3D Printed Lens Boards Anyone? [Archive] - Large Format Photography Forum

Beevo

30-Nov-2023, 21:13

I just acquired a Nagaoka 4X5 which came with no lens boards. Having a machine shop in my garage (and no room for cars) I whipped one up out of some 2024 aluminum sheet that I had sitting around.

At work I was showing a coworker the lens and board and his comment was "isn't the aluminum heavier than the wood ones?" He knew I was working on a wooden lens board.

THAT, got me to thinking. I fired up Fusion 360 and pounded out a lens board for the 90mm and printed it this afternoon. Looks and fits fine. It is printed in matt black PETG which is pretty durable stuff.

Bill V
Tempe AZ

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Graham Patterson

30-Nov-2023, 21:42

You have to be careful of two things with 3D printed boards - the flexibility and the density of the plastic. Density should be OK with black layers of 0.6mm+ top/sides/base of the print. Flexibility can be a problem with heavier glass and thinner boards. Adding some careful thickening on the back of the board can help. I prefer metal for the Linhof/Wista type. I have used wood happily, and 3D printed the odd one. I have mostly 3D printed lens board adapters. I find that some flat black paint is a good idea for interior surfaces of 3D printed items as and the plastic an be quite reflective if any stray light does get in.

Pick what you have and can work easily. Yours looks nice.

Beevo

1-Dec-2023, 07:34

The raised part on the back is almost 0.250" thick and extends out as far as the opening in the camera will allow. Flange is as thick as the camera allows at 0.965. Four top and bottom layers and 75% infill.

Material is PETG, which is an easier to work with, less smelly, substitute for ABS. This will be plenty strong, I have been making a lot of parts from this material and have no qualms about its use in this application.

While the "flat black" filament I am using would best be described as satin black it will still get painted. This material is quite strong and I have used it to print 110 film carriers for my Plustek film scanner.

Bill V
Tempe AZ

paulbarden

1-Dec-2023, 07:48

I have about twenty 3D printed lens boards, all but two were designed and made here at home. I use ABS. They work beautifully (let’s face it, they’re not complicated) and cost very little. No, they’re not pretty, but that’s irrelevant. My first ones, I glued wood veneer to the fronts and stained them to match the Deardorff but I don’t bother doing that these days when I need a new one.

Graham Patterson

1-Dec-2023, 11:15

Beevo

1-Dec-2023, 11:34

I have to admit that I painted my Graflok-compatible back for my Wista to match the colour of the wood rather than leave it original black. It will probably wear off, but I felt I had to make the effort. I have some 3D printed cameras and I'm happy to leave them as raw plastic. Odd, but I'm the one who has to use it!

With the rainbow of Krylon spray paints I bet I could find a can that closely matches the older cherry wood of this camera if I was so inclined.

Bill V
Tempe, AZ

jga

7-Dec-2023, 14:39

I have a M.P.P. VIII camera, and every single board I have was printed (by me) in PLA. The boards are quite thick (5,5mm, or 7/32" in medieval units), but they are lightweight and strong. I've mounted reasonably heavy lenses, including a Planar 135mm 3.5, a Xenar 210mm 3.5 and a Steinheil Orthostigmat 32cm 6.8.
Probably PET-G is even better, but I never had an issue with PLA, and I've been using them for the last 9 years.

Beevo

7-Dec-2023, 15:32

grey-lensman

7-Dec-2023, 21:25

I recently finished a board for a 15" Tele Optar to go on my Pacemaker Speed Graphic. Due to the weight of the lens, I added material to stiffen the board and maximized the dimensions that would fit on the front standard. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. It's straight PLA, so I'd be careful about using it in high summer.
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jga

8-Dec-2023, 06:10

I switched away from PLA due to pieces being exposed to our desert heat and warping. I work strictly in PETG.

The material I used is Matt Black but actually comes out satin. Looks very nice. Only breakage I can imagine is knocking a corner off where it is thin in order to fit the camera.

244583

Oh, I never thought about that. I lived in Germany and now I'm in Chile (central part), so that was never a concern. I will anyway pay attention to the heat from now on.

Tin Can

8-Dec-2023, 06:27

How much was the printer?

I buy hobby wood and glue

I have about twenty 3D printed lens boards, all but two were designed and made here at home. I use ABS. They work beautifully (let’s face it, they’re not complicated) and cost very little. No, they’re not pretty, but that’s irrelevant. My first ones, I glued wood veneer to the fronts and stained them to match the Deardorff but I don’t bother doing that these days when I need a new one.

malexand

8-Dec-2023, 07:40

How much was the printer?

I buy hobby wood and glue

I have an Ender 3 v2 that I got for less than $200 about 9 months ago. I had no 3d experience before then.
In that short time, I've learned simple CAD (TinkerCAD) and with that have designed and printed...
Many lens boards
+12 5x7 double-sided plate holders
several unusual size Step-ring filter adapters - (press-fit / slip-on)
new plate holders for my enlargers
Many parts / adapters for Dry Plate making and processing
A sensitometer device
I have a 5x7 camera spring-back printing as I type this...

It has more than paid for itself in a very short time

Graham Patterson

8-Dec-2023, 11:11

I have been using SUNLU's PLA+ filament a lot lately. It is a little stronger than regular PLA and has a higher glass temperature. PETG tends to be finicky for me - I just don't have it dialed in fully, I expect. I still use ABS variants when I need to do acetone vapour smoothing.

My printer was my retirement present to myself - it came out of my sick leave back-payment, so I sort of earned it 8-) Now I just have to cover materials, some maintenance, and electricity costs. Within the limitations of an FDM device it is a fairly compact way to make smallish parts. But I'll use wood or metal if it is better suited and my limited tools are adequate.

I tend to use OpenSCAD a lot, but then I am more of a programmer than engineer by background.

jga

8-Dec-2023, 15:29

I also use openSCAD, I have designed and printed several parts, including a replacement part of my grafmatic, a cover part of my M.P.P., since I removed the rangefinder, the gears of my omega enlarger, the holders, etc.
I think it is important that, as any other tool, it is good for some things, and not so good for others.

Beevo

28-Feb-2024, 17:48

Well, I found some PETG filament that is a reasonably close match to the wood of the camera.

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Beevo

6-Mar-2024, 14:41

You would really have to leave it in a hot car or our in the hot direct sun, neither of which any of us is likely to subject their gear to.

I actually found some brown filament that nearly duplicates the wood on my Nagoaka 4x5

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xandr

9-Apr-2024, 00:15

I made some lens boards for Horseman 970.
You can download them from thinkinverse here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6166858

ic-racer

9-Apr-2024, 05:57

I think just the software cost more than ten lensboards. Assuming one send the file away for printing.
Maybe I'm mistaken. Which software is needed to make these?

Daniel Unkefer

9-Apr-2024, 06:57

I have bought about 15 or so (for my Plaubel Peco Jr) from the Guy in Italy $10 each. Like 'em a lot

Beevo

9-Apr-2024, 08:15

I think just the software cost more than ten lensboards. Assuming one send the file away for printing.
Maybe I'm mistaken. Which software is needed to make these?

I use Simplify 3D to slice and create the GCode files. Design for the lens boards was done with TurboCad

theAngryMarmot

9-Apr-2024, 08:35

I think just the software cost more than ten lensboards. Assuming one send the file away for printing.
Maybe I'm mistaken. Which software is needed to make these?

There are plenty of free options. For more simple stuff I use TinkerCAD - which is a free web based 3d modeling software. It can export directly as an STL so you can print it. I designed my ground glass cover and shorter monorail for storage with TinkerCAD. Fusion360 which is way more feature rich is also free for "Makers."

TinkerCAD is a great way to get started in 3D modeling as it is very easy to use, limited in function, and has a large amount of online tutorials. I went from TinkerCAD to Fusion360.

Jason Greenberg Motamedi

9-Apr-2024, 08:40

I think just the software cost more than ten lensboards. Assuming one send the file away for printing.
Maybe I'm mistaken. Which software is needed to make these?

Fusion 360 has a non-commercial liscence which is free.
https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal

Graham Patterson

9-Apr-2024, 08:59

Software at this level is probably without cost. Design can be done with FreeCAD or LibreCAD (open source) for traditional Computer Aided Design methods. OpenSCAD is a programmatic tool, and is also open source. These tools generate the mesh describing the surface of the object, usually in STL or 3MF files.

The printers can usually use Ultimaker's Cura, or Prusa's Slic3r slicer software to convert the solid model into the gcode used to print each layer. The gcode is usually read by the firmware in the printer to generate the movement of the extruder, and how much filament to extrude and at what temperature. Printers usually come with slicer software based on Ultimaker or Prusa's open source offerings.

If you stick to designs someone else has made (Thingiverse.com is a good place to look), you may not need or have to learn the design software.

TurboCAD and AutoCAD's Fusion 360 will cost.

Personally I find it a little easier to start with an empty volume and add material to get the object I want, rather than start with a block of stock and cut away everything that does not look like the object.

lassethomas

9-Apr-2024, 12:59

TurboCAD and AutoCAD's Fusion 360 will cost.

Well it depends. You can get Fusion 360 free as an uncommercial private license with very few limitations. And those are more on on how large and complex projects you can build. And then we are talking large scale professional projects with many subcomponents and contributors.
For the likes of us, there are no practical limitations.
I find Fusion 360 an incredible value, being the industry standard there are loads of both official and unofficial learning sources.
Give it a concentrated half day of tutorials and a few lessons and you're up to do simple models like lens boards and the like. And then you can build from there.
That's what I did.

xandr

10-Apr-2024, 00:54

I started with an Ender 3, now I work with a JGAurora A5. I am planning to buy Anycubic Cobra Max.
I work with Blender. I have also tried various CAD programs, but Blender is the most intuitive for me. It's also free and there are some tutorials on the internet.
The procedure is simple. The basic principle: I create a cube and define the dimensions for the plate. Then I create a cylinder with the diameter of the opening, place it where I want it and remove it from the plate.
In principle, more complex machining operations such as a thread or frame, bridges and recesses work in the same way: You create them with the correct dimensions and then add or subtract.
Cost: If you know you want to get more involved with 3D printing, it will become cheaper over time. If you only want to print something from time to time, it makes more sense to have the 3D prints made externally.
After two years of training, I can now tackle more complex constructions relatively quickly. For example, I built myself a 6x12 camera. Front plates and lens covers are no longer a challenge, they can be built quickly.
One thing is certain: I really enjoy 3D printing now, it's almost addictive.