3-D printing a Lens Cap help

[DHodson]

I find I use my 3D printer a lot for photography related items. It all started with Jason Lane's glass plates. I couldn't find any plate holders for them so I designed my own and printed off a bunch for less than $3.00 each. I use the dark slides from regular 4x5 film holders. I also have some early 20th century lenses that have odd diameters - good luck ordering a cap for them. Another thing was custom sized lens boxes for each of them.

Anyway, it's worked great for me and more than paid for the printer. There's a learning curve and be prepared for some frustration and a bit of work though. I use "Tinkercad" for design and Cura for slicing. Both are free and fairly intuitive with active helpful online support groups on Facebook and Google. Tinkercad works using basic shapes and is fairly rudimentary. It does what I need though and worked great for my lens caps but there are other more powerful ones if you need more (Fusion 360 etc).

I should mention that our local library will print out designs fairly cheaply. My problem with that was the turnaround time was fairly long at 4 weeks.

Good luck
Dave

[Bob Salomon]

How odd diameter to your old lenses have? It is pretty hard not to find a cap that fits. Check this list:

http://www.kaiser-fototechnik.de/en/...ge.asp?nr=6900

[DHodson]

Good source Bob, thanks. I was having some issues with the ones I'd been ordering elsewhere so this would have helped. Looks like they have a Canadian reseller as well and from their site it looks like around $30 Canadian shipped. Not that I'd buy a printer just for lens caps but the last one I printed used 25 cents worth of material.

[Bob Salomon]

Good source Bob, thanks. I was having some issues with the ones I'd been ordering elsewhere so this would have helped. Looks like they have a Canadian reseller as well and from their site it looks like around $30 Canadian shipped. Not that I'd buy a printer just for lens caps but the last one I printed used 25 cents worth of material.

No it didn’t! It also used energy costs, time to make, time to finish and time to R&D, cost of software, depreciation, insurance, etc..

As a hobbiest you may considerate your cost of material only. But that certainly isn’t the complete cost!

[blue4130]

No it didn’t! It also used energy costs, time to make, time to finish and time to R&D, cost of software, depreciation, insurance, etc..

As a hobbiest you may considerate your cost of material only. But that certainly isn’t the complete cost!

You seemed to miss the key word "material". And come on, for a push on cap, there isn't much R&D needed, the design can be completed in less than 5 minutes, the software is free for non-commercial use, No finishing is needed, energy cost for running a printer for 2 hours is minuscule, depreciation for running a 2 hour print is not high, insurance???

To me it just sounds like you are being combative for the sake of it. Or you just hate 3d printers. Not very constructive for a senior forum member.

[Bob Salomon]

You seemed to miss the key word "material". And come on, for a push on cap, there isn't much R&D needed, the design can be completed in less than 5 minutes, the software is free for non-commercial use, No finishing is needed, energy cost for running a printer for 2 hours is minuscule, depreciation for running a 2 hour print is not high, insurance???

To me it just sounds like you are being combative for the sake of it. Or you just hate 3d printers. Not very constructive for a senior forum member.

It’s reinventing the wheel. These caps exist. They are available in a huge range of sizes, they are used by German lens manufacturers, they last forever.

The photo industry is a shrinking industry, each week there are fewer dealers, fewer manufacturers, etc.. why not support the few that are still around when you need basics like a lens cap?

And depreciation is on the cost of the printer.

I have nothing against 3D printing. My grandsons do 3D printing. One of the companies that used to represent did computer printing back in the 80s to make parts for Gossen and Rollei.

But in this case, it’s just a lens cap!

[el french]

Why does a simple lens cap cost $30? Other than the mold cost which was probably recovered thirty or forty years ago, there isn't much to justify the cost.

[Bill Kumpf]

Forgot about Spammer. Thanks

[BBW]

Thought about the 3D printing a cap a couple years ago (needed a 140mm cap) but always worried about the material it would be made of and the off gassing that could occur. Opinions?

[Bob Salomon]

Why does a simple lens cap cost $30? Other than the mold cost which was probably recovered thirty or forty years ago, there isn't much to justify the cost.

Why don’t you ask the manufacturer? And what size cap? And are you looking at list price or retail price?