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View Full Version : Large Filmholders Building Plans



Ricardo Wildberger Lisboa
2-Aug-2001, 14:47
Does anyone know about the availability of any plans for building very large for mat wood filmholders? Detailed plans?

Dave Willison
2-Aug-2001, 18:47
Richard:

I've looked at just about every DIY camera site on the net and I've never seen a plan for filmholders. (Even good camera plans seem to be in short supply, although they are out there!) My advice would be to buy an old wooden holder and take it apart. The design scheme is fairly straightforward and an older 4x5 holder will only cost about 5-10 dollars. From the 4x5 size you can extrapolate the design features to accommodate to larger film sizes (8x20, 11x14, 16x20, etc.), keeping in mind that the film plane-holder face dimension is different for different formats. You might also try contacting one of the smaller filmholder makers (e.g., Great Basin) to see if they would be willing to talk about different approaches to construction. My sense is that most companies (particularly larger firms) are not going to share proprietary information, but you never know!

I've tried to make filmholders before and I've never had a great deal of luck. The main problem has always been milling the small grooves required to hold the film and darkslide in place. If you have a milling machine you may have better luck. It is also a challenge to find materials, although a number of companies sell phenolic resin plasic for darkslides.

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