Crown Graphic Restoration - anyone to wood?

[David Karp]

Having that CNC machine at work, and the ability to use it -- Awesome. I'll bet you have some pretty cool custom accessories.

[Frank R]

I stripped a Crown of its leather. Decent mahogany underneath, but little chunks of it were missing. The wood was meant for rot resistance, strength and light weight, not for show. Plus, there were a lot of holes left over from the missing hardware.

I plan on veneering over it soon with some mahogany veneer. The iron-on veneer is real easy to use. A ruler, a razor knife, an iron, and some 220 grit sandpaper are all that is needed.

Of course, once the body looks pretty I will have to repaint the spring back to bring it up to standards. And then their are those mods to the front standard.

Hmmm... this is turning into a bigger project than I thought.

[Mike Kovacs]

I'll keep the group posted when I have some time to work on the project.

There is another nice benefit to the CNC mill as well - its not too much more work to churn out copies if I mill some new parts to increase the available front standard movements. I don't know what level of interest there would be nor the price people will stomach.

[Frank Petronio]

If someone made a good >$50 kit to hot rod a Crown with easy to use front tilt (and maybe more rise?) I think you would have a nice little 100-200 order per year business there.... But if my opinion counted so much I'd be rich myself.

[Mike Kovacs]

I'll have to keep that in mind although I'm probably far too busy to do this. Work might also wonder where all that machine time is going...

[Glenn Thoreson]

Mike, I did a 2X3 baby Speed Graphic that was a totally moldy piece of junk. It turned out pretty nice. I removed the plating on some of the brass pieces and polished and lacquered them, too. New bellows, Graflok back etc. Was it worth it? Well,,, probably not. I like it, though. BTW, when you remove the leather covering, be sure to thoroughly test the dovetail joints for light leaks. I found several on my baby. Wood is Honduran mahogany. Very pretty, if not damaged, stained and/or needing patches. I cut out a template for the lens board this morning.

[65Galaxie]

For forward tilt I just mount the camera on the side tripod socket and use my 3d Bogen head and make the camera upside down. A little clumbsy but it works. Now, what I would like is some forward tilt in the "portrait" mode.

[Glenn Thoreson]

On a Pacemaker Speed or Crown Graphic, it's not necessary to modify anything to get forward tilt. Rack the lens out to approximate focus, drop the bed, raise the front as far as it goes, then bring the front back until you have the desired tilt. It will be tilted way too much until you bring it back some. Or, as mentioned, you can just mount it upside down.

[Dan Fromm]

Glenn, every time I try the drop the bed and tilt the front standard backwards trick I find that my little Graphic doesn't have enough front rise. This is especially a problem with lenses that make infinity with the front standard towards the front of the outer bed. Any suggestions besides the obvious one that I should get a real view camera too?

Cheers,

Dan

[jongrep]

Doesn't look so good to me. I think a stain and varnish or perhaps a veneer would go a long way for that camera.

There is a nice restoration I found HERE.

New URL: http://jongrepstad.com/building-a-la...raphic-camera/

http://jongrepstad.com/

Jon Grepstad