#5 shutter help

**Steve H** · 6-Sep-2006, 05:07

All,
I have decided to scrap my electro-mechanically actuated packard in favor of a #5 shutter on my DIY lens project...For two basic reasons. #1 weight savings - no battery pack, no solenoid, no big board to carry around. Plus, I won't have to carry around a bunch of different f/stops. #2 - simplicity. This speaks for itself.
However, as you all know, these things are HARD to find. So my first question is this - anyone out there have one for sale ??? My second question is - if you have one that isn't for sale, who would be willing to take measurements of it for me, so at least I can cut my lens barrel to fit. This way, at least I can make a dummy spacer for the shutter, and have my new lens barrel functional while I wait to find and install the shutter.

Thanks !

**Ralph Barker** · 6-Sep-2006, 07:32

Yep, they're hard to come by. I looked for about 3 years, wanting it for a conversion of a 610mm APO Nikkor, but finally snagged a 375mm Caltar with one a couple of months ago. If you're accustomed to the smaller Ilex shutters, the #5 will seem like it's about 18" in diameter, with a weight of around 43 pounds. Actual measurements are somewhat less.

diameter: 130mm; thickness in front of lens board: 20mm; front element opening: 75mm; rear element opening: 75mm; lensboard hole: 81mm. Sorry I don't have a scale to weigh it.

**Salty** · 6-Sep-2006, 10:42

I grabbed the nearest Ilex 5 shutter, the more modern "No. 5 Universal Synchro" and it's 454 grams by itself.

**Ernest Purdum** · 6-Sep-2006, 17:12

The sizes of #5 shutters aren't standardized between makers and even some Ilex #5 shutters are smaller than others. In generaL, Wollensaks are the smallest, then Ilexes, and Compounds are the largest.

I have heard of people having difficulty when using published dimensions in doing a lens mount job. I think it would be well to wait until you have a shutter in hand before doing or having done any machining.

**Steve H** · 7-Sep-2006, 04:16

Agreed...Thanks Mr. Purdum

**Jonathan Brewer** · 10-Sep-2006, 05:08

I don't have the shutter here, it's at S.K. Grimes, but I believe the accessory thread for a rear cell on my Ilex #5 synchro is 72mm, I remember this from tracking down threaded lens caps to cover the rear cells of lenses I use w/this shutter.

Since there are a BUNCH of folks looking for this shutter(no secret, since quite a few are on this forum), I submit that you do as I did, comb e-bay for 'no-name' lenses, which of course come in this shutter, having said that, I ended up buying a Commercial Ektar to get its Ilex shutter, the price for both the lens and shutter was not much more that what the shutter alone goes for, it was about a $100.00 diff between what the shutters are going for by themselves and my deal.

After some excellent advice from Adam Dau(Steve Grimes), I paid a lot of attention to the pictures of these shutters before bidding, looking for 'Rube Goldberg'/DIY mods, which Adam says can just 'jack' the shutter.