What tools do I need to make a metal lens board?

[Harold_4074]

I may have missed it in the preceding discussion but there is a cheap, simple way to make holes for lens mounting: use a pair of dividers to scribe the exact hole diameter needed, and then use a small drill bit (1/8" or so) in either a hand drill or drill press to make a row of holes that almost touch each other, just inside the scribed line. With a pair of wire cutters, nip the "web" between enough of the holes and break out the waste; then use coarse and fine half-round files to bring the hole right to the line. It doesn't have to be as precise as you might think, particularly if you are mounting a flange. For most shutters, the retaining ring can be used as a gauge to get the final fit, keeping the lens and shutter away from the grit and dust.

I have used this technique to salvage some old, wooden lensboards that had been drilled and re-drilled to the point where there wasn't enough left to mount a flange; a thin square of aluminum covered all of the screw holes and let me mount a modern lens quite neatly.

[Ari]

I may have missed it in the preceding discussion but there is a cheap, simple way to make holes for lens mounting: use a pair of dividers to scribe the exact hole diameter needed, and then use a small drill bit (1/8" or so) in either a hand drill or drill press to make a row of holes that almost touch each other, just inside the scribed line. With a pair of wire cutters, nip the "web" between enough of the holes and break out the waste; then use coarse and fine half-round files to bring the hole right to the line. It doesn't have to be as precise as you might think, particularly if you are mounting a flange. For most shutters, the retaining ring can be used as a gauge to get the final fit, keeping the lens and shutter away from the grit and dust.

I have used this technique to salvage some old, wooden lensboards that had been drilled and re-drilled to the point where there wasn't enough left to mount a flange; a thin square of aluminum covered all of the screw holes and let me mount a modern lens quite neatly.

I like your method, too, Harold.
There are many ways to skin a cat, and I probably should not be near motorized cutting tools, so I'll take a few excellent suggestions from all here, and make something workable.
And I won't get hurt doing it.
Thanks to all.

[big_ben_blue]

Harold's method works well ... I've used it for a number of unrelated projects; but be warned, it's a slow process (compared to using power tools) and the hand filing will get you to look like Popeye the Sailor in no time

[Kuzano]

Working with metal is a job for a fully equipped machine shop, and a qualified metal worker. A fellow I went to college with was the son of a machine shop owner. The father gave both of us jobs to help with school. I lived in constant fear of losing a digit, or having metal shavings sprayed into my eyes. I did, in fact, slide some red hot welding slag off a work table. It dropped on my foot, and burned completely through my foot. I found it in the bottom of my shoe. The good news was that as it burned through the fleshy part of my foot, it lanced the wound passing through.

If you clamp a 4 inch piece of metal plate to a work bench, and try to drive a large bit through it, with either a drill press or a power drill, and if the drill bit seizes on the metal, it will become a spinning knife and take a finger off before you see the blood spraying out.

Furthermore, if your lens board requires a turned edge all around to fit in the light trap of a front standard, it's going to take the kind of tools that can do this job cleanly. Not likely that one could do this with hand tools. You need hydraulic presses, powered breaks and powered shears (these make fingers vanish in the blink of an eye.)

If you know anyone who is an employee in a machine shop (and a veteran at that), ask him to take off all his clothes. Inspect closely, look for scars, count digits, there should be 20, just for the hands and feet.

Do you play any musical instruments that require ten fingers... well... two thumbs and eight fingers.

Get an OEM lens board, or get the specs and have one made. You won't get charged for anyone else's fingers at a commercial machine shop.

Get it?

[alpenhause]

Hi Ari,

A visit to a local sheet metal fabricator such as a heating and air conditioning service shop is easy and inexpensive.

These shops can make you a lens board in just minutes and pop a hole in the middle of just about any size you want.

FM Pierce Heating and Air Conditioning in Santa Paula, California fabricates all of the lens boards for the Alpenhause cameras on a regular basis very rapidly at a low cost.

Just draw up a simple plan with measurements and even bring the camera and you will have what you need in about an hour or less with little cost.

[Ari]

Hi Ari,

A visit to a local sheet metal fabricator such as a heating and air conditioning service shop is easy and inexpensive.

These shops can make you a lens board in just minutes and pop a hole in the middle of just about any size you want.

FM Pierce Heating and Air Conditioning in Santa Paula, California fabricates all of the lens boards for the Alpenhause cameras on a regular basis very rapidly at a low cost.

Just draw up a simple plan with measurements and even bring the camera and you will have what you need in about an hour or less with little cost.

Thanks, Steve!