OT: woodworking adhesives

I want as flat as I can get for using wood. I realize the rest of the camera is wood and has tons of slop, but any extra parts being crooked doesn't help at all. I realize it's possible to cut a square out of some scrap wood and reach for a hole saw and call it a day, but that's just crappy work and won't be centered properly.

It seems the aircraft plywood is usually birch and they'll chop it down to sizes UPS can handle.

Rebuild some sort of Ansco 8x10 studio camera from a dumpster. It has a packard shutter so I'll be able to use barrel lenses on it. The bellows have some holes, but it really doesn't matter. You just throw a darkcloth over the whole thing as long as you're not ouside in the sun.

Is there a cardboard box factory in your area? The use expensive cabinet grade 1/2" plywood to make their dies, and usually have some scraps laying around. The stuff was $75 for a 4' x 6' sheet back in the '80s.

Why not use 1/4 thick plywood to start? c.17$us

or out of 1/4 aluminum possibly with an engine turn finish?

or buy a lensboard

this may also be helpful

Would Titebond III not do the job?

Michael Koblic, Campbell River, BC

Complete overkill on the adhesives front--plain ol' yellow carpenters' glue is stronger than the wood. Just clamp in a veneer press-like rig to get pressure over the surface area.

Either Titebond II or III would work just fine. Both come in small bottles.

I'm doubting that any of that wood is completely flat, so you'd have to layer it up yourself somehow.

Not authentic, although bonding some wood to a metal plate would allow for a flat mount AND proper look.

The original guy died, the people running it now are a joke.

There's not too much of a chance finding the right size board with the right size hole that's not going to take as much work to fix a it would to build.

these are for shutters with standard sizes. This camera has a shutter which is separate from the lense and mounts inside the camera.

Metal lensboards are easy to come by, the wooden stuff is all random sized.

In junior high school wood shop we punks learned how to plane wood flat by hand to within a few thousandths of an inch. The test was to hold a straightedge against the wood and see where light bled through.

jsw

Can you suggest any types woods to make a square about 9" across and 1/4" thick with an approximately 3" hole in the middle holding a several pound lense that will not bow or sag or just warp on its own?

I'm not trying to throw down here- it's a serious question.

Can't you use the tilt to correct it? This is the rule you need to follow with the camera's adjustments:

If it warps you can turn it over or make another. For stressed parts like door frames and cabinetry I like red oak, usually cut from the rejected wide planks from my sawmill. White oak may be better but the only one on my property is healthy.

Wood thickness planers may not feed small pieces properly. If you intend to have a store-bought piece or old drawer front thinned, check before you cut it to size. jsw

snipped-for-privacy@rahul.net (Edward A. Falk) fired this volley in news:lafgno$4kc$3 @blue-new.rahul.net:

Really? Just like three non-flat flitches of veneer can't be glued into one flat piece of plywood?

Poplar was "poplar" with camera case makers.

Of all the cameras I've had with wooden components, if something was prone to warp, it usually was heavily painted all over, then laminated with fabric (heavily glued), and painted again over that.

Lloyd

It's available in other thickness. I suggested a place he could see the stuff.

If I was in your situation I would look online for the stiffness and tensile strength of various woods. I bet they all are pretty much the same as far as stiffness goes. On the other hand tensile strength must differ quite a bit. Anyway, I would get the veneers available of the wood with the highest tensile strength and glue 'em up in a press with good ole Titebond. Eric

I can't understand your problems. I've seen a number of portrait cameras still used in photo studios that had varnished wood lens boards, apparently made from plain wood - i,e, not plywood.

At least one site discusses building view cameras

which lists several more sites:Doug Bardell

Jon Grepstad Rayment Kirby Rudolf Mittelmann Mikko Oksalahti James Vail (the Internet Archive)

And at least two discussion groups

It doesn't seem to be "rocket science".

I assume the 1/4" comes from what fits the front standard but the rest of your problem can be solved by gluing braces on the back, or front for that matter of the board.

By the way, a 1:6.8 X 90 mm lens mounted in a Copal shutter and installed on an aluminum 4 x 5 lens board weighs 600 grams.

There is even a site that discusses making lens boards

Nine inches? I'd avoid solid wood and use either termite barf (I hate to say that, but MDF -is- stable) or a hardwood plywood. The plywood is your best bet to prevent warpage. DO finish it with a waterproof finish on both sides, and on all edges which aren't glued. Try some Baltic birch or other hardwood cabinetmaker's ply. Some of the new architectural plywoods have a stainless or aluminum center ply, and those would be excellent as well. Cha Freakin' Ching, though.

Or -- I have seen and used view cameras with wooden lens boards where the board is a lot thicker than the mounting edges, and the edges were routed down in thickness to fit the guides and sliding clamps, with the extra thickness projecting into the bellows. (Say a 3/8" board with a 1/4" edge to fit the clamps.) This would let you use a thicker wood for greater rigidity and freedom from warping.)

I would simply look for a wood known to be relatively free from warping (and of course well seasoned beforehand). Perhaps some flavor of maple would do.

You can read about the characteristics of various woods here:

Apparently he has a behind-the-lens shutter. Not sure how *far* behind, but it appears to not part of the lens board.

Good luck, DoN.

Actually the stiffness ranges over a factor of two.

The Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) chosen for pressure treating is about as good as anything. I found some that wasn't pressure treated to make insulated door and window insert frames.

If you need a very moisture stable strong glue, there is gorilla glue, a polyurethane foam based adhesive, but clamp the bejesus out of it, and when they state in the directions to moisten the wood beforehand, they aren't kidding.

For plywood, go to a hobby shop, ask for the model airplane plywood. Very thin sheets of veneer, very strong.

FWIW, my view camera has held it's lens stable and flat for nearly a hundred years with a 1/4" birch board. Keep it simple. There are no lasers involved. Wood will look good, be period correct, function well, and look good.