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Thread: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

  1. #11

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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    Many years ago made a few using modeler's plywood. Once the board was cut to fit, I put it into a sealed plastic bag that was filled with Elmers white glue. Let them sit for a few days, and then took them out and wiped their surfaces clean. Some of the Elmers had "soaked" into the inside of the boards. After a few days they completely dried out. Final sanding with the finest emery? sandpaper that I could find. At this point they would not stain all that well, but this procedure actually added some rigidity/firmness to the plywood. Definitely preferred them to "rip off" Technika boards made with questionable metals.

  2. #12

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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mick Fagan View Post
    This is a rough and ready picture taken on my desk a few seconds ago, a 3mm plywood lens board cut out with a knife, including at the top the recessed bit for the sliding lens board clamp.

    I did it as an interim measure, but that was around 15 years ago....

    Attachment 237074
    That looks good to me, and certainly doable with the tools I have. All the plywood here is in inch sizes, so that would be around 1/8".
    Repenting Sinar Blasphemer ... stonings at 11

  3. #13

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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg View Post
    Many years ago made a few using modeler's plywood. Once the board was cut to fit, I put it into a sealed plastic bag that was filled with Elmers white glue. Let them sit for a few days, and then took them out and wiped their surfaces clean. Some of the Elmers had "soaked" into the inside of the boards. After a few days they completely dried out. Final sanding with the finest emery? sandpaper that I could find. At this point they would not stain all that well, but this procedure actually added some rigidity/firmness to the plywood. Definitely preferred them to "rip off" Technika boards made with questionable metals.
    That's a good idea too. When you speak of modeler's plywood do you mean balsa wood, or something else?
    Repenting Sinar Blasphemer ... stonings at 11

  4. #14

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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    Quote Originally Posted by sharktooth View Post
    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.

  5. #15

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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    Quote Originally Posted by sharktooth View Post
    That's a good idea too. When you speak of modeler's plywood do you mean balsa wood, or something else?
    Definitely not balsa... very thin plywood. Three ply and I think it was birch.

  6. #16
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    eBay sells 3 and 6 mm no void plywoods

    I buy it 8X8" and I cut to size

    but never for Technika as I mount any lens that fits on them

    Some very heavy
    Tin Can

  7. #17

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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    Quote Originally Posted by sharktooth View Post
    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

  8. #18

    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg View Post
    Definitely not balsa... very thin plywood. Three ply and I think it was birch.
    If you can find it, some hobby shops have plywood specifically made for model airplanes - more/thinner plies, no voids, very smooth.

  9. #19

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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    If you’re looking to DIY then go ahead…. If you want cheap then you can get a CNC’d lens board with whatever hole size you want from Luland on eBay… for like $20 including shipping. They get to my door in about 8-10 days.

  10. #20

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    Re: Has anyone made Technika boards out of wood?

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Linhof-DIY-Lens-Board.jpg 
Views:	16 
Size:	79.0 KB 
ID:	237163

    I've just completed my DIY Technika board for a Technika III 6x9. Although I have an original Linhof aluminum board, the hole is too large for the 105mm Tessar I'm planning to use with it. It's a lens from an older folding camera.

    I really liked nolindan's idea to use the backing board from note pads. The original aluminum Linhof board is 1.6mm thick, and the backing board I have is 1mm thick. The 3mm thick plywood that was suggested is too thick for the bottom slot in the Technika 6x9 front standard, so it would have required a lot of material removal.
    I used a box cutter to make two pieces that could be laminated together. I used a compass to mark the hole in both pieces, and cut the hole roughly using the box cutter. Instead of using contact cement, I decided to use epoxy for the lamination, to give it a little more structural strength.

    The laminated board was held together under pressure with pieces of wax paper to protect from any epoxy leakage. After the epoxy had dried overnight, I trimmed the excess epoxy from the edges, and sanded the sides so they would fit in the camera. I used some coarse sandpaper followed by some finer sheets once everything fit. To finish the hole I used a dremel tool with a barrel sander end. Next, I used Greg's idea to coat the board with Elmer's white glue to seal the surface. That seems to work nicely, and is easy to clean up.

    The final step was to use some black spray paint to finish the board so there's no internal reflections. The lens is now mounted and ready to go.

    This is a pretty small and light lens, so this cardboard design works well. It probably won't be suitable for a larger heavier lens. Everything I used is shown in the picture. Pretty much everything needed is readily available, except for the dremel tool. It was very easy to cut the backing board to size, and even to rough cut the hole.

    Thanks for all the great tips!
    Repenting Sinar Blasphemer ... stonings at 11

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