Gatorboard "Ultra" for Camera Builds?

[John Layton]

So here is an extruded polystyrene foam board, available in black in thicknesses of 3/16, 1/2, and 1 inch...which is dimensionally stable, easily workable with circular saws, routers, etc., is reasonably weather resistant, and, at least from what I can gather, weighs in at anywhere between one quarter to one eighth(!) that of most plywoods of the same dimensions.

Looking at how large (especially ULF) cameras tend to "wiggle," and thinking of a material which is ultra light and offers the possibility of employing relatively large (and thus very stable) cross sections without adding weight, I find very compelling.

Has anyone used this material for this use...or is thinking about this?

Looks a bit difficult to get this stuff in anything but large(ish) quantities...but I'll phone the company to see if they might work with me on this.

[Tin Can]

I think there are 2 Types of SINTRA

One is much stiffer

[Tin Can]

Also I use good Balsa for Shutter Box

[Oslolens]

I have used metal covered self adhesive foam boards for cameras.

Smaller quantities of the black version could be bought at amazon? Just avoid the bad stuff.

Sent fra min SM-S901B via Tapatalk

[Jim C.]

I've used both, not for camera building, nether are really suitable for ULF camera building.
Sintra is moderately foamed PVC board, normally used in CNC sign making, it's heavy,
and flexy, some grades are not suitable for UV exposure.
Gator board is a sturdier form of foam core board, rather than a paper covering it's melamine, it's brittle
because of the melamine coating. While it may be light but be prepared for your ULF cam to collapse
like a house of cards if a stiff wind gets blowing, better off used as a light bounce or if you want to build a
nonfunctional ULF camera model.

I don't think anyone who manufactures ULF cameras has ever done one with composites,
like a honeycomb sandwich core carbon fiber body, carbon fiber trussed rails, syntactic foam, etc.

[Mark Sampson]

Up until the late 2000s we used both Sintra and Gatorfoam on the job- to make posters and displays. I don't think either one would be a good choice for camera building, although the right type of Sintra could be made to work.

[John Layton]

Jim...the "Ultra" formulation of Gator Board is coated with a thick polystyrene and is supposedly more resistant to compression, denting, and flexing.

I do use the 1/2 inch thick "standard" white Gator Board instead of regular foam core to back my large (30x40 and 40x60inch) prints, and its really great stuff. Something even sturdier and more weather proof and compression-proof I think would be worth a try.

[Drew Wiley]

Like Mark said - neither Gator nor Sintra are really suitable. Neither will stay truly flat for very long. And aluminum honeycomb panel is notoriously difficult to work with unless you have the right kind of expensive equipment. The future is really in composite plys like Chamonix now uses, and like Dick Phillips first used 30 or so years ago (I have one of his first 8x10's).
I have actually made a few aluminum-clad custom foam-core plys. There's quite a bit to it. It's better to track down something already in use for airline panel use. Expensive unless you buy it in volume; and you'd still need access to appropriate equipment, unless you already have that.

Once I called up our industrial carbide tooling supplier and described the kind of exotic high RPM carbide blade I needed to handle a special composite laminate of such and such description, and asked them about its feasibility. He said he had four of them on the shelf at the moment, and that I'd receive mine the next day. Turns out it was something routinely used in aircraft hull fabrication.

[Jim C.]

Jim...the "Ultra" formulation of Gator Board is coated with a thick polystyrene and is supposedly more resistant to compression, denting, and flexing.

I do use the 1/2 inch thick "standard" white Gator Board instead of regular foam core to back my large (30x40 and 40x60inch) prints, and its really great stuff. Something even sturdier and more weather proof and compression-proof I think would be worth a try.

I understand the need to find relatively inexpensive lightweight materials to build ULF cams but you have to undetand that all the
'resistance' that the Ultra Gator board has is under the conditions the board was made for, which is backing print graphics and framing pictures
not a structural standpoint ( except models ). That's not to say you can't try, but being a fabricator I'm kind of dubious of the finished products longevity..

[John Layton]

Longevity would not necessarily be important as I could easily refabricate and swap out parts, as I can on my "el cheapo" DIY plywood cameras.

But taking such a camera out and about close to home is one thing...while taking it farther afield would require me to acquire a very firm understanding of the camera's limitations - to assess whether or not I could work within these and achieve the results that I'm after. Then again, as my plywood models are so very simple and as the Gatorboard parts would be so light...I could see bringing some of these "spare parts" along to field-swap as needed.

A bit on the hypothetical side at this point...but still worth some thought IMHO.

Later Edit: My current plywood/mahogany mashup 11x14 weighs in at 14lbs. I if I can cut enough holes and blind (routed) channels into this camera to bring its weight to around 10lbs. without overly compromising structural integrity, then I'll likely do this instead of moving forward with a Gatorboard camera.