Where to get a lens board drilled?

[nsurit]

I have a blank lens board into which I need a hole drilled and the flange mounted for my Wollensak Veritar lens. Who is a reliable soarce for this type of work in the USA? Thanks in advance, Bill Barber

[Bob Salomon]

Technically lens boards should never be drilled. They are bored or milled.

[Pere Casals]

I have a blank lens board into which I need a hole drilled and the flange mounted for my Wollensak Veritar lens. Who is a reliable soarce for this type of work in the USA? Thanks in advance, Bill Barber

So, as Bob says, you can bring the board to a "machining workshop" . Search it in Google (or google maps) like this: "machining workshop" New York

[nsurit]

OK, I live out in the sticks and mailing is a more efficient means of conducting business. The lens board is wood and I plan to send the lens with it, so would be looking for a camera place rather than a machine shop to bore, mill or whatever to accurately remove the material to produce an opening (Proper hole) in the lens board. Again, thanks in advance. Bill Barber

[Jonathan Barlow]

Someone with a drill press and a set of large Forstner bits can drill a clean hole for you pretty easily. And yes, you drill a hole with a drill bit. A hole saw will also work.

Look for a cabinetmaker in your area.

[Leigh]

So, as Bob says, you can bring the board to a "machining workshop".
I've been a machinist for 52 years, and never heard of a "machining workshop".

I've heard of a "machine shop", and have owned one for over 20 years.
Many folks I know also own them.

Most machine shops are metal only. They won't touch wood.

You probably need to find a woodworking shop to do that.

- Leigh

[ic-racer]

Making a round hole has to be one of the most basic tasks encountered. Now if one needs an ellipsoid, where x2a2 + y2b2 + z2c2 = 1, that might be more difficult.

157433
157432

[Leigh]

Making a round hole has to be one of the most basic tasks encountered.
Making a hole that's accurately round is not a trivial task.

- Leigh

[MAubrey]

Making a hole that's accurately round is not a trivial task.

- Leigh
Being basic is not at odds with being non-trivial.

Finger joints and dovetail joins are basic and also far from trivial.

[Jim Jones]

A suitable round hole can be cut with a fly cutter in a wood lens board securely mounted on a drill press. Better yet is mounting the board on a lathe faceplate. Any experienced (and willing) machinist or woodworker should be able to do this well if you can communicate to them exactly what you need. Without sharing such knowledge, a camera repairman might be a better choice. IC-racer's technique requires meticulous craftsmanship for a neat job. However, the lens flange would cover some errors.

[faberryman]

You didn't say what Veritar lens you have or what the mounting hole size is, but drilling a wood lensboard is not a complicated task. Buy or borrow a drill and appropriate drill bit. Draw diagonal lines from opposing corners. Where they cross is the center. Drill away.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Copal #0 is a 1 3/8" hole
Copal #1 is a 1 5/8" hole
Copal #3 is a 2 1/2" hole

Buy or borrow a drill and appropriate drill bit. Draw diagonal lines from opposing corners. Where they cross is the center. Drill away.

Noooo. A drill bit that large will not work. There are hole saws those sizes. Forstner bits work better, but are quite expensive. Fly cutters work, but I do not like using them at all. And where to drill? Some (a few) boards are offset.

I would be confident working with Richard Ritter. He knows cameras, lenses, machining, woodwork and can ask the right questions. (For example, is there a lens retainer, jam-nut, flange?)

[Bruce Barlow]

Richard Ritter does it all the time. 802-365-7807.

[Peter De Smidt]

Any decent wood word worker can do this for you. It's not hard. Like Jim, I'd personally use a fly cutter on a drill press, with the work pieced firmly clamped down. SKGrimes has various opening sizes listed on their site. Sometimes, depending on the thickness of the board, you might need a lip on the back side so the retaining ring can reach the threads of the shutter.

[DrTang]

Being basic is not at odds with being non-trivial.


doesn't have to be that accurate.. the flange allows a pretty good amount of slop

[goamules]

My gosh, it's like asking how to make ice cubes. Where has the can-do, frontier spirit gone?

How I cut holes. Buy an old brace bit at a flea market, about $10, it cuts slower and less danger than a drill press. Buy an adjustable fly cutter for $9. Clamp and cut. Or you can carefully wrap your lens, lensboard, go to the post office, mail it to that camera adapter boutique place up in New England, and be charged about $30, plus shipping, plus waiting.....

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7467/16316867036_dee7dcb997_c.jpg

[Jac@stafford.net]

My gosh, it's like asking how to make ice cubes. Where has the can-do, frontier spirit gone? [... snip good stuff ...]

I appreciate your expertise. I have similar tools now, however for quite some time I lived far out in the country and was entirely uncomfortable with using town resources, as they were. I respect the OP's desire for expertise via the post.

Perhaps he trying to keep his life simple. All he wants is a lens board made right with no investment in tools he is unlikely to use again.

Food for thought?

[Leszek Vogt]

I'm with Garrett on this. Little effort and this is done. Although one could use 35mm forstner bit, one could get a "pilot router bit" with a bearing - IMO more useful in the tool box. It's possible to rent a router or a mini router for sheetrock work....drill and expand the hole to size (any mm's) in piece of wood with files or saber saw, sandpaper, etc (say 3/8" thick). Once the hole is finished, you can have the bearing-bit to follow the contours on your lens board, which result in v. clean opening.

https://www.google.com/#tbm=shop&q=pilot+router+bits+w%2Fbearing&spd=15289687835387072749

Project safety is always a #1 concern = clamps + eye protection, etc.. These routers rotate quite fast, so precaution is essential - respect for machinery.

As its been indicated, you can do it yourself for small amount (and repeat this at will on other boards) or you can pay someone repeatedly.

Relative to this, I wanted to have someone construct lens boards out of different woods that I provided (for 8 boards) and the bill would have been $240 (not even drilled :>). Using a chop saw, I can do all the operations in less than 4 hours....or paying myself roughly $60/hr to do this.

Les

[faberryman]

If he doesn't want to do it himself, I second the recommendation of asking Richard Ritter. I met him at a workshop where he delivered a 20x24 ULF camera to one of the participants. Excellent workmanship.

[Peter De Smidt]

I"m sure Richard would do a great job. For a cheaper option, you might check out zbima1 on Ebay. I've bought a few lens boards from him. They were reasonably priced, high quality, and he drilled a free hole of whatever size you need.

[ScottPhotoCo]

Seriously, mail it to me in California and I'll do it for you. PM me and we can work out details.


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[Jim Noel]

OK, I live out in the sticks and mailing is a more efficient means of conducting business. The lens board is wood and I plan to send the lens with it, so would be looking for a camera place rather than a machine shop to bore, mill or whatever to accurately remove the material to produce an opening (Proper hole) in the lens board. Again, thanks in advance. Bill Barber

Don't send the lens with it. Remove the mounting ring and send that.

[ScottPhotoCo]

The key to getting everything to align the way you want is to choose which side of the lens board you want facing upwards and mark that on the back of the board. Mount the lens in the flange snugly and look at the top most point on the lens that you want also facing upwards and place a small strip of tape on the flange so you know where to align the flange when mounting the flange to the board. Then you don't need to send the lens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Willie]

How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb?

First, we have to define what a "Photographer" really is.

[LabRat]

How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb?

First, we have to define what a "Photographer" really is.

I thought the punchline of that joke was/ 3... One to do it, and the others saying "I could have done that"... ;-)

Steve K

[goamules]

I may be a little harsh, after moderating the Collodion website for years you get a lot of funny questions like this. Or "how would you drill holes in the board for the flange screws?" or "what do you wear when hiking with a camera?" To me, the trouble of researching who can do it, paying their price, packaging up the lensboard, and taking it to the post office and waiting in line is MUCH more work than just figuring something out, at home. But that's me.

[Pere Casals]

I've been a machinist for 52 years, and never heard of a "machining workshop".

I've heard of a "machine shop", and have owned one for over 20 years.
Many folks I know also own them.

Most machine shops are metal only. They won't touch wood.

You probably need to find a woodworking shop to do that.

- Leigh

Thanks for the tip, English it's my 3rd language and I'm always improving it. I'll rememember "woodworking shop" and "Machine Shop"

[Doremus Scudder]

Thanks for the tip, English it's my 3rd language and I'm always improving it. I'll rememember "woodworking shop" and "Machine Shop"

Pere,

You're very gracious and accommodating. Kudos for your perfect reply.

Doremus

[Pere Casals]

Pere,

You're very gracious and accommodating. Kudos for your perfect reply.

Doremus

Thanks Doremus, anyway this is the crude reality. My first language is Catalan, I speak that 90% of the time. Catalonia (Barcelona) is in Spain, so all of we speak perfect Spanish and we need it a lot. English is also a must, of course, but it comes 3rd, so learning all specific terms is not easy.

And also some of us (like me) also need some French (the forgein language I studied when young), I've commercial contacts in France. And also I deal with italians in Italian. And I think I should speak German well.

I'd bet that 3/4 of americains do not know if it is machinning or machine shop, or even don't know what is that about. So learning that it is a privilege.

Perhaps we all should return to Latin :)

[Leigh]

Hi Pere,

Forgive me if I seeme a bit terse. No offense intended.

Being an international forum, we have many members whose first language is not English.

I think your command of English is excellent. I was just trying to clarify some terms. Thanks.

- Leigh

[Pere Casals]

Hi Pere,

Forgive me if I seeme a bit terse. No offense intended.

Being an international forum, we have many members whose first language is not English.

I think your command of English is excellent. I was just trying to clarify some terms. Thanks.

- Leigh


Don't worry at all, I suspected that you didn't guess that, and if I was native English I had deserved some punishment :)

In Spanish (european) is "Taller de mecanizado", so I made a direct translation. These periphrasis are difficult because not very colloquial, so any correction you can make me in the future will be of great value. Learning 2 words every day it's a lot !!

[Roger Thoms]

I've been a machinist for 52 years, and never heard of a "machining workshop".

I've heard of a "machine shop", and have owned one for over 20 years.
Many folks I know also own them.

Most machine shops are metal only. They won't touch wood.

You probably need to find a woodworking shop to do that.

- Leigh

I've good a woodshop in my neighborhood. 🙂
http://woodshopsf.com

Roger

[Steve Barber]

I have a blank lens board into which I need a hole drilled and the flange mounted for my Wollensak Veritar lens. Who is a reliable soarce for this type of work in the USA? Thanks in advance, Bill Barber

http://www.skgrimes.com/contact-us

[Stephen Thomason]

Just get a hole saw of the correct diameter, put it on a drill, clamp the lens board to a larger board, and drill away. I've made many for both my "modern" view cameras and my "classic" sheet film cameras.

Use the bottom board as a sacrifice board so you can drill all the way through the lens board without splinters.

If the hole saw is a bit too small, then just use a dremel tool with a sanding disk to enlarge it.

Use some small brass screws to attach the flange.

Or mail it to me with the flange and some money and I'll do it for you.

[sepiareverb]

Wow.

[Leigh]

Wow.
It seems Sepia and I agree for once.

If that was a description of how ST does a lensboard, I would suggest shipping it elsewhere.

- Leigh

[Stephen Thomason]

Leigh, just what do you find objectionable in my description? Drilling a round hole in a piece of wood is not rocket science; I know, I am actually a "rocket scientist" as well (BAE, Ga. Tech). All the OP needs is a drill, some clamps, and a hole saw - he's not duplicating the Holy Grail, he just wants to mount a lens on a board????!!! How hard do you think that is?? Geez.

[David Lindquist]

Leigh, just what do you find objectionable in my description? Drilling a round hole in a piece of wood is not rocket science; I know, I am actually a "rocket scientist" as well (BAE, Ga. Tech). All the OP needs is a drill, some clamps, and a hole saw - he's not duplicating the Holy Grail, he just wants to mount a lens on a board????!!! How hard do you think that is?? Geez.

He'd like to have it done on a Pratt & Whitney jig bore machine. :D
David

[Leigh]

He'd like to have it done on a Pratt & Whitney jig bore machine. :D
That would work, but it's overkill.

I use a Bridgeport vertical mill.

- Leigh

[Leigh]

Leigh, just what do you find objectionable in my description?
Everything.

Granted, a person can make a camera from a few pieces of wood and some duct tape.

Drill a hole in the side opposite the film (taped inside the box). Put a hat over the hole.
Time the exposure with an hourglass.
You'll likely get a negative of some sort, perhaps even usable.

Precision tools are used because they produce better results.

It's all about having confidence that something will work as you expect it to, first time, every time.

- Leigh

[sepiareverb]

I hope you've contacted Richard Ritter Bill. He does wonderful work. 4 pages of being told how you are a fool for wanting to have someone do something for you may not be anywhere near a record here, but is crazy nonetheless. However, I didn't hear anyone suggest finding a tin can of the appropriate diameter and heating it up over an open flame and simply burning the hole through the lens board. Keep some water in a second can handy (it does not need to be the same size) in case the board smokes too much. Depending on the wood species you might need to reheat the can and try a few times, but you will eventually get through. Much simpler than dropping it in the mail, and what a savings! Cans are free, and we all have a fire going at this time of year, so no wasted matches. The bonus is that the burned edge of the hole are already black, so you shan't need to splurge on any flat black paint to dampen stray light inside the camera (Perhaps goes without saying, but be careful, the heated can will be hot, gloves are usually helpful).

Just be sure to let the board cool off (and dry fully) before installing the lens, as heating up the shutter may cause the lubricants to move about and then you'll need to source those for a complete shutter overhaul. Also an easy DIY task, given a good pair of reading glasses and a pair of linemans pliers. See threads here with titles like "Where to send shutter for adjustment" for more complete instructions. Making whale oil is so much easier these days now that Amazon sells spermaceti in small lots. Half an afternoon with a crockpot and skimming screen and you're in business. I decant mine in syrup bottles but keep a dropper bottle for day to day use. One two pound vacuum pack bag of spermaceti should make about 10oz or so of oil, a lifetime supply unless you start tinkering with Leicas as well.

[nsurit]

Lensboard with flange attached is on its way back to me, minus a round piece of wood which formerly was part of the blank board. SK Grimes did the work. Bill Barber

[Jac@stafford.net]

Lensboard with flange attached is on its way back to me, minus a round piece of wood which formerly was part of the blank board. SK Grimes did the work. Bill Barber

It is a great feeling to receive competent work. I hope it works well for you, Bill.

When S. Grimes was alive he machined a flange for a large brass lens and took it over the top by replicating the curve on the flange typical of the times. Knowledge like that is disappearing. Steve Grimes: RIP.

Enjoy, Bill!

[nsurit]

I've had both Richard and SK Grimes do work for me in the past. Although I've been pleased with both, was interested in others suggestions. I had a bit of a time problem as I was leaving on a 6 week road trip and needed to get it shipped before I left home. Grimes responded slightly faster than Richard to my email, so that is where I shipped it. The good side news on this is that the lens board was for a 5X7 Noba studio camera I had listed for sale and decided to keep and mount it with a Wollansak Veritar lens. Bill Barber

[Wheeler331]

I just use a hole saw on a drill for my wooden ones on my wet plate camera.