I posted this to alt.photography, but someone here might be able to help me, too.
I need a nut for a shutter release. The shutter release has a tapered cone shaped threaded end. I think I can find a nut that fits "close enough" to hold what has to hold, and I can put a drop of Loctite or SuperGlue Gel on there. Where would I even look for a tapered nut?
It makes me curious, though, as to how they would tap a tapered hole, as you go in, it would become harder until you reach the snap point.
Steve ....... may the sporge be with you..........
That seems to be a standard thread, at least in the photography world. I'd do some web searches (or reword my question) to find the correct dimensions.
If I recall correctly the female thread isn't tapered as sharply as the male, but it's been a long time since I looked. Certainly with pipe threads the hole is straight and the pipe is tapered. Pipe dies are made to cut the correct taper, or you can cut the threads on a lathe by turning between centers with the work set over, or by using a taper attachment on the lathe. The taper on a shutter release is pretty sharp, so I would assume it'd have to be done with the right die, possible on a tapered blank, or it would have to be done with a taper attachment.
Sorry, but that's not true unless you're dealing with straight pipe threads. The typical (tapered) pipe thread (NTP) is tapered, both male and female. The hole may start out dead straight, but as the thread is generated by the tap, the entire thread profile ends up tapered with what is virtually a 100% thread. The tap is, indeed, tapered 3/4"/foot.
On Aug 14, 2:57 am, Tim Wescott wrote: Certainly with pipe
Usually, but that is the quick and dirty method. The proper way is to first taper the hole, and there are taper reamers made for just that purpose. Most don't bother, and the taper gets cut by the tap itself.
Not so very long ago, OK, about 20 years, I got an adapter to use an ISO cable release on a Nikon, which essentially _was _a tapered nut, albeit double ended, one end fit the ISO release, the other Nikon's special thread, who knows, a camera store might sill have some lying around. This would probably still need some "metalworking", to fit your application, but might be a possibility
I'll bet this won't actually tell one how to make the threads, (and I'm not curious enough to spend $30 to find out) but it one really, really wanted to know the standards for the threads, one can order them here:
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case something messes up the link, the site is
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document is; ISO 6053:1979 Photography -- Shutter cable release tip and socket -- Dimensions
I couldn't find anywhere that had the dimensions for free, I suppose I could go down to the basement and check the Machineries Handbook, but that is really a long shot, and the stairway is outside, and a have a Cat sitting on my lap, and I don't think you are going to make you own tap anyway, and your nut with the Locktite will probably work fine, is that enough excuses?
Considering that many camera parts are (or were) brass, I suspect holes are reamed tapered (or drilled with a tapered bit) before tapping, so one is not removing much metal with the tap (the threads are pretty fine) , then one would tap until one got to the "stop" point, which would be reached before the "snap" point
They even have one that is thirty feet long that is a squeeze air bulb. I think I'll be getting one over the Internet, but am looking at camera stores now, as I shop the Nikon D40x currently on promotion from Nikon.
I photograph hummingbirds, and the rufous is particularly shy, so a longer shutter release will get me farther away from the subject.
======== Duh moment -- they use a taper tap and only go in so deep.
In the larger sizes they have taper reamers to taper the hole before threading.
This is common with NPT [t as in taper] series of threads in the US, and I gather common to the water/gas pipe threads used in other areas also.
The rationale is that the threads crush at the root and crest as they are tightened and thus eliminate the helical leak path on straight threads. (It also helps to put a big glob of white lead, or now teflon tape on the threads to insure a gas/water tight joint.)
Unka' George [George McDuffee] ============ Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.
I read somewhere that the thread is M3 x .50 on ISO cable releases, Nikon may be different.
The only value I can see for having a taper there is quick connect/disconnect, like bayonet on lenses. Since you mention superglue, I'd think that a straight M3 x .50 nut jammed on would work OK for a coupling not intended for disassembly.
How about a little solenoid? You could then use wire of arbitrary length as your "cable". You might find suitable small solenoids at the junkyard in auto trunk releases, door locks, etc. Wouldn't be at all hard to make one if you have a lathe.
A few years ago I made a guy a radio shutter release for photographing birds and animals from a distance, but he had a digital camera so the interface was all electrical.
"SteveB" wrote: (clip) I think I can find a nut that fits "close enough" to hold what has to hold, and I can put a drop of Loctite or SuperGlue Gel on there. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Another "chewing gum and duct tape" solution might be to use some thread repair resin to form the proper threads inside a loose-fitting nut. Loc-tite and Permatex brands come to mind.
That is a common way to make a universal release which will sorta fit various differing cameras. Most of the dedicated ones I have seen had straight threads and I have never seen a camera with a tapered socket, though they may exist.
For that matter -- I believe that the D40x has a connector for a remote control. You might have to cut and extend the cable. I think that it is three conductor -- a common, a contact for the "half press" to cause the camera to autofocus (if you are letting it do that), and a final contact for the "full press" which actually takes the photo. The "half-press" is probably needed to wake the camera up anyway, even if you have autofocus disabled.
And -- the D40x (if it is anything like my D70) does *not* have a standard cable release socket -- all remote work is either optical (IR remote transmitter) or electrical (cable and switch which plug into the camera body).
But I may have lost track, and the OP did not state that he was using a D40x -- but in that case, whoever is should beware of this limitation.
That's the setup the camera had that I made the radio for. The remote had two resistors. It would present one resistance for "half press" and a different resistance for "full press". I just made a radio to emulate that, even found a pushbutton with "half press" and "full press" contacts for the xmtr. Don't recall what kind of camera it was, but it wasn't a Nikon.
I think that was an ISO standard at one time, may still be. I have several (old) 35mm SLR film cameras (Canon, 2xPentax, Praktica) that use a cable release with tapered threads.
But not all. I have one which operates a cable release, so it gets some isolation from the camera. (You may want a second tripod for it to keep the isolation going. :-)
There are also tiny solenoids which screw directly into the cable release socket. (They were used with the bulb flash unit on 4x5 cameras like the Speed Graphic -- to trigger the shutter under control of a switch in the typical Kalart flash gun -- with with the gun hand held and separate from the camera body -- just to minimize shake.)
But again -- if this is a camera like the D40x -- go for a separate plug-in electrical remote, since the camera does not have a cable release socket, and the shutter release button takes a lot more force than most cable releases are happy to provide.
Unfortunately, my D70 was made just before the remote socket became standard, and just has provisions for an IR remote.
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