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Calamity Jane
22-Jan-2005, 17:00
. . . on my Web page of the Maple 4x5 under construction.


http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/camera2/camera2.index.html (http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/camera2/camera2.index.html)

Ralph Barker
22-Jan-2005, 17:48
Tch, tch. Your page has exceeded your bandwidth allocation, and can't be viewed right now. You're just too popular for your own good. ;-)

Scott Fleming
22-Jan-2005, 17:50
What is this crap? All I get is an add for Yahoo. Geez. Buy some bandwith!

Darin Cozine
22-Jan-2005, 18:21
Calamity, if you need some web space, let me know, I have lots of room to spare and unlimited bandwidth.

Darin Cozine
22-Jan-2005, 18:22
Wow, what a beast you are making! how much does it weigh?

Calamity Jane
22-Jan-2005, 19:24
I had no idea I was so popular - and I did it without taking my clothes off! ::shock::

I don't know what the weight is yet. When it's done, I will weigh it. It will not be as light as my Cherry wood monorail but it is SOLID and that was what I wanted.

David A. Goldfarb
22-Jan-2005, 19:37
I'm more impressed that you made two 5-string banjos. If you can make a banjo that plays in tune, cameras will be a snap, so to speak.

Jim Ewins
22-Jan-2005, 22:58
Can you bring it to Joshua Tree next weekend? I need to see more of it- you know I'm lusting after an 8x10.

Darin Cozine
23-Jan-2005, 00:24
Allright everyone take a cold shower..

A little bit o wood shown an all you can think about is "I'm lusting after" and "taking my clothes off".

Dont you know married folk read this forum? We just cant deal with ideas like that in our old age.

-Darin

PS: (beavis and butthead impression) "Uhhhhh, he said: WOOD" "heh, heh, yeah WOOD"

Edward (Halifax,NS)
7-Feb-2005, 06:12
I have three questions:

Is maple hard to work with?

Are front tilt and rise incorperated into the same movement?

If they are, is it difficult to use one of the movements with out changing the setting of the other?

Calamity Jane
18-Feb-2005, 06:09
Gee, sorry Edward, I didn't see your post here.

I got some wood the wholesaler had marked "hard maple" but I don't know specifically what species it is.

It is BOOOTIFUL wood to work with. It is so dense and hard that you can actually drill and tap it and end up with a clean thread! (Though I didn't do that.) It cuts beautifully as long as you don't use too coarse a blade and don't push it. There is no "fuzziness" on the bottom of a cut edge and it won't chip out at the end of a cut if you use a fine blade. I do my box joints on the bandsaw and after cutting all the box joints, you couldn't tell which surface had been up and which down, so there was very little sanding required.

The one down-side of this hard maple is that it has beautiful grain but is so dense it does not take stain well. I tried oil based stain and after 15 minutes of soaking, when you wiped the stain off, the colour of the wood was unchanged! I experimented with every stain I had and I ended up using Watco "Danish Oil". Even using a dark Watco oil, the camera is still pretty blonde but the oil brought up the grain nicely.

Movements: Yes, the rise/fall and tilt are both secured with the same clamping knobs so they are not truly independant. I considered other ways of doing it but everything else would have added to the complexity and the weight.

I haven't weighed it yet but it feels like the Maple camera is nearly twice the weight of the Cherrywood camera. On the other hand, the Maple is so tough that I am sure one could play football with it and hurt nothing but their toe! ;-)

I have some 1.5" brass bar-stock in the shop cupboard so I guess I will start making brass knobs this weekend. That ought to add another pound to the camera's weight :-)>

Edward (Halifax,NS)
18-Feb-2005, 06:37
Thanks for the info. I decided I didn't want to make the bellows and back so I am going to harvest them off of my CC400 when the time comes. The back will look funny but it will be nice having a rotating back and knowing for sure the film is in the right place and there are no light leaks. I start work on the rear standard tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Edward (Halifax,NS)
21-Feb-2005, 06:24
I bought the wood for the rear standard on the weekend. I am using poplar for a trial run. Once I am sure I can make a functional camera I am going to do it again in walnut. I have the pieces cut to length but I am paranoid about cutting the finger joints.

Edward (Halifax,NS)
17-Mar-2005, 10:52
You are bad. You could have bumped the tread to let us know it was finished. Your camera looks very nice. How is it in the field?

Calamity Jane
17-Mar-2005, 16:58
It's ALMOST finished!

I was searching high and low for weeks for some nice brass knobs but couldn't find any. I turned one from some brass bar stock I have in the shop, but they were heavier than I wanted. So, finally, today, I ordered some large brass wing nuts for the rise/fall and tilt. When they come in, I'll post a new picture.

It weighs in at 6.5 Pounds, which is better than I expeced, but still 2 Lbs heavier than my cherrywood 4x5.

I like the old fashioned bed - it is quite rigid and stable. With the Maple being MUCH harder than the Cherrywood, I can tighten the locks down hard and nothing moves (unlike the Cherrywood camera). With the old style bed and locking down the "carriages", it is WAY more solid than my wooden monorail. I LOVE using it. (It has been getting lots of exercise as I try to learn Tintypes and now POP!)

When the brass hardware comes in, I'll post new pictures.

How is your camera coming Edward?

Edward (Halifax,NS)
18-Mar-2005, 04:35
Mine is coming very slow. The back standard and bottom part of the bed are ready for glue-up. I got distracted by a new scanner; Epson 2450.