making your own lensboards?

Is there anyone who has some experience with making

lensboards? i'm thinking of making a recessed 8x8 cm

lensboard for my horseman 45fa. Also, it would be possible to

make a lensboard that extends the lens farther from the film

plane, wich is useful for long lenses and cameras with limited

bellows draw.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

thanks!

I have made a couple of Horseman lensboards. For a regular lensboard I just used a hard cardboard, glue and paint, for a recessed lensboard I also used cloth and epoxy glue to mold the recessed part. No special skills required, just common sense.

I've also made lensboards, flat and extended, from masonite (A thinner type of pressboard, Spannplatte in German, I don't if either of those words will help you if you are in The Netherlands or Belgium, but you should be able to find suitable materials.) I used glue and small wood screws. Not a problem if you have rudimentary woodworking skills.

 

Regards,

When I was using a Graflex Graphic View II, I made a lot of flat lensboards out of 5 ply birch plywood (hobby store stuff). I'm in the process now of laying out a recessed lensboard for an 8X10 B&J (no Rich, I haven't forgotten this!), also in 5 ply birch - the recessed area will be box-jointed and it will have an aluminum lens mounting surface. An extended lens board would be a worthwhile project for those long lenses on cameras with short bellows extensions.

 

When I actually get into the shop to build the board, I'll shoot some pix of the process and put up a web page with the procedure.

I have made several boards (both flat and recessed) using Luan plywood, an exacto knife and sandpaper, it doesn't take any particular skill just patience for sanding the hole to exact size.. The Luan comes in a thickness equivalent to an 8ply matt board which is a perfect fit for both my Sinar & Kodak 2D. It takes stain & varnish well, finishes to a nice mahogany appearance. It is also rigid enough to support some pretty hefty glass.

I've made several boards for Cambo/Calumet cameras (the large 6"+ size, not the older 4".) The most difficult part of that process is routing a groove on the back of the board that mates with a ridge on the front standard to make a light trap; you can do that using a Dremel bit in a small drill press if you don't have a router or don't want to spend the time to set it up.

I made a recessed board for a Graphic View II from 1/8 and 3/16 black ABS plastic and used ABS cement to put the parts together and seal the joints. I now use black Acrylic in 3/16 or 1/4 inch thicknesses depending on the camera I'm making it for. The Acrylic is more brittle and harder to work with but the finished results are very nice. I clamp a length of 3/4 angle aluminum and square it to the acrylic and then while seated turn on my Bosh variable speed jig saw to its lowest setting with a thin metal cutting blade and hold it upside down between my knees and slowly feed the Acrylic thru. Next I take the blank and drill the mount hole in exact center, using a low drill speed also. Next I put a srtaight cut router bit into my Craftsman(rebadged Dremel) varialbe speed rotory tool and mount it in a dremel routing edge guide and cut the recesses as needed. Two or three passes are necessary to remove large amounts of material. Groves close to the outer edge are a real pain. Speed Graphic boards are the worst. Last I remove the paper off the back side and sand the gloss off with a random orbit sander. None of my boards look like they came off a production line but they are light tight and hold a lens well and the appearence flaws don't show except under close inspection.

"then while seated turn on my Bosh variable speed jig saw to its lowest setting with a thin metal cutting blade and hold it upside down between my knees and slowly feed the Acrylic thru."

 

Hmmm...If I did this and slipped they might rename me "Donna"...

That's right Donald, with a mind below the belt, you would turn the blade the wrong directions. Blade up, teeth away, pull workpiece toward you, keep pressure on each side of workpiece as it passes the blade and DO NOT FORCE it. NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCIDENTS if you copy my technique. If you are NOT very good to excellent with power tools, Don't try. Current equivlent of what I use: http://www.boschtools.com/Tools+and+Accessories/Tools/prod_detail.htm?item_no=1587AVS

unless experinced use cardboard for a trial then use the cardboard for a jig to pattern the new one out of two sided masonite if thickenss is right.. some cameras work better with the lens offset expesially with drop beds and wide angle lenses etc.. mark size you want, cut just bigger than the line, then file or sand to the line.. inside hole and out edges.. thickness will be your bigges problem if too thick file just the edge thinner or sand.. if too thin ad a peice or peeces of cardboard and tape around edges.. put nice looking side out. put not shiney side in.. good luck dave.

Granted, this is a bit more than required for making lensboards, but this is the scrollsaw that we use:

 

http://www.rbiwoodtools.com/s/static/scroll_saw_one/scroll_saw_one.cfm