Hey, all -

Ok, so I've got on loan the Raptar 90/6.8 in a funky little Rapax shutter. I had it kind of wonkily installed in the Super board that had my Optar 135/4.7 in it, but it was sloppy and, more importantly, limited me to only one lens option at a time. I went trolling for lens boards, but the off-sized Rapax would require me to get a blank Pacemaker board, which is surprisingly expensive. And I'm cheap.

I found this guy on eBay, who makes custom "Graflex Graphic" boards. They're 4x4" square (my Super board, which is supposed to be compatible with Pacemaker boards, is 3-5/8"x3-11/16"), but he says he'll make them to any size. They're cheap ($8), but ugly, made of plywood, and have only a rabbetted edge to supply the light seal. The rabbet might actually work, but the edges of the standard on my Super are rounded, and there are some inclusions around the edge which would require special fitting.



Having a well-stocked woodshop in the garage is advantageous sometimes. I'm also an incurable do-it-yourselfer. I had some 1/4" resawn cherry sitting around, so I figured I could cobble something together myself:







This board took about 45 minutes to make. About 40 of that was consumed with cleaning the tablesaw off, digging out the drillpress, and finding the appropriate Forstner bits floating around the mess I call a garage. But it was pretty easy. Almost brainless, really. Cut the board on the tablesaw, rounded the edges with a rasp, rabbetted the edge with a horizontal router table and straight bit, fit the rabbets with a rabbet plane, and made the cutout with a 1/2" chisel. The recess for the shutter retaining ring is 1-1/2"; the hole for the shutter is 1-1/4". The cherry needs a coat of oil on the outside, and some flat black spray paint on the inside. But, surprisingly, it seems completely light-tight. Should it prove otherwise, I figure a strip of Interslice foam around the perimieter of the rabbet will seal it off nicely.

I'm fixin' to cut out a few more blanks while I have everything set up. The cherry looks a little funny on the Super, but I think I'll be able to deal with it.

Thanks for looking.
Scott