Lens board/tool problem (?)

[Michael Graves]

I see a lot of rear glass damage, which I think is from tool slippage. I see slip jitter scratches on the ring when the tool jumps out.

Be real careful using these tools and make sure you are sitting down in good light and have a film grip on a fully tightened tool.

Some may want to wear one glove and work on a soft pad.

I fully open the aperture and set the shutter to T and keep it open, just in case of a slip which could poke a hole in shutter leaves. Makes for a bad day...

Always first try Jon's suggestion, it may unscrew by bare hand.

Before I bought that spanner wrench for which I posted the link earlier, I made far more than my share of those "jitter scratches" on the rings and on the back of lens boards. Knock on wood, I haven't done it since getting that wrench. Fortunately, I've never damaged a lens element.

Now that I've said that, I wipe out the next lens I touch.

[Alan Gales]

Before I bought that spanner wrench for which I posted the link earlier, I made far more than my share of those "jitter scratches" on the rings and on the back of lens boards. Knock on wood, I haven't done it since getting that wrench. Fortunately, I've never damaged a lens element.

Now that I've said that, I wipe out the next lens I touch.

There is certainly something to be said about using the "correct" tool for the job over tools that work.

[Dave Wooten]

I've recently bought a nice 150mm Rodenstock, which I now want to mount on a Chamonix (Linhof-style) lens board.

The lens in question is already mounted on a small lensboard, 8cm x 8cm. So I want to remove the lens from that lens board and mount it on my Chamonix lens board. But it looks like my lens tool is too wide for this task; it works fine on my other lenses and lens boards, but this particular small lens board has a raised ring on the back which is just a bit too narrow to allow me to get my lens tool into place. (See attached photo.)

The retaining ring is too tight to allow me to just use my fingers to remove it, and I can't get this lens tool into place because of the size. I've also tried to gently use a screwdriver in one of the retaining ring notches in order to loosen it, but it's too tightly attached for that. As far as I can see, my lens tool is pretty much the "usual" size, I can't see any for sale which are usefully narrower.

I can't see any other options, other than somehow grinding down that raised ring on the back of the lens board or to modify my lens tool to make it narrower. Given that I don't need this small lens board I'm leaning towards the first option.

Anyone got any better ideas? (Hopefully I've just missed something simple!)

Attachment 138699

Go to SK Grimes site and get the spanners they manufacture. A worthwhile investment.

[Michael Dodd]

+1 for the SK Grimes tool

[cluttered]

Thanks for all the replies. The retaining ring seems to be on quite tight, so I'm not confident that I can unscrew it by hand from the front. I think I'll just buy one of the tools mentioned in the the replies, I wasn't aware that such things existed, but now I do

[Jac@stafford.net]

Go to SK Grimes site and get the spanners they manufacture. A worthwhile investment.

I hope Grimes has increased the strength of their spanner. Mine bent at the tips right away.

[Roger Thoms]

I hope Grimes has increased the strength of their spanner. Mine bent at the tips right away.

I hope you contacted Grimes, sounds like you got a bad one. Or the retaining ring must have been very tight. Or both. Mine has never had a problem, that's the version with the flat tips btw.

Roger

[TXFZ1]

That one is decent for most lenses. I purchased the one on the site below, because the availability of both flat blades and pointed tips makes it far more versatile.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSLR-Camera-...item43d001266e

Can you rotate the flat blades or are they fixed in orientation?

David

[Jac@stafford.net]

I hope you contacted Grimes, sounds like you got a bad one. Or the retaining ring must have been very tight. Or both. Mine has never had a problem, that's the version with the flat tips btw.

I did not contact Grimes. I bought it shortly after they announced the product. That was long enough ago that I had the strength to bend it back then. Couldn't do that today. All is good. Grimes is okay by me.
.

[Michael Graves]

Can you rotate the flat blades or are they fixed in orientation?

David

They're fixed. Can you give me an example of when you might want them rotated to a different angle? I'm having trouble picturing that.