Building a 4x5 camera from scratch

[IanG]

Actually, seems the Bulldog is no longer available as well.

Well this company is still advertising them in the UK online and in a current magazine.

Ian

[Light Guru]

Well this company is still advertising them in the UK online and in a current magazine.

Ian

Yea you can still get the bulldog kit from them but its a crappy kit. It's made entirely out of MDF board. I build one and the first time I pulled the Ground glass frame back to invert a film holder the MDF broke. I had to make a a new ground glass frame out of solid wood just so I could use the camera.

[antonroland]

Hello again folks

OK, call me fickle if you like but the plan is now solidly on track...sourcing wood, brass screws etc...

I am upsizing the old quarter plate to 8x10 and I am starting to make drawings and so on.

I am basically thinking of doubling all dimensions or upping by 50% for the camera to be sturdy and solid. The weakest part of the existing quarter plate in my opinion is the box as the bed is quite solid.

As everything mounts on the "box body" I was thinking of doubling the wall thickness from 7mm to 14mm and increasing all widths by 50% so the 8x10 body is strong enough structurally.

The back is a completely removable frame with ground glass door and the body is made in such a way that the back can attach in both landscape or portrait on a perfectly square body.

Film planes and ground glass planes should therefore not be rocket science, purely a matter of careful measuring and building...

Any thoughts and comments highly appreciated.

Are there any places or people who can assist with making a custom bellows to specific dimensions?

[IanG]

Anton, I would think 14mm is over kill for the box part, the thickest wood I'm using is 9mm. You'll gain a lot of strength from the inner piec that the bellows will glue to.

Bellows are easy to make yourself there's plenty of articles online.

Ian

[Halford]

Anton this is a really interesting-sounding project! I'd be curious to see pics of how it's going.

I've been having vague thoughts about building an 8x10 at some stage -- since I live just down the road (relatively speaking) in Cape Town it might be interesting to collaborate at some stage -- don't think I'll be ready to tackle something like this for a few months yet, but very interested to see how you get on.

Cheers,
Hal

[Jim Jones]

[QUOTE=antonroland;1033737] . . . I am basically thinking of doubling all dimensions or upping by 50% for the camera to be sturdy and solid. The weakest part of the existing quarter plate in my opinion is the box as the bed is quite solid.

As everything mounts on the "box body" I was thinking of doubling the wall thickness from 7mm to 14mm and increasing all widths by 50% so the 8x10 body is strong enough structurally. . . .QUOTE]

You might gather glass, hardware, and wood pieces to equal about the weight of your projected cameras to get a feel for the weight of the finished camera. Then add the weight of a tripod, film holders, and other accessories. A 15 or 20kg camera kit feels awfully heavy after a day's shooting. Successful LF wooden cameras gained strength more through good design and careful construction than through skimping on wood.

[IanG]

Successful LF wooden cameras gained strength more through good design and careful construction than through skimping on wood.

Did you mean skimping ? Extra thickness would be just the opposite.

Your point about carefull design helps give improved strength to a lighter weight camera is the key to why many of the modern wooden cameras evolved from early British field ameras.

Ian

[antonroland]

Gents, my observations about upping thicknesses etc was purely about ensuring that the camera I plan to build has the necessary strength for it's size.

I definitely do not plan to take an 8x10 camera on a three day hike and, further to that, I also thought that my Billcliff Chapman quarterplate's weak part was the fairly lightweight construction of the "body box"

The back is well made and does not carry any stress as nothing attaches to it. The bed is solidly made but pivots on metal parts attached to the "body box" and so I simply thought it a good idea to beef up the box slightly more in scaling it up to 8x10.

As I do not have any LF shooter within hundreds of miles from me I have to rely on pictures and whatever info I can get from this site.

The guy in Cape Town who scans my negs has a few 8x10 cameras and I will probably buy one from him but, as for building my own version, it is very much a journey of discovery with loads of potential for trial and error.

I would simply like to eliminate as many potential errors as I possibly can.

Cheers everyone

[Steve Smith]

Anton, I would think 14mm is over kill for the box part, the thickest wood I'm using is 9mm. You'll gain a lot of strength from the inner piec that the bellows will glue to.

I agree. 9mm is (for me) the ideal thickness for wood. As I don't have the means to thickness wood myself, I by it in from an ebay seller in pieces 450mm x 100mm which have already been thicknessed to 9mm.

This is ideal for me as I cut my parts on a CNC router.

Bellows are easy to make yourself there's plenty of articles online.

Indeed. Here's mine: http://www.freewebs.com/stevesmithphoto/bellows.html


Steve.

[jongrep]

Go to http://home.online.no/~gjon/camerabuilders.htm and follow the links for much information.

New URL: jongrepstad.com

Links to camera builders will be available by the end of October.

Jon Grepstad