specialty lathes, but couldn't deliver orders because his component supply chain was so messed up. He seemed like the usual skinflint entrpreneur that wants to compete with Chinese products by making junk here, employing illegals sweatshop-style, etc. He ended up getting some twenty buck
Harbor Frt style caliper to take on his round trip flight to China. Then a month later, after he got back, they still hadn't ship
the damn tanged chucks he needed. So he finds a source in India who guarantees him two week delivery. Sure enough, all
the chucks arrive in two weeks, but only twenty of the 650 that arrive have threads which actually work! When he calls them,
they tell him they knew he needed them on schedule, so didn't have time to replace a dull die! ... Poetic justice.

[Tin Can]

While we blame non USA products for being shoddy, we are to blame, for our eagerness to purchase cheaper and more products. The working class, of which, I was a paid up member, wants it all. Why not? It is human nature.

I now enjoy a vast array of old cameras and equipment, I never previously could have purchased. The dwindling usage of film gives me better access, but not forever. One day film cameras and ancillary products will be only in collector hands and value will rise, according to supply and demand. I have seen it happen with cars and motorcycles. Buy what you want now, especially quality American made, collectables.

Fortunately view cameras can be hand made, so they will never die. Lenses are another story, few will grind new glass. Film, emulsions and chems are DIY possible now. However, only yesterday I saw a news story about removing ALL hazardous products from store shelves. Soap will be next...

I quit sculpture, for there is always, storage problems. Almost lost my handmade boat, it's right over my head now. I did sell, 2 cameras, but I bought 3.

Back to work.

Curt & Randy - what was so weird is that this guy was mfg specialty lathes, but couldn't deliver orders because his component supply chain was so messed up. He seemed like the usual skinflint entrpreneur that wants to compete with Chinese products by making junk here, employing illegals sweatshop-style, etc. He ended up getting some twenty buck
Harbor Frt style caliper to take on his round trip flight to China. Then a month later, after he got back, they still hadn't ship
the damn tanged chucks he needed. So he finds a source in India who guarantees him two week delivery. Sure enough, all
the chucks arrive in two weeks, but only twenty of the 650 that arrive have threads which actually work! When he calls them,
they tell him they knew he needed them on schedule, so didn't have time to replace a dull die! ... Poetic justice.

[Drew Wiley]

Oh I don't know .... I'm just the opposite and distribute top end equip & tools from Germany, Japan, and what little remains of decent American mfg ... and I've got business coming out my ears, more in fact than all the junk dealers combined in this
significant urban market. So if you give people a choice, they'll take it, at least if they're educated enough in the trade to
understand there is a quality option. But can't chat too much today ...