small steps - the beginning

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John Bartley - 24 May 2004 16:38 GMT

My sweetheart and I were at a flea market in a nearby town yesterday,
and when I asked a vendor that we've bought a few things from over the
years if he had any really scrappy cameras that I could pick up cheap
"for parts", he gave me (for free) a Kodak Autographic 3A. This one was
bent, leatherette was peeling, the bellows were rotted away, but the
lens appeared to be in good shape, so..........

I removed the lens from the front plate of the camera and made up the
following mount this morning in the basement:

1) the material I used was 1/8" thick aluminum plate and these pics are
the plate marked for cutting with the pilot hole already drilled.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/001.JPG
http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/002.JPG

2) this is a rough hole cut with a jigsaw and ready for cleaning up

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/003.JPG

3) the hole cleaned up and the lens set in to check the size and fit

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/004.JPG

4) and the back side of the lens for size and fit checking

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/005.JPG

5) this is the cutting set up - a metal (non-ferrous) cutting blade set
up on my table saw

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/006.JPG

6) the lens mounted and screwed in tight to make sure it all works and
a first sanding done to the aluminum, prior to polishing and waxing

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/007.JPG

I'm thinking that I'll inset the 1/8" thick aluminum plate into the
front board of the camera, with the idea being that if it's dadoed /
routered etc. properly for a nice snug fit, then no light should be able
to make the bend around the edge of the aluminum plate and so it should
be light-tight.

cheers

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regards from ::

John Bartley
43 Norway Spruce Street
Stittsville, Ontario
Canada, K2S1P5

( If you slow down it takes longer
- does that apply to life also?)

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jjs - 24 May 2004 18:56 GMT

> 1) the material I used was 1/8" thick aluminum plate
> [...]

That's one stout piece of aluminum. :)

> 5) this is the cutting set up - a metal (non-ferrous) cutting blade set
> up on my table saw
>
> http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/006.JPG

Can you tell me exactly what kind of blade that is? Brand, number? It's just
what I need for a project!

> I'm thinking that I'll inset the 1/8" thick aluminum plate into the
> front board of the camera, with the idea being that if it's dadoed /
> routered etc. properly for a nice snug fit, then no light should be able
> to make the bend around the edge of the aluminum plate and so it should
> be light-tight.

Pretty much overkill, IMHO! But what works, works! (Don't forget to put
black flocking on the back of the lens board. It won't chip like paint does,
and it works better.)

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John Bartley - 24 May 2004 20:38 GMT

>Can you tell me exactly what kind of blade that is? Brand, number? It's just
>what I need for a project!

This stuff IS pretty heavy duty I know, and once I know that I have the
ability and interest to continue with this hobby, then the next one I
would buy the proper material for. In this case, I'm scrounging and
using what I have here - it's been fun and very educational and I've
learned a LOT from this group so far. Several people have been decent
enough to accomodate me by responding either on the group or privately
by email - Thank you very much!!

The blade is a Freud Diablo, part No. D1080N - 10" - 80tooth -
non-ferrous metals is the application. I have it on a belt drive 10"
General tablesaw and it does an almost glass smooth cut in this 1/8"
aluminum plate (which was also surplus and free - what a cheapskate I
am! :-[ )

cheers

Signature

regards from ::

John Bartley
43 Norway Spruce Street
Stittsville, Ontario
Canada, K2S1P5

( If you slow down it takes longer
- does that apply to life also?)

Reply to this Message

jjs - 24 May 2004 21:10 GMT

> The blade is a Freud Diablo, part No. D1080N - 10" - 80tooth -
> non-ferrous metals is the application. [...]

Thanks very much for the information, John. I'm off to find one. When/if you
get to choosing woods, let us know. There are a few carpenters here.

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John Bartley - 24 May 2004 22:15 GMT

>Thanks very much for the information, John. I'm off to find one. When/if you
>get to choosing woods, let us know. There are a few carpenters here.
>
>

You're very welcome :-) !!

Choosing woods - ahem - yes - Please refer to the part where I said I
was a cheapskate. I have some ideas for wood when I build the good one,
but for now it's scraps for the prototype. In the basement I have a
partial sheet of 7/16" Russian Birch plywood left over from a bit of
cabinet building. So, seeing as I'm going to use up scraps in this
project, I figured that this plywood should fit the bill nicely, and as
a result::

1) The lens board (I was incorrectly calling it a front board) cut and
routered, just looking for a few final shaping touches;

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/008.JPG

2) The lens and holder set into the lens board. I'll back up the lens
frame with some black felt before screwing the lens frame to the lens board;

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/009.JPG

And....that's probably the end of the camera work for a couple of weeks
- back to work tomorrow - bummer!

cheers to all

Signature

regards from ::

John Bartley
43 Norway Spruce Street
Stittsville, Ontario
Canada, K2S1P5

( If you slow down it takes longer
- does that apply to life also?)

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Nick Zentena - 24 May 2004 22:24 GMT

>>Thanks very much for the information, John. I'm off to find one. When/if you
>>get to choosing woods, let us know. There are a few carpenters here.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Choosing woods - ahem - yes - Please refer to the part where I said I
> was a cheapskate. I have some ideas for wood when I build the good one,

Cherry if you don't shop at the places that wrap the wood in plastic isn't
too expensive. Less then oak. I think it's also traditional. If you can find
a farmer that runs a home mill the stuff can be quite cheap. Assuming you
ignore the time it takes to select good boards. I'd think the other choices
would be too heavy. Well unless birch is good enough but I can't remember off
the top of my head how much it moves. Birch might be cheaper then pine. All
this stuff would be rough so factor in the time and effort to get it
surfaced. It's not like a camera uses alot of wood. I'd expect most of your
money to go into bellows.

Nick

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Argon3 - 24 May 2004 23:26 GMT

Interesting....I have an old autographic around here that is in fantastic
shape...still in the box with the manual! Trouble is...no 818 film available!
I used to work in a photo shop and remember selling our last roll of 818 to a
lady who loved her big old camera (this was in the early eighties) and swore
that she didn't know what she would do without it.
I'm seriously considering trying to use the lens as the foundation of a new
panoramic camera using either 120 or 35mm film. Even in the condition that
it's in it isn't worth squat on Ebay...go figger!

argon

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Bob Monaghan - 28 May 2004 05:04 GMT

it is pretty easy to make or buy (Judge Maggid) an adapter for using 120
rollfilm in the old postcard cameras, see related notes and tips at my
page at http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/postcard.html also mf/folder.html for tips

a number of these postcard lenses can cover, with minimal movements, up to
4x5", providing a lens for very low cost (often under $20 with shutter)
but with 4 elements that do surprisingly well when cleaned of grime on
glass ;-)

see http://medfmt.8k.com/bronbellows.html and bronbelfix.html for tips on
replacing bellows (for folders etc.)

hope this helps - bobm

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