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View Full Version : Help-Is there a clever way to attach wood lens board to Speed Graphic?



Rider
14-Jul-2007, 13:42
I feel like I'm involved in a kid's treasure hunt!

First, I stumbled on a Wollensak Verito in barrel, but luckily it came with a flange and was already mounted on 3.5" wood board. (The flange requires a 68mm hole in the board.)

I don't want to spend the money on mounting in a proper shutter (Ole told me it would have to be Ilex #5, I think), and the right Packard shutter would be way too big for my field camera.

Solution? I got a Speed Graphic with working focal plane shutter. It has enough bellows extension to focus it at a comfortable distance for portraits.

Only problem is, the Speed Graphic takes those little metal boards, and getting one drilled to the right opening size, and then figuring out how to attach a flange is project I'd rather leave for another day.

Option 2 is to try to attach that 3.5" board to the Speed Graphic. The board is a little smaller than the Speed Graphic's so there is a little wiggle; however, what's worse is that too thick to allow the metal locks to operate, so the board doesn't stay in place.

Any ideas on how to make the wooden board stay in place?

Ole Tjugen
14-Jul-2007, 13:57
My method is using a fretsaw, a knife and a file to make a hole the size I want in a board that fits. I won't recommend using a knife on anything harder than aluminium though, and I won't recommend it at all if you're not used to using very sharp knives as precision tools.

Drilling holes for flange mounting I do with an antique crank-operated drill. That gives me the time to see that everything is going right - I don't have a drill press, so I won't use the electric drill for precision work.

On thicker boards I tap the holes; otherwise I try to find a way to put a nut on the back side. Sometimes this doesn't work without making a recess for the nut, as on those old sliding-board plate cameras.

In short: I'd go for option #1, since I have no idea how to do #2. :)

Kirk Fry
14-Jul-2007, 14:58
Tap Plastics sells ABS plastic in sheets of various thickness. They will cut them for you. You can even get them to use a hole saw and get close to the right size hole.

I have not tried it yet for my crown yet, but given that real boards are going at $40 I will soon.

Kirk

Donald Qualls
14-Jul-2007, 17:35
The problem with a Pacemaker Speed or Crown is that the board needs to be very thin around the edge -- either 1 mm or 1/32", likely the latter -- even if you dispense with the turned-down edge that mates with the groove in the standard and does most of the light trapping.

I've made a Pacemaker style board (once) from brass sheet, with the edges bent, corners relieved and the tab bent around to match the radius, and then soldered for light tightness, and I'm told it worked (I didn't even have a camera to test on) with a little filing of high spots. I don't think I'd want to try it again. It's tempting to suggest making a punch and die and actually pressing boards from dead-soft aluminum sheet, but you'd need a hydraulic press to develop enough pressure and the result would probably be a lot rougher than an original (though also a lot cheaper, by the time you'd made a few dozen -- you could probably sell 'em). Still, if you're handy with tools, including a welder (to make the frame for your press), it's worth consideration, if only because once the press is built and the punch and die made up, you can make a new board any time in a few minutes, or turn out a couple hundred in a day...

For making a onesie, if I were doing it again and had the camera to match against, I'd probably get some 1/64" ply from an airplane model shop and laminate two layers to make the lip that fits the groove, then glue on a 1/16" ply flat board (which wouldn't need the little "bumps" that the slide lock bears against on the originals). The result would be a little fragile, but a lot easier to make than a metal board that really fits...

Paul Fitzgerald
14-Jul-2007, 18:02
Rider,

Before you start, does the Verito fit thru the light-trap of a SpeedGraphic? The easiest way to get SpeedGraphic boards is cut them out of .064" aluminum sheet and glue black 1/4" foam core on the back as a light-trap, .032" is too thin. Your local hardware store or hobby shop might have a display rack for hobby metals from K&S that has 4x10" sheets. Scissors, compass, jeweler's saw, file and sandpaper. Trying to fit a wooden board would be mission impossible.

John Kasaian
14-Jul-2007, 18:49
Rider,

Before you start, does the Verito fit thru the light-trap of a SpeedGraphic? The easiest way to get SpeedGraphic boards is cut them out of .064" aluminum sheet and glue black 1/4" foam core on the back as a light-trap, .032" is too thin. Your local hardware store or hobby shop might have a display rack for hobby metals from K&S that has 4x10" sheets. Scissors, compass, jeweler's saw, file and sandpaper. Trying to fit a wooden board would be mission impossible.

Yeah, make sure the verito will clear the light trap. If it will, why not add a metal edges to the perimeter of the wooden lensboard to fill in the gap and fit your speeder? You could, for example, super glue strips of brass or aluminium of the appropriate thickness (.064" acording to Paul Fitzgerald) to edges of the wooden board.

Rider
22-Jul-2007, 13:47
Have you tried it? Does the crown use the same boards as the Pacemaker Speed?


Tap Plastics sells ABS plastic in sheets of various thickness. They will cut them for you. You can even get them to use a hole saw and get close to the right size hole.

I have not tried it yet for my crown yet, but given that real boards are going at $40 I will soon.

Kirk

JasonC
23-Jul-2007, 07:10
Crown Graphics use same lens boards as Pacemaker Speeds.

Jason.