Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

[sharktooth]

I was thinking of making a lens board for my Technika out of wood (cause I'm cheap). Has anyone done this, and if so, what type of wood did you use?

Thought I would ask this before taking a gander at what Home Depot has that might work. Looking for ideas.

[Mick Fagan]

Yes, I've built a few using 3mm plywood.

Once you sort out the circular cutting drill sizing you need, the only other tools you really need are some sandpaper, a good thick steel rule and a very sharp cutting knife.

Using the very sharp cutting knife, you draw a tiny cut first, followed by another tiny cut in the same slit and keep doing this until you are through.

Some sanding in various parts to fit inside correctly, and you're home and hosed.

You can paint the inside with black paint, or use a felt tipped pen; both work.

[sharktooth]

Thanks for the tips. I was planning to start with a slightly smaller hole and then finishing it off with a dremel tool.

Do you need to bevel the edges where the board seats in the bottom retainers?

[Mick Fagan]

Do you need to bevel the edges where the board seats in the bottom retainers?

The answer is, yes.

If you look carefully at the bottom right of my picture, you can just see the start of where I used sandpaper to make a bevelled edge along the bottom.

For what it's worth, I sealed the front with some leftover external timber sealer, which is why the timber is dark(ish) looking, while the back was finished with some leftover blackboard paint, which is matt black.

It was a temporary job to get this 210mm lens on a camera, and around 15 years or so later, it's still working very well. I have two other lenses with timber mounting boards, not as old as this one, but at least 10 years.

If you start with a correctly sized piece of plywood, find the centre, then allow for the offset, and place a punch or similar point at the hole centre, use a compass to mark the circle and from there use whatever method works to get the circular hole you need.

As plywood certainly is fast to remove, I use the closest circular cutting drill I have to the required hole, then use a half moon steel file designed for metal filing to work my way to the compass etching. You certainly are better off if you have quite a tight hole, as the rear clamping ring on most lenses is quite small.

After some time, check the clamping ring as timber compresses a bit. On all of mine there was some slight compression and a few days later I tightened the clamping ring slightly more and I think within reason, nothing will be going anywhere.

[nolindan]

I have built lensboards by laminating the cardboard found on the back of a pad of paper or from a cereal box. I cut the hole for the lens in each of the laminates before they get glued together. and then touch up the resultant lens hole with a coarse file after laminating. I laminate the cardboard with contact cement to get to the required thickness. I paint it black with a magic marker and then apply varnish!shellac|Krylon to keep the dust down and keep the cardboard from fraying.

Can't get much cheaper. I'm still using boards I made 30 years ago. Cardboard is a very underappreciated material - it can be used to build things that last.

[sharktooth]

I have built lensboards by laminating the cardboard found on the back of a pad of paper or from a cereal box. I cut the hole for the lens in each of the laminates before they get glued together. and then touch up the resultant lens hole with a coarse file after laminating. I laminate the cardboard with contact cement to get to the required thickness. I paint it black with a magic marker and then apply varnish!shellac|Krylon to keep the dust down and keep the cardboard from fraying.

Can't get much cheaper. I'm still using boards I made 30 years ago. Cardboard is a very underappreciated material - it can be used to build things that last.

Excellent! I'm in the habit of saving those pad backing boards to make things. Hadn't thought about laminating them to make them stronger. Still a little suspicious about current day materials for strength and flatness (everything is getting skimpier these days to save cost), but easy enough to try.

Thanks again.

[Doremus Scudder]

I have made three or four Technika-style boards out of Masonite (mine was from the back of an old picture frame). The nice thing about Masonite is that it is layered. You can score the surface and peel off strips of about one mm, enabling you to make indentations for clips, edges and the center lens-mounting area, leaving the rest thicker for strength. A cardboard cut-out glued on the back can provide the circular light trap. Mine were "painted" black with permanent marker. I even have a 50mm extended board made from Masonite for my Nikkor M 300mm so I can use it on my cameras with only 300mm of bellows draw.

Best,

Doremus

[sharktooth]

I have made three or four Technika-style boards out of Masonite (mine was from the back of an old picture frame). The nice thing about Masonite is that it is layered. You can score the surface and peel off strips of about one mm, enabling you to make indentations for clips, edges and the center lens-mounting area, leaving the rest thicker for strength. A cardboard cut-out glued on the back can provide the circular light trap. Mine were "painted" black with permanent marker. I even have a 50mm extended board made from Masonite for my Nikkor M 300mm so I can use it on my cameras with only 300mm of bellows draw.

Best,

Doremus

The only thing I don't like about masonite is the rough surface on one side. If they both had the smooth surface it would be ideal. I made a board from it once, and it actually worked fine, but it would need some additional work to do that.

[Doremus Scudder]

The only thing I don't like about masonite is the rough surface on one side. If they both had the smooth surface it would be ideal. I made a board from it once, and it actually worked fine, but it would need some additional work to do that.

The rough surface of the Masonite is ideal for the back of the lensboard. After being painted flat black, the rough matte surface won't cause any internal reflections.

Doremus

[Jim Noel]

Most of mine are made of Finnish (not finish) plywood.