Prototype update

Over the last week while still waiting for the gear stock for the geared focus I played with the camera pretending I was taking pictures and found some issues, the most important being too much flex in the front standard. So I redesigned it to beef it up a bit. I also re-designed some other parts to reduce the machining required to make them and to strengthen the frame. Now I need to wait for brass stock to arrive to remake some of the parts. Grrr. On the up side, the gear stock arrived and I figured out how to economically make gears, so that's a hurdle I got over. The next challenge is the gearing rack. For the prototype I used off the shelf gearing rack, but it's unreasonably expensive for a production run, so I need to find either a cheaper reliable source of make it myself.

Prototype (almost) operational!

This weekend the prototype became almost operational. It can take pictures ( I took one picture on expired Polariod 57 film), but I'm still waiting for the focusing gears I ordered last week and there are a handful of other parts still missing. The wood and brass is not finished (the wood will be stained a bit darker and covered with satin poly and the brass will be polished).

The bellows came out very nice. As a matter of fact, I will very likely offer a semi-universal 4x5 tapered bellows kit first (and very soon). It's "semi" universal because the customer will be able to choose the size of the large & small ends by cutting the ends at various folds but the extension will obviously depend on where it's being cut. As such, you may not get the extension of your original bellows. The bellows may also not fit cameras with very thin bellows because it may not allow them to fold, nor will it fit cameras with non-square bellows or cameras with belows that taper off center. Full instructions to make sure the bellows resulted would be useful to you will be provided. But stay tuned, details will follow soon.


Here are some pictures of the prototype.

Prototype update

Here are some more picture of the prototype coming along (please note that as with the other pictures, some of the parts are temporarily mounted as there are still missing parts such as spacers, re-inforcements, plates, etc). One of the pictures shows the camera at full extension, the other it shows the camera at full front raise. The other good news is that I finished the first draft of the bellows design, and I sent out the stifeners to be cut. If I get them back today, I could have a functional camera by the end of the weekend!

New pictures of the prototype

More of the prototype pictures with the usual disclaimer (the components may be rough cut, unfinished, aesthetically challenged, subject to change in the final product, parts were assembled with missing components (spacers, washers), aluminum rivets were used for convenience and so on).

The pictures are provided only as an idea on where I am with the project and how the camera will look in general. Any details should be ignored for now.

The bed and the back parts of the prototype are complete.

This weekend I finished the back and the bed (rear and front rails) for the "functional" prototype. By that I mean that the look of the parts will likely change (they are way to "squarish" right now) , but all the critical dimensions and functional elements are completed. This prototype will be completed into a functional camera to actually take into the field to test. My guess that will happen in the next 2-3 weeks.

There are a few design issues to be resolved (like the rear frame for the bellows and the bellows itself and the flat knob for the front standard shift/swing lock) but I don't expect these to be major issues.

This is very exciting!

Note : Please disregard the rough cuts in some places and the slight misfitting, some of the parts were "corrected" by hand because I didn't want to cut them again after addressing the design issues.

Getting close to finalize the design!

For the last few month I've been working to refine & finalize the design as well as setup for a small production run. Between the iterative process of making parts, testing them for function and fit, re-design and repeat, making fixtures for the CNC mill, trying out different materials and different designs for the numerous parts the camera is made from, calibrating the tools (bandsaw for resawing, planer, jointer, lathe), etc it kept me pretty busy.

But for the wooden parts I'm getting really close. Here is the last run of the wooden parts. There are still some fixes to some of them that need to be done, and then the parts need to be made again. Hopefully the next run will be the one to be assembled into a complete camera prototype.

The parts in the picture are for the most part just pressed fit and/or arranged on top of each other. The only part that was glued was the rear standard box. As you can see, there are for the most part not finished, and the next version will have a lot more rounded corners on the camera back. The wood is mahogany and it will be the wood to be used for the first production run.

I resolved some of the issues that bugged me for a while, like the spring system for the ground glass holder and the way to mount the bellows to the front standard. There are a few problems left, like mounting the bellows to the rear standard, the tripod mount, small various problems on how parts will be assembled (the problem being that the intended customer will likely not have access to taps, dies or any other tools beyond basics).

But I'm getting there.

Trip to the lumber yard!

The other day I found out there is a decent lumber yard near my house. So, after my trip there I picked up some wood to try, will make a camera of each to see how it machines and how it behaves. This doesn't change the decision to go with mahogany for the first production run, it's just a test to see what other woods would work. From left to right, tigerwood, padauk, walnut, zebrawood, purpleheart and yellowheart. Except for the tigerwood, closeops of the grain are below.

Work on prototype continues

As I slowly make the parts and assemble the prototype, some design mistakes are becoming obvious. Luckily, so far it's nothing major, but I'm not done yet ... As you can see, this prototype is of the simpler version, without all the movements of the back.

I already started changing the design of the parts which need to be changed to fix the issues I found with the design. Stay tuned for more updates.

Back "in business"

And we're back! Due to personal reasons, the camera kit project was put on hold for more then intended, but it's back on. Here's the first brass part being milled for the prototype. Stay tuned for more updates!

15 New Renders of the Camera (different wood & metal)

Please add a comment with your favorite combination, or tell me a combination you'd like to see. If you can provide a high definition image of the wood texture you'd like to see, I'd be happy to render it to see how it looks like.

The renders are available here http://www.diycamerakit.com/renders/

New render of the camera

While in Buenos Aires with no access to my shop, I spent some time playing with rendering the camera. Here is a new render (computer generated image) with the current design.

Please note that the camera is still being designed and the production kit might be different, especially in regards to the material selection, however, the design should not change much.

The tripod shown will not be included in the kit, but it may be offered as a separate kit (it is in the initial stage of the design)

New feature : Independent raise/tilt locks for front standard

One of the things that bugged me on my own 4x5 is the single knob locking both raise/fall and tilt, making it impossible to set up raise & tilt with any precision. This new design, to be included with the "DeLuxe" version solves this issue by using two knobs. The raise/fall slit was extended and the guide was redesigned to act as reinforcement for the front standard, now that the slit goes almost the entire length of the piece.

The side effect of this new feature is a reduced raise capability or reduced drop capability, depending on how the parts are mounted. When the parts are mounted as pictured, the raise and drop are around 1" inch each for a total travel of approx 2". When the slider is mounted backwards (the raise/drop knob is below the tilt lock), the drop is limited to .625" and the raise is extended to 2". Changing the mounting option requires no tools and takes a couple of minutes.

The new slide guide (offered for all kit versions) when used without the independent raise/tilt mechanism (used with a single knob lock for both raise/fall and tilt) slightly increases the travel range (compared with the previous design) to 3" (2" raise, 1" drop).

No time in the shop, but the website is getting updates.

I have not had any time to work in the shop on the prototype, but I've been redesigning some of the parts that needed changes, most of which were made obvious by the parts of the prototype that I've build so far. I also added quite a few new features to the website : http://www.diycamerakit.com/

First, I added a poll about the film formats that people would want to see camera kits for, so, if you would be so kind, please go to the website and place your vote.

I added an "articles" feature which would allow me and other authors to publish articles on which users can comment/review on, an RSS feed for the articles is available as well.

I uploaded a list of parts that will be available for sale at some point in the fall, also a few kits. This was a test upload, most of the descriptions are missing, there are no pictures and the prices that are published are highly speculative. I will be working on completing the list and publishing the pictures in the next few months.

I will keep you posted!

Building the prototype : the back and the rear standard

I spent most of the day today working on the prototype. I had to manually make some cuts which were missed during the CNC cutting due to bugs in the code for the CNC machine, so it took way longer then it should've taken.

Learned quite a bit. I had some bugs in the G-code (the code the CNC machine needs to cut each part) for various parts. There are some areas where it's very bad if you let glue seep through the joins and harden. Like for the ground glass holder, where the distance the glass sits from the back is critical, having to remove hardened glue without removing any wood is a majot PITA.

The other thing is that when I sanded the ground glass holder guides round, the dowels which were not exposed initially, got exposed. Since I used light colored dowels, as this is what I had around, now they are an eye sore.

I also need to use more guiding holes and more dowels.

The bad news is that I have major issues with cutting the brass parts. I can't seem to find a way to cut the plate without having it take 3 days and without breaking end mills (it gets expensive at $5 a piece). I'm not sure how am I going to proceed.

The next step, aside from finding a way to make the brass parts is to assemble the bed. That's where most of the bugs in the G-code were, so I might have to cut the parts again.

Building the prototype : camera back #1

Last night I assembled a part of the camera back. In the picture you can see the guide holes and the dowels used to precisely align the parts for gluing. Once the glue cures, the dowels are ground down. The holes are made in such way that are not visible when the camera is mounted (they don't go all the way through on the parts sides that are visible from the outside). For the most part mounting the parts was simple, though I am now convinced that the parts need to be individually marked with the part number and which face is which. It's possible to identify the parts by looking at the diagrams, but it's a bit of a pain.

Also, there is no such thing as too many clamps. I didn't place one of the clamps properly, and one of the joints is not perfect. Grrr. It's not affecting the functionality, but it doesn't look perfect.

The 4x5 folding camera prototype is under way!

The wooden parts were cut on the CNC machine in 10 different plates. The prototype is made of red oak as that's what I had laying around. Due to it's dimensional instability, it will not be offered as one of the material options, even though the texture and the color of the wood is amazing.




I'm using the bandsaw to separate the parts off the plates, but a coping saw would work just as well (or even better, as it's very easy to "ding" the parts when using a bandsaw).


The pile of parts. The connecting bridges and the sharp edges need to be sanded off.




My made shift sander (a handheld sander clamped sideways to a piece of plywood). It sped up the sanding process dramatically, compared with doing that by hand. Note the dust colection hose, for the sake of your lungs, wear a mark and/or make sure the dust is sucked away.

The sanded off parts. What was not captured is me using a small file to file off and bring to size the rear standard "dove tail" area. You can spot the assembled front standard frame and frame support. I got a bit too enthousiastic with the samding of the plate which held the front standar parts, so you can see the gap caused by the thinner plate in the join.


Tonight I'll start cutting the brass parts and start assembling the wooden parts.




FREELANCE COPYWRITER

Suggestions & wish list

Please post your suggestions as comments.

4x5 folding camera specs

Size : the folded camera will fit in a box with the inside dimensions 8" x 8" x 4"
Weight : not yet determined, and will definitely depend of the choice of materials.
Movements :
Front rise/drop - 3"
Front axis tilt - limited by bellows only.
Front base tilt - forward 30deg, back, limited by bellows.
Front swing - limited by bellows.
Front shift - 3"
Rear ride/drop - 3"
Rear base tilt - back 15deg, front - limited by bellows.
Rear variable axis tilt - +/- 20 deg (see the paragraph below for a description of the variable axis mechanism)
Rear variable axis swing +/- 20 deg.
Rear shift - 3"
Focusing :
Geared focusing by moving the rear and front standards (separately).
Maximum extension 14"
Other
Removable bellows (no tools required)
Maximum size of lens which can be used : n/a yet
Maximum size of lens which allows camera to fold : n/a yet
Rotating back (by removal and turning it 90 degres)
Maximum depth of film holder that can be used : n/a yet

The 1st draft design of the 1st 4x5 folding camera is complete! (almost)

A while ago as I was starting to look into 4x5 photography, I flirted with the idea of building my own camera. It quickly become obvious I would need a lot more time, skills and knowledge then I had. That didn't stop me from buying materials, some tools and after quite a few frustrated evenings, they all ended up in a box. I have a feeling I'm not the only one.

So, relatively recently I decided I will design and sell camera kits, so others like me can make their own cameras, but with much greater success then I did. The idea is not new, Bender cameras where around for a while, and now there is another kit, Buldog for a simple LF camera. I didn't particularly like neither of them, the Bender seemed rather crude and the Buldog, well, it's made of MDF for crying out loud.

Fast forward a few months, and the design of the folding version of the camera is nearly complete. It's a camera made of wood and metal. I am planning to offer the parts in a variety of materials, so people can make the camera based on their own aesthetic preferences. The metal parts will definitely be offered in brass (which can be polished or brushed) and I'm considering aluminum (probably powder coated), titanium, stainless steel and chromed brass. The wood parts will probably be cherry but I am planning to offer kits in limited numbers in exotic woods, like ebony, cocobolo and others.

The concept I'm trying to achieve is design a system of cameras which share parts as much as possible, which can be configured as basic versions which can be upgraded later with more advanced features. For example, for the folding camera shown, as shown it includes a variable axis tilt & swing for the rear standard. A less complex mechanism, at a lower cost will be made available. A beginning photographer could purchase the absolute basic kit and update it's features as needed, if needed. The system is designed so many parts are interchangeable between different camera configurations. For example, the front standard from the folding camera could be used as front & rear standard for a 2x3 monorail. The bellows from the 2x3 camera could be used as a lens shade for the 8x10 camera. The back of the 4x5 camera is the same for the folding camera, the monorail and the wide format camera.

My rendering skills need some more polish, so I will likely update these, but here are a couple of views of the camera, rendered with cocobolo wood and chromed brass. Note that the wood grain is all over the place, I'm still working on how to make that look as it should.













Here are a few of the camera specifications, these are not complete (and probably not final), but it should give you an idea.

I would like to start a dialog with the potential clients, to see what they would like to see in such a camera, and what they wouldn't. To provide feedback on the design, or to state wishes, please add a comment to the Comments & Wish list page. The format of the website will definitely change at some point, but I will translate all contributions to the new format.