3-D printed lens boards

[James-T]

Hello,
I am somewhat of a beginner at LF photography. There's an Intrepid 4x5 MKIII in the post, and I have a few lenses, but most of them seem to be in "Non-standard" size shutters. One is between a #0 and a #00 plus it has a non-removable alignment pin, and two are different variants of the #2 size, of those one shouldn't be a problem as it is already in a Linhof board, but the other fits a 55.7 hole and doesn't have a board.

So I was thinking of getting 3-D printed boards made (and have generated CAD files from templates in thingiverse). Does anyone here have experience of such, and if so can you recommend suitable materials? And also do you have any recommendations for printing services in the UK?

[Pere Casals]

Does anyone here have experience of such, and if so can you recommend suitable materials?

I've made a lensboards for CAMBO and an adapter to mount SINAR lensboards to CAMBO.

I printed it in ABS, because it's strong and durable under UV from sunlight. I used a high fill density.

One has to print the part oversized, some 1.5% because thermal contraction when it cools, but I guess that a printing service would do it.

A 3D printed part can be quite strong, but there are a number of ways to make it weak, like using a wrong temperature of a low fill.

This is a (quite strong) lensboard I made for a LOMO 600 O-2, in ABS

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/670/22703108104_9f65934d85_b.jpg

[Dan Fromm]

OP, I understand the charm of DIY and the attractions of paying little. But it seems that 4x5 Intrepids use Technika style boards, also that Intrepid sells pre-drilled boards for UKP 20. I appreciate that you have lenses in non-standard shutters that won't fit Intrepid's own pre-drilled boards. And I have no idea how much a printing service will charge to print your designs.

If I were you I'd ask Intrepid how much they'll charge for boards drilled to accept your shutters. I'd also look, as you're doing, for printing services and get quotations from them. Intrepid might surprise you pleasantly.

[James-T]

If I were you I'd ask Intrepid how much they'll charge for boards drilled to accept your shutters.

I did inquire at the time that I ordered the camera, and they said that they were not able to do non-standard holes.

[Bob Salomon]

I did inquire at the time that I ordered the camera, and they said that they were not able to do non-standard holes.

Any machine shop can bore any size hole that you need.
Otherwise any hardware store sells Greenlee punches and you can do the job yourself.

Lensboards are bored or milled, never drilled. Drilling can cause warped boards.

[Pere Casals]

I did inquire at the time that I ordered the camera, and they said that they were not able to do non-standard holes.

Yes... I agree with bob, for 20 UKP standard lensboard you take the board with a too small hole and you make it larger... a 3D printing service may have a similar cost, a lot of additional mess.

If you don't have a 3D printer then that alternative may be better.

[Jim Jones]

The Linhoff style lens boards for my Anba Ikeda cut from the right thickness aluminum sheet on a table saw with a fine tooth blade have worked perfectly.

[Tin Can]

I have used holesaws many times to cut larger holes in mostly Sinar type boards.

I also have hand filed holes bigger.

Sometimes I stack lens boards. Small ones on larger and initially gaff tape to experiment.

Later screw them together.

Even the perfectionists here repair bellows with tape or glue.

I bought an early 3D lens board. It was too expensive for what it was.

Maybe they are better now. 😎

[Peter Collins]

Okay, I have made 4x4 boards for my Wisners. If your camera's front standard will take a board 2mm thick, there's another way--in wood. The tools you will need: I used a geometry compass, a Japanese dozuki saw, a 5/8-inch drill bit and drill, and a rat-tailed wood file. Here's how: Go to Michael's (the craft store or equivalent), buy a sheet Baltic plywood (comes in 2mm and 3mm thicknesses), and make the blank lensboard with fine-tooth saw or razor-blade-type knife. Using a knife, you will need to make a lot of passes, going deeper each time. Best to use a saw.

When you have made the board and checked its fit in the standard, locate the center of the board, mark it, and use the compass to scribe the circle of the hole you need. Then drill a hole wide enough to pass the rat-tailed file. File away the wood, approaching the scribed circle carefully. The hole may not be perfectly round when you are finished, but it will be very, very close. You will need to drill a small hole on the front side of the board to key the shutter's pin--something I never had to do.

Of course, I already had all the tools. Some years earlier I paid $22 for an American-made double-sided dozuki saw, one blade for ripping, the other for cross-cuts. And I use it every month; so precise, so cleanly cutting. So all I needed was the ply.

[williaty]

To address several of the points raised in this thread:

"Any machine shop can bore a board for you"
Yes, they *can* but my experience is that they *won't*. The few machine shops left in the US (at least here in the midwest) that have survived are running flat out busy. When you show up to get a lens board bored, you're asking them to interrupt a $15,000 job to make your $10 hole. The best quote I've gotten back so far (most were no-bid) has been "$120 shop minimum and only if we can run your job during a down time so completion could be any time in the next 6 months."

"Has anyone done this?"
Yes, I've printed boards for myself out of PLA and then annealed them to get the temperature resistance required for leaving lenses in the car or in direct sun. PLA is desirable because it's the strongest and stiffest commonly available filament but it has a low glass transition temperature. Annealing can significantly raise the glass transition temperature by taking the plastic from an amorphous state to a crystalline state. There's some dimensional changes during the annealing process (shrinks in Z, expands in X and Y) so you have to account for that in the sizing of your original model


"But lensboards are available!"
Yeah, if your camera takes Tech boards and your lens is a normal Copal sizing, absolutely buy a ready-made board! If you run into weird things like trying to mount a Buhl projection lens into a Pacemaker Speed Graphic, then 3D printing offers a lot of advantages.

[Bob Salomon]

To address several of the points raised in this thread:

"Any machine shop can bore a board for you"
Yes, they *can* but my experience is that they *won't*. The few machine shops left in the US (at least here in the midwest) that have survived are running flat out busy. When you show up to get a lens board bored, you're asking them to interrupt a $15,000 job to make your $10 hole. The best quote I've gotten back so far (most were no-bid) has been "$120 shop minimum and only if we can run your job during a down time so completion could be any time in the next 6 months."

"Has anyone done this?"
Yes, I've printed boards for myself out of PLA and then annealed them to get the temperature resistance required for leaving lenses in the car or in direct sun. PLA is desirable because it's the strongest and stiffest commonly available filament but it has a low glass transition temperature. Annealing can significantly raise the glass transition temperature by taking the plastic from an amorphous state to a crystalline state. There's some dimensional changes during the annealing process (shrinks in Z, expands in X and Y) so you have to account for that in the sizing of your original model


"But lensboards are available!"
Yeah, if your camera takes Tech boards and your lens is a normal Copal sizing, absolutely buy a ready-made board! If you run into weird things like trying to mount a Buhl projection lens into a Pacemaker Speed Graphic, then 3D printing offers a lot of advantages.

In my studio days, when I needed a fast board for the Norma I used double weight black mount boards and cut the required hole with an Xacto knife. They worked and held up very well! Also very fast and cheap!

[James-T]

At least for the time being, I've made boards from the backing of an otherwise useless photo frame.
-- Just cut the right size rectangle with a Stanley knife and a metal ruler,
-- marked out the holes with an old compass from school geometry (1970's)
-- cut out the holes with a Dremel type tool
-- drilled the locator pin hole for the 90mm with a regular drill
-- shaved the edges to thickness with the Stanley knife
-- painted them using a black sample applicator from the local hardware store.

They seem to be working fine.

[photonsoup]

I downloaded a file from Thingaverse and printed a lens board for a Crown Graphic and it worked out very well. I was taking an adult ed class and only had to pay less than $1 for material.