Looking For Kit To Build Own Wooden 4x5

**Willie** · 4-Mar-2016, 13:07

https://lbcustom.wordpress.com/2014/...a-view-camera/

Find one of these kits and go to town. Have built two of the 8x10 models a decade ago. Worked fine. Not fancy, but did the job.

**Jac@stafford.net** · 4-Mar-2016, 13:34

Originally Posted by Willie

https://lbcustom.wordpress.com/2014/...a-view-camera/

Find one of these kits and go to town. Have built two of the 8x10 models a decade ago. Worked fine. Not fancy, but did the job.

Yes. Jay Bender's kits were cut to micrometer precision, and his directions were oriented to those who had no special tools and the directions worked! I made two of his kits, the first with his rule-of-thumb directions, few tools, and another when I had many woodworking tools. No difference!

Bender cameras are hard to come by today, and I do not know if that is good or bad news.

Aside: To those who get an old wooden camera and wish to break it down into its components, do this: First remove the metal parts, then the bellows, and pop the rest into your home microwave for one minute. Check it. Is it loose? If not, hit it for another minute. The whole glued assembly will pull apart cleanly with ease.

**Light Guru** · 4-Mar-2016, 13:43

Originally Posted by Len Middleton

Have you looked at: http://www.bulldogcameras.com/index.html

I've built one of those and the MDF is horrible. It will break the first time you fry to put a film holder in. I had to make a new peace made out of real wood.

**barnacle** · 4-Mar-2016, 14:57

Originally Posted by pnphoto

Nice job Neil! I'll follow your progress as it comes to completion. I have thought about finding a machinist to CNC parts. My first thought is $$.

Patrick

Thanks. As you can no doubt tell, I'm no woodworker... I have some preliminary Tinkercad drawings which I may have made up at one of the 3-d printing companies; I'm just unsure of the stiffness of the material after printing. It's only a few quid to get some of the parts I need.

Neil

**Len Middleton** · 4-Mar-2016, 16:03

Originally Posted by Light Guru

I've built one of those and the MDF is horrible. It will break the first time you fry to put a film holder in. I had to make a new peace made out of real wood.

Zak,

I guess I should have mentioned I had no experience with them.

If however the metal hardware is good then maybe Patrick could use his woodworking skills to build the non-metal bits, and buy the parts from Bulldog.

How good is the Bulldog design and quality of the metal bits?

An alternate apporach,

Len

**pnphoto** · 4-Mar-2016, 16:21

Building the camera will be fun. Definitely a little more fussy because of the size, but have built quite a few kitchens, interior stair railings and custom furniture professionally. I'm up for the challenge. Bellows on the other hand, if I can find high quality metal parts, I'd go with folks at Custom Bellows in the UK. If I try a less expensive route, maybe one of the Chinese makers on ebay. Making your own bellows seems like a tough thing to do to get them nice. I'm still interested in making a very nice camera.