Where to get enclosures to make custom camera?

Does anyone know a good source of generic enclosures to make a custom

camera case?

 

Something like small aluminum boxes with cooling fins?

Exactly what kind of camera are you making?

 

The traditional home-built camera is wood, and requires no cooling fins. I assume you are building something different?

 

I seem to recall that Radio Shack used to sell several different sizes of aluminum or plastic boxes for electronic projects.

 

Perhaps the easiest way to cool it would be with the standard little computer cooling fans, which would require vents in the box, but no fins.

See here for example:

 

http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032276&cp=2032058.2032230

This is going to sound crazy.. but I am trying to build a functioning 35mm film camera as an entrance for a science fair project. I want to try to machine all the parts myself and engineer it myself. I have some lenses that I want to try to use on it.. the lenses are from a 35mm SLR Minolta Maxxum.

 

I am also trying to find a bayonet mount so I can mount the lenes on the custom camera enclosure. You wouldn't happen to know where I can order one of those on line would you?

 

Thank you for that info. I didn't know Radio Shack sold those. Are those available at the Radio Shack stores or just a mail order type thing? It looks like they are avialable at the stores.

Good luck with the project.

 

I don't know if those boxes are stocked at stores or not. And keep in mind, they're intended for electronics projects, so they're not necessarily set up to be light-tight.

 

I think you have a challenging project in mind. One of the problems of home-made cameras is film transport. The ideas are very simple, but actually building something at home that will reliably move the film through in the dark without scratching it is something of a challenge. With 35mm, you either have to rewind it into the cartridge when done, or unload it in a darkroom.

 

The bayonet mount would depend on what you expected of it. If you just want it to hold the lens, and that's all, you can probably use thin wood or plastic, cut the right-size hole in it, and be able to insert the lens and rotate to lock. Study the lens mount on the lens to see how it is set up. If you want automatic aperture and stuff to work, that's a different problem.

Thanks for all the cool info. I know it might be too difficult.. but I am just really interestested in photography and I'm hoping this will be a good way for me to learn about it. I hope to be an engineer someday. Even if I fail I think ti will be a cool learning experience. I was going to try to make a manual setup for the shutter first. Then maybe later I was thinking of trying to power the auto focus lens.

 

The thing is, I was given these lenses but I don't have the body of the camera. I tried to make a wooden contraption to hold the lenses.. but I think it's too messy so I am trying to find some place to get the bayonet mount.

 

I do have another old camera that doesn't work.. it is a Olympus OM10, also with a bayonet mount. But it doesn't match the Maxxum lenses I have. I could cannabilze the Olympus and use it's bayonet mount if I could adapt the Maxxum lenses to Olympus mount.. but someone told me they don't make adapters for Maxxum lenses because of the electronic shutter..

 

Anyway... hope I'm making sense. Thanks again for your help.

Speaking as a design engineer, I understand what you want to do, but it is probably a bit much to undertake. First, though, to answer your question: go to digikey.com . They have every electronics part under the sun including electronics enclosures.

Another direction you may want to consider is making a camera from scratch. It is not too crazy. I just did it because I wanted to learn more about lens design and I wanted to try out contact printing 8x10 film. The book I used for guidance is Primative Photography by Alan Greene. I used his ideas for the lens construction (although I would do it differently next time), but made my own camera design. I did not want to make my own film holders so I bought some old ones on ebay for $10 plus shipping plus I wanted to use modern film. Honestly, I think you'd learn more with something like this. If you want to bounce some ideas off me, I'd be glad to help. My email is markjamesfisher at yahoo dot com.

That sounds really cool, Mark. Even if I was to attempt to make the camera I wanted this would be a great way to prepare for something like that -- great way to get started. Thanks for email and help. I will definitely take you up on that. I don't know anyone who is in the fieds I am interested in. It would be great to be able to talk to someone with real world experience..

Bayonet mounts are usually salvaged out of crappy broken pre used cheapo 3rd party teleconverters or closeup rings.

 

I had one of those converters in k mount where the camera bayonet was held only with 4 tiny screws in soft metal. Cameras had 6 screws in better metal and lenses were heavy... - it worked fine later on a homemade lensboard for my enlarger.

Charlie, typically the science fair is aimed at displaying the application of the scientific method - and not your ability to build something neat. Observation, hypothesis, prediction, experiment...

 

You might get by observing that 35mm camera bodies are complicated mechanisms, that building 35mm camera bodies is difficult at best. Predict that it is unlikely that you can build an acceptable 35mm camera body from scratch. Then attempt to build a 35mm camera body - to prove that your hypothesis is correct.

 

I've judged a few science fairs, and the neatest projects turned out the nicest products - but didn't fulfill the objective of using the scientific method.

 

Good Luck.

Charlie,

 

I am a high school science teacher, and here in MA the science fair includes engineering

projects. Don't let the previous poster discourage you! Here's an exerpt from http://

www.scifair.com/

--

Mission Statement

 

The Massachusetts State Science Fair's mission is to increase the awareness of, exposure

to, and participation in inquiry-based learning through the development of science and

engineering projects by middle school and high school students, and to showcase and

celebrate that learning.

--

 

I have two students who are hoping to build a camera as well. I am searching for helpful

material for them. Can you point me to things that have been helpful to you?

 

Thanks and good luck!

-Margaret Hart (mshart at gmail dot com)

Hi Charlie,

 

"I am trying to build a functioning 35mm film camera as an entrance for a science fair project."

 

It sounds like you want people to walk through the camera? Would they be looking at an image of the outside projected by the lens onto the "film" plane that they pass? If this is the case, you could also consider doing a walk-through pinhole entrance...a lot simpler to pull off.

 

But maybe I'm not interpreting you correctly!

 

Sincerely,

 

Dave