Originally Posted by
brandon allen
Since this IS a thread about building LF cameras, I'll bore you with some details:
Focused with 3/8" 10TPI reverse-thread acme screw.
Front standard can be attached in three different positions to accommodate lenses from 90mm (possibly even 75mm) to 400mm. Were I to do another I wouldn't bother making it able to fit such long lenses and make it easier to use with the wides I'll probably use 90% of the time.
As mentioned, the front standard moves on 8" triple extension drawer slides which I modified slightly to allow them to be trimmed a bit shorter without sacrificing any extension.
The rear standard can slide forward about 1 1/2" and rearward about 6" on aluminum extrusions. They are actually the T-slot inserts for 1/4-20 bolts intended to be inletted into worktops or jigs. I just flipped them over. They tighten with knobs on the bottom of the camera (not visible in these pictures).
Other metal parts are aluminum or brass. I machined everything myself on a mini mill and mini lathe accquired during the build. I did a fair amount of soldering bits together (ground glass retaining springs, spring shackles, etc,) The springs for the back were flat spring stock ordered from Mcmaster-Carr. I cut them to length, annealed the sections where the bends would go then made the bends. I think these turned out a lot nicer than hacksaw blades do. (No offense meant to anyone there).
All the aluminum parts I made were anodized. All the brass parts were nickel plated - both new skills I accquired as I went.
The spring shackles turned out to be the fiddly-est part of the whole build. I probably made ten duds before I finally got the process right.
I had the glass cut at a local glass shop and ground it myself with silicone carbide grit. I may get some 600 or 800 grit and go even a bit finer than the 400 I used. I dressed the edges on my diamond sharpening stones - worked beautifully!
Wood is black walnut finished with three coats of polyurethane.
4x4" lens boards of my own design (meaning that they don't match any commercial lens boards I know of).
Bellows were made for me by Rudy in China.
In addition to standard film holders, it will fit a Polaroid 645 or 545. A Calumet 120 holder will fit, but not awfully well.
This project consumed about 9 months of fairly consistent work. A lot of that was spent in trial and error repetition. I could do another in a couple of months probably.
I'm planning to just use this camera for six months or so, then start in on a 5x7 version incorporating whatever improvements I discover this design needs. So far it doesn't seem to need much!
)
The whole budget was about 50 bucks (without the brass lens)...
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