I'm making myself some film holders(and I need some dimensions please)

[C. D. Keth]

Cherry would be a very good choice of wood. It's been used for measuring tools for woodworking for a very long time, has nice closed grain, and works cleanly.

[Kirk Fry]

So has any one tried to "print" a film holder in one of those new fangled 3D printers?

[paulr]

So has any one tried to "print" a film holder in one of those new fangled 3D printers?

I was going to ask the same thing. I'm curious to know more about their abilities, the range of materials (if there's any range) they work with, etc.

[jodyake]

3d printers are still very expensive to use. I use a cnc to mill wet plate holder and it works really well.

[coisasdavida]

I can't afford ulf holders, I don't have a cnc or the woodworking skills and tools some people show here. Is it cardboard then?

[Steven Tribe]

Bump!

[Tin Can]

ANSI specs here. http://home.earthlink.net/~eahoo/page8/filmhold.html

I recently purchased Richard Ritter film holders. Excellent and no way wood (pun) I try to make them. They are wonderful and lightweight.

I have also converted 14x16 copy camera holders to 11x14 with acetate and tape that work well. http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ilm-holder-mod

[Nathan Potter]

So has any one tried to "print" a film holder in one of those new fangled 3D printers?

Lots of interest and applications for 3d printing within the past couple of years. Consumer versions are now available in the 1K to 5K $ range. Variations on the idea are now legion with almost any material being possible to be built up layer by layer. The easy additive processes of interest to consumers typically use plastic wire or beads which are melted in the heated nozzle then deposited in a computer generated X - Y pattern layer by layer. Dot size may range from 25 to 100*µm or so diameter and produce a layer of 50 to 150 µm thick. Common consumer materials can be, for example, ABS, polycarbonate, silicone, etc. For extra precision, finish can be done using subtractive machining. Heat annealing is common for stress relieving. Re-entrant cavities obviously present a problem but the scanner can be stopped mid job and a removable material can be inserted where the re-entrant cavity is required. That may be a material that can be dissolved using wet chemistry at the end of the fabrication.

Doing a film holder is entirely feasible as long as the X - Y travel scan is large enough and certainly 12 X 12 inches is common even with consumer machines.

For a good write up check out the Wiki 3d Printing article, especially the section on Printers and the RepRap hardware project, an approach not unlike the scanner threads posted here in concept. It produces free open source hardware (FOSH) under GNU General Public License. The scheme is intended for the hardware to be able to produce many of its own parts to create more machines. Images of some of the machines are shown.

Currently it should be possible to send a film holder to a facilitator such as Shapeway where they can generate an STL file suitable for driving a 3d printer. Then send the file to one of many 3d printer Co. to get a sample. Obviously any re-entrant structures will need some special techniques, (perhaps lamination of separate parts).

No idea about the cost for a single part but prices are falling rapidly of course depending on the complexity of the part. I'm working on a couple of non photo projects now where the final part is divided into three pieces in order to solve the re-entrant problem. The final three parts will be screwed together. Material will be polycarbonate.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Leigh]

anyone happen to have a schematic for holders?

http://home.earthlink.net/~eahoo/page8/filmhold.html

- Leigh

[Curt]

My 11x14 camera is on track for a summer finish. That would make it a year which is what I planed for. Even before I started the camera build I made a prototype filmholder to see how the production would flow in my shop. I carefully documented it in a notebook with comments and instructions to myself. My advice to anyone attempting this is to give it a go. It is a disciplined, methodical process so spend the time to understand how one works. This is an early picture, the wood I will be using on the run is Mahogany.