8x10 monorail conversion - bad idea?

[joshwool]

If you give up on it and want to sell, let me know. I was looking for a grover without the rails to make a diy frankencamera out of haha. And I think recently I saw on ebay a b&j tailboard setup without the standards. At quick glance I thought it was for a 4x5, but might want to check it out and ask the seller. Might work for 8x10 and I think it was being offered for cheap. good luck

I'm going to hang on to it, it's in remarkably good shape, so going to do my best to make if functional again. Good luck with your build!

[MIke Sherck]

I've used that monorail camera in the past and while it is functional no one would ever be described as solid. It can be managed with care and patience but don't expect to avoid movement. It is, however, pretty light for an 8x10.

My avatar photo shows me with this camera.

Mike

[Drew Wiley]

It's next to impossible to DIY what the Sinar monorail system, now often at bargain pricing, will do by itself.

[Tobias Key]

I have used a manfrotto super clamp as a supplementary monorail clamp in the past, you can also buy wedges so it will clamp to different shaped services. Certainly strong enough for the job, cheap and easy to find. Mild steel or aluminium hexagon rail seems to be easily available and cheap - you'd just need the size. Then you'd just need to get gear teeth machined on to the rail, although maybe you could do without that or attach a ready made rack to the rail with counter sunk screws. I am sure you could get rudimentary functionality for much less that $100.

[JefW]

I tried to do the same thing with an 8x10 Grover, using plywood scraps, and vslot 8x20 extrusions and gantry cart kits from openbuilds partstore. The aim was to have something compact, self-contained, and lighter. The original ~10 lb aluminum rail was heavy and inconvenient to carry around. My end-result is still too bulky, crude and clunky, but it is self contained, and has all the movements of a monorail, and the lens can potentially get very close to the film plane for wide angles. It's lighter than with the aluminum rail, but could be lighter still. If one could dispense with the plywood platform and find a way to have the vslot segments hinge in such a way that there are no gaps between them (if such an inline hinge exists), that would be an improvement. With the plywood base though it's nice to have a "shelf" to hold my loupe and glasses.

[joshwool]

I tried to do the same thing with an 8x10 Grover, using plywood scraps, and vslot 8x20 extrusions and gantry cart kits from openbuilds partstore. The aim was to have something compact, self-contained, and lighter. The original ~10 lb aluminum rail was heavy and inconvenient to carry around. My end-result is still too bulky, crude and clunky, but it is self contained, and has all the movements of a monorail, and the lens can potentially get very close to the film plane for wide angles. It's lighter than with the aluminum rail, but could be lighter still. If one could dispense with the plywood platform and find a way to have the vslot segments hinge in such a way that there are no gaps between them (if such an inline hinge exists), that would be an improvement. With the plywood base though it's nice to have a "shelf" to hold my loupe and glasses.

Thanks for posting those photos, gives me some interesting ideas. I'm going to use this for a dedicated wetplate portrait camera, so I'm not so worried about portability so much as stability/functionality. How long did you end up making the rail section?

[JefW]

The rail section is about 19.5". (I'm using it at the moment with a 250mm lens that doesn't require very long extensions). The original rail is 26".

[joshwool]

The rail section is about 19.5". (I'm using it at the moment with a 250mm lens that doesn't require very long extensions). The original rail is 26".

Great, thanks for the info!

[joshwool]

Not quite done yet, but ended up building a wooden base with sled for rear focusing. I'll add a fine focus at some point.

[JefW]

Looks great. Probably a lot more stable than the original monorail.