Recommendation: Quality, cheap hardwood lens boards

[awldune]

I just got 3 boards made for my Anny Speed Graphic for $7 each and $3 shipping! They are a nice stained hardwood and drilled to match my lenses.

Ebay user mcmch made them. He (she?) usually has auctions posted for Wisner boards, but if you write him he can make whatever you need.

I won't post his email here but you can "Send a question to seller" for one of his auctions to make contact.

[BarryS]

Maybe you're legit, but it's odd to see a new user with no other posts shilling for an eBay merchant. I and some others have had bad experiences with the same seller. He took my money and delivered nothing. Then he threatened me when I tried to get him to deliver a product or a refund. He's changed his ebay name, which is often a good indicator of someone trying to hide past shady dealings. Sometimes he delivers as advertised, sometimes with shoddy crap, sometimes with nothing. As they say--caveat emptor.

[Bob Salomon]

I just got 3 boards made for my Anny Speed Graphic for $7 each and $3 shipping! They are a nice stained hardwood and drilled to match my lenses.

Ebay user mcmch made them. He (she?) usually has auctions posted for Wisner boards, but if you write him he can make whatever you need.

I won't post his email here but you can "Send a question to seller" for one of his auctions to make contact.

Cheap and quality do not go together.

Inexpensive? Perhaps.
A good buy? Maybe.
Low cost? Possibly.
But Cheap is never quailty!

And a properly made lens board is never "drilled" It is milled or bored. Drilling produces heat and pressure which can make the board warp a bit.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Perhaps your standards are a bit lower than mine, but the boards I saw which "mcmch" made were junk; you truly do get what you pay for...

[Steve Hamley]

awldune has 14 posts since the 13th of November. Click on his/her name and then "find more posts..." Haven't the slightest why they don't show up in the count. I agree that "quality", "hardwood", and "cheap" don't go together except possibly when someone's trying to get in the market, but I do appreciate the heads up on things people consider a good deal.

Cheers, Steve

[Vaughn]

It appears that posts in the "For Sale" area do not count.

[Donald Miller]

This jerk took my money, failed to deliver and then responded with antagonistic profanity when I had the "nerve" to question when he was going to get around to shipping my boards which by the way he never did.

He/she is a first class dyed in the wool thief. I welcome a response on this.

Donald Miller

[awldune]

I have only posted in the For Sale forum previously, yeah.

Maybe the seller is flaky. I have only had one transaction with him but he was a pleasure to deal with and delivered my boards in a timely fashion.

The boards are not perfect but they are a big step up from homemade ones I made out of clipboard material. I feel that they are a good price for a custom handmade item.

[awldune]

As for "Quality," I probably should have said "Decent." But if you can afford "Quality" then you are probably getting factory boards or SK Grimes ones.

[Terence McDonagh]

I made the mistake of getting several boards from him in my first order. I would have been better off starting from scratch compared to how much time I spent re-working them. Though the transaction itself went smoothly enough.

The material itself was actually pretty good, but the tolerances were not. For three boards for the same camera (A Deardorff), none of the dimensions were consistent between the three. If he improved the precision, it could be a pretty decent product.

[Songyun]

I remember MPEX used to have a few graphic boards, Quality and not expensive. Come on how many lens do you have, as most of us won't have many lens hanging around, just get a good board.

[sun of sand]

sounds like quite a few "quality conscious" people here tried these same boards out

perhaps quality cheap and wood dont belong together
but do cheap wood critical and lemon?

Im thinking the truly critical would know better than to just accept whatever scant info on construction is provided in an ebay listing as proof of professionalism

Deardorff? Precision? $10 board
to me
THAT
is what seems odd

Cant be pissed at the unlicensed contractor whose work/business ethic isn't up to professional standards
only yourself for believing that you'll receive more than you should expect

"...properly made lens board is never.."
?
Dude let you know what he considers to be quality
If you think otherwise
I guess you don't buy from the seller

I dunno ..maybe you're the lens board advertising quality control personal standards semantics police
Sounds like a hefty $125 fine coming down

"Inexpensive? Perhaps.
A good buy? Maybe.
Low cost? Possibly.
But Cheap is never quailty! "

That deserves to be fined as well IMO and so I wonder just who it was that appointed you

I'm thinking cheap, quality and RETAIL might not go together but I'm pretty sure the first of anything were homemade and being homemade were cheap
you could say that if there are no retail offerings to compare against there is no cheap but if there are and you are still building your own you very much do have cheap ..and quality

Don't believe that, either

a rock is free
talk is cheap
If talk can be cheap than so too is a rock
If a rock is cheap than a wheel made out of one is cheap
The second wheel made and sold for a chicken is expensive in comparison eventhough its a replica
a wheel when no others exist is quality

"cheap" leaves too much wiggle room
cheap is whatever you make it
about the same with "quality"

[Jack Dahlgren]

Bob,

Can you explain the difference between boring and drilling and milling? As far as I can tell they all involve a rotary bit placed in contact with the work and fed at some rate.

In fact, I'd consider them synonyms.

Building lens boards is not difficult. Running a business and getting people what they paid for in a timely manner appears to be a challenge though.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

All three processes are quite different. We all know drilling. Drill 'bits'. It doesn't really work that well above 1" dia. Boring operations use a rotating single cutting edge on an adjustable boring head, and requires very rigid workholding and machinery. Milling is very different, and uses endmills to cut material, much in the fashion of a router bit for wood cutting. Also requires rigid fixturing and machinery. Drilling is the least accurate and leaves the worse finish. It is also the term used by non-mechanical types to describe all three processes, but that is incorrect.

If you go to someone to create a hole for your lens in your board, and they use the word 'drill' or 'drilling', leave the room immediately, and find a real machine shop.

[Bob Salomon]

Bob,

Can you explain the difference between boring and drilling and milling? As far as I can tell they all involve a rotary bit placed in contact with the work and fed at some rate.

In fact, I'd consider them synonyms.

Building lens boards is not difficult. Running a business and getting people what they paid for in a timely manner appears to be a challenge though.

Jeffry's answer should answer your question.

[BrianShaw]

I've bought from this guy before (under his prior ebay username) and never had a major problem or concern. The board I received wasn't quite as finely finished as a factory original and required a bit of fitting... but was completely functional and, in my opinion, commensurate with the price.

[BrianShaw]

Jeffry's answer should answer your question.

I'd agree that it does, but "drilled" or "bored" are common lexicon for making the hole the right size for lens mounting. Many people don't mean it to imply a specific method of making the hole, so if anyone is concerned they might want to ask 'how' the board will be "drilled".

[Frank_E]

wow I'm surprised at the reaction to this seller...

will add my experiences to the list (which were mixed but more on the satisfied side)

purchased an adaptor board from him (made out of wood) which enables you to mount Linhof boards onto a Cambo camera ie "Linhof to Cambo adaptor board". The "buy it now price" was $26.50 but I was lucky enough to get it for the starting price of $19.50.

The quality was adequate, considering the low price. You needed to "touch up" the corners with a file in order to have it seat properly in the camera, but for me that was no big deal, so I was reasonably satisfied. It was a smooth transaction.

[Bob Salomon]

"The quality was adequate, considering the low price. You needed to "touch up" the corners with a file in order to have it seat properly in the camera"

Seating is one thing. But a properly "seated" board or adapter board may not be properly aligned to the back when everything is in the "0" position.

Have you checked that?

[Bernard Kaye]

I serviced LF & MF pros in retail. Bob Salomon asks the important question: is lensboard thickness uniform/same from corner to corner to corner to corner and everywhere? If not, do not look for uniform sharpness and focus. As Linhof's long ago traveling missionary used to tell us, 30-40 or so years ago, Linhofs are parallel, lensboard front standard to film plane.
Happy New Year
Bernie Kaye, Frisco, TX