Looking for someone who makes Busch Pressman boards

[Chauncey Walden]

I used epoxy to glue the inner board (with the tongue folded over 90 degrees) to the outer board. All made from hobby shop aluminum (.016 IIRC). Made many boards this way and used them for many years with no problems. You put the board in the camera and use the holding screw to mark the tongue for the correct spot for the small hole. Somewhere on this site are probably still the complete instructions I have posted in the past.

[Rael]

That would be me. I've been out of this for a while, but I'm sticking my head back in it again...

I just sold what I think was the last of the Pressman boards I made. I originally kept relisting them on ebay until they stopped selling. Between then and now a few people have contacted me looking for them, and the remainder dwindled. I decided to sell my Pressman (with six boards), and figured I should sell the few blem boards that remained.

The first auction ended pretty quickly, and I sold the rest to the same buyer - five total. This made me wonder if I should see about making another batch, and I found my name mentioned here (look! I'm framous!).

Anyway, since I've sold the Pressman, I don't have anything to test-fit any new boards with. I still had an original board here, and now I'm wondering if I inadvertently sent it with the camera. But, if I think there's enough of a demand I'd consider doing what's necessary to get it done - it's not really that difficult.

-Gary

So is this a dead project? If you still have the file (or if they do) I'd love to call them and see what the current price is for them to fabricate these things.

[Gary Deal]

Well, I suppose the question is whether I should make another round. I put nearly a hundred out into the mix, are there none showing up on ebay for twenty bucks or so?

Frigo design would only cut the parts, they'd still need to be assembled - I still have all the necessary stuff.

[Rael]

Not that I've seen... And I've been checking for a while. When I bought the camera without the lensboard I didn't realize they'd be so hard to find. Even if you didn't want to do the brazing and drilling I'd still buy a couple if they had the milling for the right angle piece. I can't do that part.

[mackinaw]

Here’s what I did. I had a piece of clear acrylic left over from another project (about 2.4mm thick) that I cut up to fit my old Busch Pressman. I used a fine-toothed saw to cut out the basic shape, then took a 1” drill bit to make the lens opening. I then took a circular file to enlarge the hole so as to fit a Copal #1 shutter. Since the acrylic was clear, I covered the backside with black tape. To attach the lens plate to the camera, I took out one of the two screws that helps hold the bottom of a Busch lens plate to the camera. I put that screw kitty-corner to the other, so to securely hold the lens plate to the camera. It took me less than an hour to make and works fine in the field (no light leaks). My 210mm Schneider isn’t rangefinder coupled, but I use the ground glass for focusing. Not the most elegant solution, but it’s cheap and it works.

[Gary Deal]

Ouch, I looked on ebay and found one (original) board - $59.00. Obviously I haven't been looking for very long, but that seems high to me. Back when I was selling those continuously my price seemed to lower the commodity price for those.

I've been in contact with the vendor and they don't do .062" any more, only .050". Twelve thousandths is enough to deal with, whether with some extra flat black paint or at worst piece of tape - the way the retaining hole & pin work pulls the board flat against the standard anyway.

My only problem moving forward - and I'm thinking that I'll go ahead with it - is if there's a market for at least half of the batch. I've seen that the cameras are still changing hands, so there's probably at least close to that.

If someone else is going to do this for sales, whether based on my outline or not, please let me know, I'll step back and let you go ahead.

[Gary Deal]

Ok, I've made the arrangements and the original, original Busch board (that came with my camera, with the tab broken off) is packed up and ready to go to the vendor for them to check and make sure they get it right. I should have parts in a week or two. Once I have them I'll set up the machine and cut the slots, then welding in the tabs and drilling the holes in them might be able to proceed in a more leisurely manner - *might*, or I may decide to just run the whole batch at once, so it's done.

[Rael]

Thanks a lot for going through the trouble.

[Fr. Mark]

Please send me a PM when you get some done. I might use my Buschpressman D more if I could put a different lens and shutter on it.

[Gary Deal]

I've received the parts. Barring some other catastrophe, I'll be working on them this weekend in with everything else.

It'll be good to do something that doesn't involve a computer screen, I've been pushing vectors, coding, and photographing tiny parts for almost a year solid.