Mounting an Old Brass Lens on a 8x10 Toyo Metal Lens Board

[Qeb]

Greetings Everyone,

I'm slowly gathering everything I need to shoot tintypes.
Recently I took a weekend workshop with Quinn Jacobson (he's an amazing human being) and it was an awesome experience.

I'm super excited to start shooting and making plates.

I have a toyo 8x10 field camera that I bought years ago and over the summer I bought a 480mm f/4.5 Schneider Xenar lens.

Would anyone have advice on mounting a lens on these 8x10 lens boards?

I was thinking about going to a metal shop to have the hole cut but do I think just use some nut and bolts to secure the flange the lens to the lens board?


Thanks in advance for any help and advice you all can offer.
Have a great new week

Cheers,
Kevin H.

[B.S.Kumar]

You could probably cut the hole yourself, first marking it with the help of the flange. For the flange, just use the appropriate size nuts and bolts.

Kumar

[Jac@stafford.net]

You could probably cut the hole yourself, first marking it with the help of the flange. For the flange, just use the appropriate size nuts and bolts.

Kumar

Mark the hole to be cut using the inside opening of the flange. Then mount the lens on the flange and place it on the board. Rotate it until it is properly oriented, and then mark the screw holes to be drilled. Also, if the lens does not extend through the board you can usually find the center of the hole by drawing straight lines across between opposite-side screw holes.

[Qeb]

Hey Thanks so much to you two!

I found an affordable machine shop near me that I think I will ask them to do the work.

Thanks!
Cheers,
Kevin H.

[bieber]

That's the way to do it if you can. I sawed a hole in a Sinar board with a coping saw to mount an old Dallmeyer the other week, it was not fun

[Jac@stafford.net]

That's the way to do it if you can. I sawed a hole in a Sinar board with a coping saw to mount an old Dallmeyer the other week, it was not fun

Hole saws are available in so very many sizes I have rarely found an application in which one would not work. In the rare 'no work', a fly cutter is perfect.

[bieber]

They make hole saws upwards of 10cm? A fly cutter would be nice, but then I'd have to buy a drill press and, more importantly, find somewhere in my apartment to keep a drill press

[LabRat]

Hole saws are available in so very many sizes I have rarely found an application in which one would not work. In the rare 'no work', a fly cutter is perfect.

A fly cutter makes different large holes, but requires preferably a mill that the speeds can be greatly slowed down, and can be very dangerous if everything is not well secured, so not an exercise for a novice...
You finding a shop to drill your metal board was a good move on your part...

May I suggest before drilling the hole for one lens, that you consider making the lensboard an adapter with an oversize hole, then you can make or buy smaller wood boards that are easy to drill for this and future lenses...

You will be glad you did now, when other lenses find you in the future... ;-)

Steve K

[bieber]

Unfortunately the last one I was mounting (Dallmeyer 3B) barely fit on a Sinar board as-is, no room for an adapter. Although if I get any bigger I might try having someone make me an adapter to 6x6 boards, if the rear element will physically fit through the Sinar standard. If not then I'll have to look into getting a 5x7 standard and having a lensboard made for that, but I'm trying to put that off for a ways in the future

[Jac@stafford.net]

They make hole saws upwards of 10cm? A fly cutter would be nice, but then I'd have to buy a drill press and, more importantly, find somewhere in my apartment to keep a drill press

Good point. I forgot what it was like to be in the same situation. Silly me. Very best of luck.