Hi,

Does anyone here have the correct screw size for the folding infinity stops on a 4x5 Crown Graphic Special. I know I could take one out and take it to a train hobby shop or some such hardware speciality store. But I don't want to chance losing another tiny teeny itsy bitsy screw.

Steve
Guess you got your question answered on the
Large Format Photography Forum. I was just going to refer you to that thread.

See, now there's the problem with either not just giving the answer, or at least offering the link...

Here I am looking for the same info and did a search before I was going to post the question. This is the only thread that came up with the screw size... Unfortunately, not the answer...

And yes, I wasted 15 minutes searching for that other thread with no luck at all...

So, does anyone know the size of the infinity stop screws, and would like to offer the answer?

Rich, I felt so sorry for you, especially after seeing your snow picture on the other thread (q.v.), that I leapt right up, grabbed my Century and my taps, and determined that the rear screw is a 56 thread, but it's not the very common 2-56. Appears to be a 1-56, if that's possible. But here's the kicker: I then consulted my Century "Service Instructions and Parts Manual" only to find, much to my surprise, that the front and rear screws have different part numbers! This can only mean that they are not identical, and indeed the front screw looks smaller than the rear one. I didn't take it out to measure it.

Leave it to Graflex to do a goofy thing like this!

And of course these are no ordinary screws, but set-screw types with only a slot (no head) on one end, and a point on the other end (to give a little "bite" and dig into the rail). And are they tiny!

I'd give Lustig a call if I were you.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Henry on 2005-02-18 13:32 ]</font>

Thanks Henry I appreciate the work, and yes it does figure that they wouldn't use anything standard...

The stops are a convenience after all as the rails are easily marked. Just takes a little thought, unlike anything else in LF!

For the immediate moment, I have two solutions. First, I made 'extenders' out of brass. I'll glue these to the existing stops and it will work fine. Even still fold down. Maybe not so pretty...

Next, I found http://microfasteners.com/ which has screws down to #1 (maybe #0?) and taps to match! So, they may not be 2-56 now, but they wil be! Although I've never been fond of drilling out screws like that. Nasty job even with a drill press, expesially on such tiny holes. Way too easy to slip off center and/or break the drill.. But we'll see...

When I have time, I do love to do these things, and as much as I can. I think in the end, the camera and lenses will go to Fred. We'll see?

The part numbers are different because one has a cone point and the other has a flat face.

Tiny train hardware is probably going to be metric, and of little use for our Graphics.

The thought of trying to drill and tap one of these would send me to an easier project. Instead, take the easy way out of the problem and steal the second screw from the other infinity stop. They can work with just one. Hopefully the second stop has it, or maybe that was too obvious and you have already determined that your stops only had one screw each, leaving you in this pickle.

For sure, I would call Fred Lustig for the screw.

While metric is increasingly encountered in the hobby, common sizes of taps/threads in model railroad work are 00-90, 0-80, 1-72, 2-56, 3-48, 4-40. Well-stocked hobby shops catering to craftsman model railroaders should have these screws in various lengths, heads, and materials. What they aren't likely to have are any special shapes (cone tips, etc.) sometimes associated with our cameras. Often, though, a stock screw can be modified with files and/or Dremel tool, and be made suitable for our needs.

Ahh, the "Dremel", what a friend it is!

It also works very nicely to shorten an otherwise too long screw using the cutoff wheel. Or slot a head. Couldn't live without it!

Hopefully my lack of appropriate screws will be taken care of as soon as my order from microfasteners arrives. I would never admit how much I spent there, but I did over do it a bit on sizes... And I will _finally_ have the small taps that I haven't been abe to locate (at anything close to a reasonable cost)... And luckily, they had most of the sizes in brass. I just wonder how #3's I'll ever need?

I was going to bet Rich a Fotar that it was a 2-56 screw.
Good think I got out my MacHinery's Handbook.

Back in'44, the major diameter of a
2-56 was 0.0860 and a
1-64 was 0.0730 (you'll never find this screw)

In the fine thread series
1-72 was 0.0730 (much more common)
0-80 was 0.0600

The setscrew out of my Pacemaker reads 0.680. I'm not gonna try measuring the thread. I take Henry's word for it.

so that means we need a 1/2-56 screw!

It's times like these that make you wanna stock up on junk...er..PARTS bodies.

It may be wrong, but it looks like I'm lucky I also ordered those taps!


And now I'm starting to feel really bad making all these folks pull out their screws to measure them...


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RichS on 2005-02-19 21:30 ]</font>

I'm straining **really** hard to resist making an awfully bad double entendre here!

Whew! Success!

Quote:

On 2005-02-20 16:09, Henry wrote: I'm straining **really** hard to resist making an awfully bad double entendre here! Whew! Success!

Now, whatever do you mean?

(you should have seen the first draft of that message! )

Did it have yellow snow in it?

Hate to drag up an old thread

Wound up in the same situation again but this time, I pulled out the existing screw and did some measurements of my own. What we will do on a boring Winter afternoon...

So, after giving up trying to match thread pitch with my eyes, then giving up trying with magnifying glasses, I wound up using an 8x loupe...

Les pretty much hit it. The set screw is indeed a 1-64. He was also right about not being able to find this screw anywhere. I just spent a while searching...

Luckily, you can still find the taps & dies for this size and brass stock in the right #1 size for threading. I don't know about steel?

So, just for posterity...

The infinity stop screw is a 1-64.

Taps & dies are avaiable from sources such as:
Small Parts
http://www.smallparts.com/products/descriptions/acsd.cfm
and Victor Machine
http://www.victornet.com/cgi-bin/victor/products.html

I got my brass threading stock from Micro Mark http://www.micromark.com/ I believe.

Good luck to anyone else with screw problems