Cellular PVC for camera building

[kirkmacatangay]

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone have experience working with cellular PVC? I am interested to see if it would be a viable source for building parts of my ULF camera.

How much expansion or contraction could I expect from the PVC versus mahogany? How well does the material take to box joins, routing and cuts? Are there any major cocerns that would not make the material good for camera building? Yes, I know how nice wood looks stained and sealed, but I plan to paint the camera black regardless.

Thanks for your time.

Kirk

[vinny]

I've only used it for print washer bases in the darkroom. It's pretty soft and nowhere near as stiff as wood (any wood). This of course assumes we're speaking of the same PVC. I got mine at the lumberyard.

[jcoldslabs]

I've made lens boards from the stuff for a while now. It is rather flexible compared to wood, true, but it seems to have more flex across one dimension more than the other, so if you glue at least two pieces together with 90 degree relative rotation it adds stability.

As for building a whole camera from the stuff? I don't know about that. On the plus side if you use PVC glue it will create an excellent chemical bond, so your joinery is simplified versus wood.

I have plans to build an 8x10 back for my Century studio camera from the PVC material to use for wet plate. I figure the PVC will be more chemical resistant than aluminum or wood. Or should I use ABS sheets? Not sure yet.

Jonathan

[SpeedGraphicMan]

I would definitely recommend ABS sheets (The high-impact kind) instead of PVC.

It is very strong, and is light tight (the black anyway).

PVC tends to "age" and usually not in a good way!