How not to drill a lens board

[Drew Wiley]

Sinar OEM boards are indeed quite resistant to drilling due to being seriously die-cast. No telling with generic Horseman-Sinar boards; but I don't fool with those because they often don't actually fit Sinars.

The problem with Garolite is that it is NOT in fact resistant to long-term humidity or temperature warping. It doesn't necessarily stay flat. And I have a LOT of experience machining and using it, in several varieties. And yes, it is damn tough and requires equally tough tooling. But if you think even reinforced Garolite phenolic is tough, anyone here besides me have experience with good ole Benelex of prior times? It was so damn dense heavy that we had to use a forklift to get the sheets atop the table saw - which was an industrial monster itself - 440V 3-phase with a 22 inch diameter blade. Any motor less would have instantly fried under that kind of resistance. Special carbide too, nearly a thousand bucks per blade even way back then. The Navy ordered a lot for extreme duty countertops, though Benelex was susceptible to certain solvents. Better dimensional flatness than Garolite. I have one precision film register punch mounted on it.

I had a good conversation a few days ago with a young feller just about to complete his phD in Materials Science and going forward to the employment phase. It's a very hot field at the moment, and probably will continue to be. We discussed the progress being made in certain sheet options, including carbon fiber.

[rdenney]

I admire your tenacity in doing it by hand, but there are actually shops that do this kind of work as a way to make a living. Any local machine shop with a 4-chuck lathe can knock out a perfect hole for you at a modest charge. Spending your photographic time in the darkroom or out in the field will be much more rewarding.

Depends on where you live.

I use a hole saw in a drill press, with a good press vice.

Rick “the right size hole saw is the tricky bit ” Denney

[Per Madsen]

Well obviously getting a beaver to chew a hole for you is less than ideal. Beats me though how you got it to chew through aluminum.

Russian beaver with steel tooth's

[Drew Bedo]

I have used a hardware store hole saw on a drill press. Then widened the hole to fit with a flap sander bit in the drill pre3ss.

Not factory perfict but not hack-saw shabby either.