Hi Brian,
I read the same article years ago and you're right, it's a very straightforward operation albeit, a delicate one. The idea is to gently round off the 4 outside corners of the two tabs that clamp the front standard to the rail.
A couple of suggestions before you proceed. To determine how much metal to grind off the corners I cut 4 rectangular pieces from typical picture framing matboard (which luckily has the same thickness as the metal plates from the front standard. They were cut to match the same footprint as the two combined plates. I then cut different sized radius corners (an Xacto knife works fine for this) on each of the 4 'matboard plates'. Going from a very slightly rounded edge to a more dramatic radius. You can then take these sample plates and slide them into the rails, moving them with your fingers to see which one gives you the movement required, but not so rounded that the plate becomes sloppy in the tracks (or if the corners are rounded too much, the plate can easily becomes dislodged from tracking between the rails).
I think you'll find that it takes very little rounding of the corners to give you the swing movement you're after. I'd also suggest removing the front standard from the bellows (it's attached with 4 screws) - this gives you much more flexibility in handling the standard as you grind the plates. A slender grinding bit for a Dremel makes the perfect tool for this grinding operation.
Also know that if you mount the front standard in reverse, this gives you front tilt instead of rear tilt which makes the camera much more useful in my opinion. The locking finger tab can also be reversed so that it still faces forward.
good luck with the modification,
Mark
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Originally Posted by bbjorkum
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