PDA

View Full Version : Anybody 5x7 Seneca New Improved Users Here???



James Driscoll
18-Sep-2003, 10:45
For all you Seneca 5x7 NIV guys and gals......do you know of a source for lensboards??? Or have any spare ones you could let go of???

Need one pretty badly, looking for copal #1 or #0 if possible. Or one with a big hole, so I can make an adapter out of it.

I have had the damn thing sitting on a shelf in the equipment room for months, and I want to use this puppy!!!

Thanks James

Ernest Purdum
18-Sep-2003, 11:09
I'm afraid your only source is likely to be a woodworker. He (or she) would probably appreciate your furnishing cardboard templates of the outer and inner sections, and also furnishing the thin wood required. www.micromark.com is one source for the wood or a local hobby shop might carry it.

Chad Jarvis
18-Sep-2003, 11:22
I have an 11x14 Seneca Improved, and I've resorted to making my own. Sucks, because my woodworking skills are about as good as my photography.

Mark Sampson
18-Sep-2003, 13:47
Try www.stephenshuart.com.

Terence McDonagh
18-Sep-2003, 13:49
If you don't care about aesthetics, and are thrifty (read cheap) like me, go buy one of the old-style clipboards which are made of tempered hard-board (the brown ones). Cut it to size with a handsaw. Make two intersecting lines from corner to corner. This will locate the center of the board. Set the lens, minus retaining ring, on the board centering it by either marking the radius on one of the lines, or by eye-balling it. Trace the line of threads all the way around. Take a hand-drill or Dremel tool and drill a series of overlapping holes just inside the circle you traced. Clean up the edges with 40 grit (or rougher) sand paper, sanding down until you hit the line. Insert lens, and attached retaining ring. Build up the back of the board with black mat board squares, with a hole for the lens, as necessary to fit, and then add two smaller ones that fit inside the flange of the lens board opening to act as a light baffle around the edge of the board. Elmer's glue works fine, but I prefer something stronger. An alternative would be to use 1/4" hardwood-faced plywood instead of the hard-board, but at $1.09 at CVS Drugstore, I haven't found a cheaper alternative yet. I tried just mat board, but it was too flimsy and the edges curled with handling. Total time to make one is about 45 minutes at a cost of about $4 for materials.

David A. Goldfarb
18-Sep-2003, 13:56
Lensboards aren't rocket science. I've made functional and attractive ones out of modeling plywood. In New York you can find it at places like Pearl Paint.

ronald lamarsh
18-Sep-2003, 18:01
I've had great sucess making my own from sheet abs(black) and the approriate size holesaw. I've also made them for my linhof out of countertop material: just cut 2 pieces to size then glue them together back to back when the glue is dry drill your hole. Gluing them back to back makes them stiff as metal and flat, I then paint them black. make sure you glue them in a vise. I've also use 1/4" thick popular sold as "hobby wood" at my local lumber store for my Burke&James 5x7 cut to size then used a hole saw. I made a single bd this way with and extra big hole, fitted it with a packard shutter then made individual adapter boards out of countertop material, then mounted my barrel lenses to them so i can do a quick change in the field. Its amazing what you can do with a few simple tools and supplies of course it takes a good hardware store. Good luck

Steve Gangi
20-Sep-2003, 10:12
For my 8x10 Improved, I just make my own. Any material that keeps the light out and supports the lens will work. That includes wood, black heavy plastic, aluminum etc. I use wood and cut mine slightly on the large side, and then file them down or use a Dremel tool. You can always take more material off, you can't put it back. For the hole, you can use the sort of hole cutter that attaches to a hand drill, or you again can use a Dremel. For me, getting the size is easy - the problem seems to be getting the thing perfectly square. That's why I start by cutting a little bigger than I *think* the final size should be.