Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

[LFLarry]

Hi, I have been making some prototype lens caps for my variety of different vintage LF lenses over the last month.

I have been using black art board and construction paper to make my prototypes so I can get a feel for what I like and what might work when I start making the permanent lens caps. I mainly make them to act as a shutter.

I am ready to move to the next step and I have purchased some balsa wood to create the circular end cap and the skirt which acts to keep the cap on the lens. I am petty confident this approach will work based on my art board prototypes, but I am thinking about how to possibly cover the cap with something like a soft leather maybe? I have no idea how to even approach that...

I was wondering how many other large format photographers have already gone down this path?

If you have and want to share some of your ideas/lessons learned, please let me know.

Thanks!!

[Roger Thoms]

This link might help. http://www.lungov.com/wagner/DIYLensCap.html

Roger

[andrewch59]

This link might help. http://www.lungov.com/wagner/DIYLensCap.html

Roger

This is the formula I use, I have made a dozen or so this way, works a treat! Nice thin soft leather helps immensely!

[Roger Thoms]

This is the formula I use, I have made a dozen or so this way, works a treat! Nice thin soft leather helps immensely!

Good to hear, I have a couple of lens that need caps. I had gotten as far as finding the leather. Should be a good rainy day project. Also changed companies and my job is a lot less stressful and less overtime so there is hope.

Roger

[Two23]

This is the formula I use, I have made a dozen or so this way, works a treat! Nice thin soft leather helps immensely!

Looks nice but dang that's a lot of time making one. I just use a black t-shirt. Doubles as my dark cloth and lens cleaner.


Kent in SD

[John Kasaian]

This link might help. http://www.lungov.com/wagner/DIYLensCap.html

Roger

I followed those instructions and made a very good lens cap for my B+L Magic Lantern Petzval.
I had to work around not having a drill press, but craft stores have plenty of wood circles in stock and in diameters close enough to work.
They look pretty cool when completed.

Tandy sells soft leather scraps in their stores and I've found some usable pieces---you'll want a scrap of garment leather, which is the thinnest and easiest to stretch into shape over a wood form

[Jim Noel]

I followed those instructions and made a very good lens cap for my B+L Magic Lantern Petzval.
I had to work around not having a drill press, but craft stores have plenty of wood circles in stock and in diameters close enough to work.
They look pretty cool when completed.

Tandy sells soft leather scraps in their stores and I've found some usable pieces---you'll want a scrap of garment leather, which is the thinnest and easiest to stretch into shape over a wood form

No drill press needed. Dremel now makes a circle cutter which works for plastic, wood, metal and other materials. If you have a Dremel,the setup will cost you less than$20 including cutters for ferrous and non-ferrous materials. I have no investment or interest in the company.

[LFLarry]

WOW!! That is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the link.

This link might help. http://www.lungov.com/wagner/DIYLensCap.html

Roger

[Roger Thoms]

This link might help. http://www.lungov.com/wagner/DIYLensCap.html

Roger

Ok, finally started my first cap. I followed Wagner Lungov's instructions in the above link pretty closely. I think my leather is a little on the thick side as it was a little hard to form it over the card board cap but it should work. Just waiting for it to dry thoroughly before I finish it. I did order some thinner leather from a seller on eBay for my next cap. Lots of choices, I ended up ordering 1 oz (.5mm) from an Italian seller. They had a photo with a thickness gauge which was nice.

I used PVA glue for everything so far, with the exception of priming the cardboard. For priming I used spray shellac which soaked into the cardboard nicely and made it really easy to sand for the final cleanup before applying the leather. I tested the bond with some scrap leather and the PVA glue sticks well to shellac and that was without sanding.

I will use contact adhesive for the velvet liner inside the cap because I’m afraid of the PVA soaking through the velvet.

Roger

[LabRat]

I make caps out of black mat board also, and they work fine!!! If you don't have one already, get a compass circle cutter from a good art store to cut the front circle, and for the skirt, put water in a spray bottle to make the strip slightly damp to form the rounded edge, or steam over a boiling tea pot spout...

If you ever took apart a 35mm lens case, you will find a cardboard tube inside with a covering on the inside and outside... They might look like leather, but often not, but is a textured PAPER covering!!! So if you go to a good art store again, some have a large selection of speciality papers, and some look just like fancy leather, so they are easy to work with... Bookbinding or library suppliers have a form of thin leather also...

I leave the insides blank, but some thin felt or velvet can be applied too...