Real small breadboard ends...

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

Paul Kierstead

>The lensboards on my Wisner do have a tongue. I have no idea how it was formed, but it is a very delicate piece. They generally have a rebate on the back and the back *really* should be painted matte black.

It is very crucial they do not warp (hence the bread board ends), so they should be made of a piece of wood that is well stabilized. If you resaw down, I would really recommend saw, stabilize, plane, stabilize, plane ....

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

Scott in Douglassville

>Hi, Paul -

Is the tongue through on the ends? Can you tell thickness? And how thick is your Wisner board?

The "customer" (eek) spec'ed 1/4" thickness. I'm thinking I might try to sell him on 3/8", cause it'd be much easier to form an 1/8" tongue than anything thinner. Plus, I have no way to cut a thinner groove...

Scott

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

Paul Kierstead

>I'll measure them up when I get home and check the exact construction. The rebate is there to allow them to be a little thicker and provide an additional bend for the light to go around.

However, the lens is split apart and then mounted onto the lensboard. This makes some very specific constraints on the lensboard thickenss; too thick and you won't be able to tighten the lens down. Some lenses might allow more, but that specification may be hard to come by. In theory you could rebate the hole to allow the board to be thicker, but lots of lenses mightn't work in such a scheme.

I'd expect 1/4" is about right, but I'll let you know more later.

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

Scott in Douglassville

>Thanks, Paul.

I've made a few cherry one-piece boards for my Super Graphic; those were about 1/4" thick, and even then, I had to create a wider "couterbore" to accomodate the minimal thread requirements of the shutter:

If there isn't an issue with the board interfering with the bellows, I don't know why 3/8" wouldn't work. The camera's a beautifully restored Century, though, and I have no idea how these things relate in that puppy.

Thanks again.

Scott

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

Paul Kierstead

>Some lenses will probably not like a deep counterbore and may be quite difficult with one. Still, might work.

Painting the backside black can help significantly reduce contrast loss due to internal reflections.

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

Scott in Douglassville

>I'll have to see what the lens in question needs then.

I actually painted the backside of this board when I finished it. It was for a 90/6.8 Raptar I have on loan (I'm broke...), and 'cause of the Super Graphic's split rail setup, the lens wouldn't focus on infinity with the bed dropped. So I ended up making a recessed board for it:

The back's flat black, and for no particular reason, I flocked the inside of the recess. Still not sure I'm going to keep the lens, though.

Nice!

Paul Kierstead

>I like the flocking. Makes for a quite nice built-in sun shade!

How about

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>using a spline joint. You could run a groove down the middle of both pieces and then make a stout little thin spline to join them together.

Re: How about

Scott in Douglassville

>Now that's an interesting idea! Could make the spline as thin as needed, even hammering it thinner to fit. That's a definite possibility. Thanks!

Re: Nice!

Scott in Douglassville

>Thanks, Paul. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten an opportunity to really test it out yet. Ugh.

Type 55 is your friend!!

Paul Kierstead

>And besides, the results are quite nice. You do need a Polaroid holder, but they can be had pretty darned cheap.

What the... Who the... Where the...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Heck have you been!?!? Nice to see ya back homeboy. I thought you fell off the planet!

So on to you delima, I'd go with 3/8" thick stock if you can with the BB ends. If not as Jim said I'd go with splines.

You making any chairs?

Re: What the... Who the... Where the...

Scott in Douglassville

>Scary, huh?

Been immersed in fixing cameras and growing a beard. Been a crazy year+. Going back to work in the fall. Egad.

Not sure which way to go on the lensboard yet. Have a nice scrap piece of beautifully straight-grained mahogany to joint and plane down to size.

No chairs. No nothing. But I've got a stack of old, old pine the MiL wants converted into a blanket chest. Not sure when that's gonna happen...

How's the job working out?

Crazy year!?!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Tell me about it! At least 2007 is looking a whole lot better than 2006!

Hey I still owe you a brace or two...

I'll ping ya off line later.

I knew you'd come crawling back here;^)

Picture and dimensions

Paul Kierstead

>Here is a pic of the edge:

If you look very carefully, you can see the tongue & groove.

The full thickness is 0.242", or just a hair under 1/4". The lens does sit in a shallow counter bore.

I wonder....

Paul Kierstead

>if a half lap, designed so the rebate did do the works in, would work out well? Sure would be a lot easier to make, especially with handtools. I can't imagine how one would make that tongue and groove with hand tools; even with a router and 1/16" bit or so, it has to be iffy.

And yet thousands of them got made

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>It's a wonder sometimes, looking at the older wooden stuff, how gutsy some of the design solutions were.

Re: I wonder....

Warren in Lancaster, PA

>I once made a beech plow to cut a 3/32 groove; I think that is in the right range for this project. For making just two small ends like this you might be able to make two narrow saw kerfs and split out the wee bit in the middle, then use a rabbet plane to make the tongue.

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

paul womack

>Plus, I have no way to cut a thinner groove...

Use a scratch stock - tiny grooves are routine when doing stringing...

BugBear

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Yeah, I was setting up a Wisner 5X7, buying lenses and tools for making lensboards, including a circle cutter. Once I got into it, I realized that $25-40 wasn't all that bad a price for one.

However, my approach would have been to make each board of two pieces glued, the outside piece of hardwood, no breadboards, the inner piece of plywood painted black, hole cut after assembly.

Pam

Re: Real small breadboard ends...

Scott in Douglassville

>That's a good idea, BB. Give me an excuse to make a new tool. ;^)

Re: Picture and dimensions

Scott in Douglassville

>I tell you what, Paul, I looked at this long and hard 'afore I saw the T&G joint. That there's whatcha call a tiny lil' joint.

Seriously, it's good to see how it's laid out, and that it's a through joint. Thanks for the pic.

Scott

Re: I wonder....

Scott in Douglassville

>I was wondering that, too, Paul. But LF folks can be insane rivet counters. Traditional construction is a big deal, if not always for practical reasons. Truly, a piece of 1/4" plywood is a stable option, looks attractive enough, and is cheap and easy. But it t'aint traditional.

I think BugBear may be onto something with a scratch stock. If I was better with a saw, I'd say a couple kerfs would work. Too bad I ain't better with a saw.