Chroma - Lasercut Acrylic 4x5 Field Camera

Rather than use a plate on the bottom with a captured thread and rubber surface.It would probably be stronger and certainly far easier to shape and weld on a layer of plastic, to form a camera plate, to fit a Swiss type QR. It would also have none of the thread stripping or thread insert problems and weaknesses. Ant also no tendency to rotate.

I have done it with a shaped piece of thick brown circuit board material. You can also put a strong fine thread into that material, so it could easily be screwed on for belt and braces security.

But it would be easy to satisfy yourself that your acrylic sheet would be easily strong enough. Dovetail clamping is mostly compression and so is incredibly strong in almost any solid material.

If you really must have a screw mount. You could always fix one in the centre of the Swiss type plate you make.
for the rare occasions you might want to mount that way.
 
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Terrywoodenpic said:
This is all you need screwed in from the side of the bed and a notch in the side of the sliding part... and then no need to weaken the bed. the shear strength would be more than adequate.
http://www.wdsltd.co.uk/product/3052/spring-plungers-with-nylon-pin-metric-m3-to-m12-wds-606/
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Good call, thanks. I wasn't sure how I could embed it easily within the layers but if I use an M3 plunger, I can fit it within a slot in the middle 3mm layer. I can then cut an access slot in the bottom layer so I can get a small pin in to depress the plunger if I need to remove the bed;

upload_2017-5-22_15-38-18.png

View attachment 102708
 
stevelmx5 said:
Good call, thanks. I wasn't sure how I could embed it easily within the layers but if I use an M3 plunger, I can fit it within a slot in the middle 3mm layer. I can then cut an access slot in the bottom layer so I can get a small pin in to depress the plunger if I need to remove the bed;

View attachment 102707

View attachment 102708
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Rather than a pin. Cut a taper stick that you can slide in to push back the ball as it slides in..
 
If you cut the notch in this form the pin will slide in and out, with out restriction, up to the limit. it will only need pushing in when you want to remove the Front completely.
A square notch will lock every time it moves fully forward.

catch by Terry Andrews, on Flickr
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
If you cut the notch in this form the pin will slide in and out, with out restriction, up to the limit. it will only need pushing in when you want to remove the Front completely.
A square notch will lock every time it moves fully forward.

catch by Terry Andrews, on Flickr
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Great minds....

View attachment 102710

;0) thanks for the ideas and advice Terry, much appreciated.
 
It would only need a small mini bolt in line with the notch to act as a push pin. it would only need 3 or 4 mm movement.

catch2 by Terry Andrews, on Flickr
 
That's looking pretty darn good, Steve. I think you should consider the bellows in orange...
 
Brilliant, it looks stunning. When does it get its first film outing?
 
Andysnap said:
Brilliant, it looks stunning. When does it get its first film outing?
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Thanks Andy. I'm heading up to CenterParcs in Whinfell on Friday and it's coming with me (once I've checked with Mike that I can keep his lens a little longer!). I'll load a few holders with the Fomapan you sent to me to see how it performs.
 
I started speaking to industrial injection moulding/printing companies yesterday to get large volume pricing for the hinge parts. I've ruled out injection moulding for the time being due to the setup costs of the tooling (3-6k). High volume printing brings the cost of each hinge set to around £60 each which is still a fair chunk so I'm speaking to another guy I know who prints and he's putting together a price for moulding the parts using a different method which should be cheaper.

In the meantime, I redesigned another version of the body last night to replace the printed hinge entirely with acrylic components instead. As well as being cheaper to produce, they will also match the main body colour which is a bonus :0)
 
Will the redesign still fold? If so, is it a pin-and-hole type hinge? As they are quite easy to make.
 
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Ok, functionally this hinge mechanism does the exact same job as the printed hinge. It rotates the rear standard 270 degrees and includes a locking mechanism (simplified pins from each side rather than screw thread) to hold the standard at 90 degrees vertical. Financially, this will cost around £50 less than having the hinge printed and use around the same amount of time for assembly as the printed hinge requires some manual cleanup to round off the holes etc.



The hinge plates that are fixed to the camera bed are made up of one 5mm wide piece and one 3mm piece. Both pieces are bonded to/within the bed of the camera so will be solid.



The rear standard side of the hinge is made up of a 5mm wide piece which is bonded to the edges (10mm width) of the rear standard for rigidity with a 6mm hole through it. There will be a short 6mm diameter captive rod passed through both halves of the hinge to lock the rotation.

There will be locking pins fitted from each side of the camera bed which pass through a block attached to the face of the rear standard (embedded in the camera bed). These will ensure that the rear standard locks at 90 degrees.



As much as they look long on the diagram, they will only need to be pulled out 20mm on each side to release the rear standard.
 
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If these are going to be kits for glueing up. are you cutting register holes with pins for lining up the various parts to be glued?
It would make construction both far more accurate and easy.
I am slightly unhappy that there is no means to micro adjust the back to a true right angle. You are relying on uncommon construction skills for accuracy.
 
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Terrywoodenpic said:
If these are going to be kits for glueing up. are you cutting register holes with pins for lining up the various parts to be glued?
It would make construction both far more accurate and easy.
I am slightly unhappy that there is no means to micro adjust the back to a true right angle. You are relying on uncommon construction skills for accuracy.
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To be honest Terry, the more I've gone through this, the less keen I am on offering this as a kit. Whilst all of the parts are laser cut to tight tolerances, there is still a final reliance on the ability of the person building/bonding the pieces to ensure a strong final result. I could look to offer basic jigs with the parts but that then increases the amount of materials used and the packaging size/cutting time etc so it's probably not worth it.

I think that I'd be happier assembling all of the camera prior to them being shipped so that I knew that they all met the same standard.
 
On another note, I've been speaking to a Chinese manufacturer about the bellows to work out my best options. I've agreed to them creating a single sample bellows for me to test with a view to them supplying them in bulk moving forwards. After seeing their quote, even for only 50 bellows, there's no way I could manufacture them myself in that volume for much cheaper so it seems to be the best way to go. I'll know more once they've built the sample as they're going to send me some photos of it before sending it over to me.
 
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stevelmx5 said:
On another note, I've been speaking to a Chinese manufacturer about the bellows to work out my best options. I've agreed to them creating a single sample bellows for me to test with a view to them supplying them in bulk moving forwards. After seeing their quote, even for only 50 bellows, there's no way I could manufacture them myself in that volume for much cheaper so it seems to be the best way to go. I'll know more once they've built the sample as they're going to send me some photos of it before sending it over to me.
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I'll get you the specs for the two I need, see if you can get a deal. :D
 
I realised that having locking pins fitted on each side of the bed would do my head in because of the risk of losing them! Instead, I've redesigned the lock using an integrated pair of bars that are compressed using a pair of grips on the back of the standard then, when released, will push outwards and lock into place inside the bed.

New Hinge and Spring Clip - Open by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

New Hinge and Spring Clip - Closed by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr
 
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My sample bellows has been built and shipped out to me so I should have it by the end of the week. Obviously I'll know more (especially about the overall quality) when I actually see it but from the pictures it looks good;







 
mothdust said:
This is looking brill, Steve!
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Thanks Charlotte. I'm doing a slight redesign on the base and rear standard because I'm a bit concerned about the rigidity without any side-mounted brackets as per traditional 4x5 cameras. Most cameras use a metal plate on each side with a knurled screw to clamp the rear standard to the base but as I'm being awkward and trying to cut everything from flat acrylic, I'm having to be a bit more creative! At the same time, I'm still looking at the front standard to work out the best way to incorporate separate controls for tilt/swing/rise&fall/shift.
 
This should be more stable now as I'll have both the sprung locking clip on the back of the rear standard and a pair of upright supports locked in place with threaded bolts from each side, into the camera bed.





When the camera is folded, these supports only add around 15mm to the depth on each side so won't add a massive amount to the overall size, in comparison to the extra stability they offer.

 
I've finished drawing up the technical front standard which has independent controls for each movement. In comparison to the 'basic' standard, it is slightly taller when folded due to the fixed base but gives much more control overall.

https://flic.kr/p/V576WG
 
stevelmx5 said:
My sample bellows has been built and shipped out to me so I should have it by the end of the week. Obviously I'll know more (especially about the overall quality) when I actually see it but from the pictures it looks good;







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... but, but, I thought we agreed it had to be orange!;):D:banana::exit:
 
Summary image of the three front standards I've designed;

All

'Traditional' - Most basic standard. Uses a pair of locking bolts on either side of the lens board frame to control rise/fall and tilt, along with a base bolt to control swing and shift.

"Technical' - Individual locking knobs for rise/fall and tilt, along with a base bolt to control swing and shift.

'Remote' - Most complex front standard. Uses a trio of digital stepper motors and a three-way arduino controlled digital remote to individually set rise/fall, tilt and swing. Shift is controlled by hand using a base bolt.
 
I've spent some more time developing the 'Technical' standard to try and make it as compact as possible so the camera doesn't end up too thick when folded down. I realised that the best way to lock the rise/fall is to use a control similar to a Wista 45N where the locking knobs stay in place and the lens board frame moves up and down. By using this method, it should feel less awkward having to slide the locking knobs with the lens board as well as stopping them from being a hinge as well.

I've embedded a small 3x3x3 cube magnet on each side of the lens board surround along with a matching pair within the frame so that the board has a definite stop point when the lens is centered to the film. I've also embedded a pair of larger magnets at the bottom corners of the lens board along with matching magnets at the top of the frame on each side so the lens is stopped from coming right out of the top.

Lens at centre

Technical Standard Overview by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

75mm Rise

Technical Standard - 75mm Rise by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

25mm Fall

Technical Standard - 25mm Fall by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

I've used a similar combination of small magnets in the base frame to provide a vertical return point for the tilt so it will always return to 90 degrees. As the magnets are small, they won't prevent small adjustments to tilt as the locking knobs are still used to hold the angle.

Forward/backward tilt is only limited by the lens coverage/bellows;

45 Degrees Forwards Tilt

Technical Standard - 45mm Front Tilt by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

45 Degrees Backwards Tilt

Technical Standard - 45mm Rear Tilt by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

There is also around 55mm of shift each way;

Technical Standard - 55mm Right Shift by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr


Finally, swing is also only limited by the lens coverage/bellows;

Technical Standard - 45 Degree Right Swing by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

Swing and Shift are locked by the same central locking knob on the base. There will be a thin rubber covering on the top of the bed to add some friction and prevent small adjustments to shift from affecting the swing and vice versa.
 
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I've been watching the hype around the new Intrepid camera on Twitter - can't wait to see your version! Although part of me does wonder if an increase in LF cameras will mean the prices of the lenses soar on eBay... Does anyone have any recommendations or tips on that front? The whole concept of lens boards, focussing screens and LF lenses is quite new to me. As well as loading sheets into holders, dark bags... oh god, this is going to lead to me buying lots of new kit, isn't it? :D
 
mothdust said:
I've been watching the hype around the new Intrepid camera on Twitter - can't wait to see your version! Although part of me does wonder if an increase in LF cameras will mean the prices of the lenses soar on eBay... Does anyone have any recommendations or tips on that front? The whole concept of lens boards, focussing screens and LF lenses is quite new to me. As well as loading sheets into holders, dark bags... oh god, this is going to lead to me buying lots of new kit, isn't it? :D
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Keep an eye on the classifieds..... just sayin';)
 
I've just gone through the final design to put together a parts list...

Total parts required:

8 x 3x3x3mm cube magnets

16 x 6x3mm disk magnets

22 x 5x5mm disk magnets



4 x M5x10mm thumb screws

2 x M5x25mm thumb screws

1 x M5x15mm swing.shift lock screw



14 x M5 thread inserts

1 x M6 tripod thread insert

1 x M3 sprung plunger

1 x 4mm diameter metal/acrylic rod (15mm long)

2 x 6mm diameter metal/acrylic rod (10mm long)



2 x A3 5mm acrylic sheet (colour)

2 x A3 3mm acrylic sheet (colour)

1 x A5 5mm acrylic sheet (colour)

1 x A5 2mm acrylic sheet (black)



1 x Sheet of 5mm closed cell foam (200x200mm)

1 x Sheet of 1mm rubber (200x180mm)


1 x Set of Bellows

1 x Ground Glass (124x104mm)


When I write it down, it seems so simple ;0)

The next requirement is for a name. I was thinking along the lines of 'Adventurer' or 'Explorer' but I don't want to be too similar to the Intrepid. I've just put some ideas into an online Thesaurus and, from acrylic, I get 'Chroma'....hmmm, might work. All ideas gratefully received!
 
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stevelmx5 said:
The next requirement is for a name. I was thinking along the lines of 'Adventurer' or 'Explorer' but I don't want to be too similar to the Intrepid. I've just put some ideas into an online Thesaurus and, from acrylic, I get 'Chroma'....hmmm, might work. All ideas gratefully received!
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What about SteveLF5 ;-) Chroma works for me.
 
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You should call it 'The Brian'... :D

or maybe stick with Chroma, sounds about right to me.
 
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