I have a research project that some very big help in needed on. I see several articles on making ones own rangefinder cams, but no templates...

What I am proposing is to collect as many cam template outlines as possible for Speed/Crown and Super Graphic models, and then create a PDF document for download. This way, anyone with a mechanical bent could accurately reproduce a cam for the historic lenses these work with. If a particular cam works with plasmat or other lenses, that would be noted as well. Custom templates that are cut for specific modern lenses could be included on a seperate PDF. All of this to be updated as necessary.

I have a specific plan on how we can accomplish this. Any interest?

See:

http://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?topic=1251&forum=1
http://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?topic=2721&forum=12

And a few other attempts...

Good luck

And yes, I do still have the few scans the few helpful people sent me and they will eventually wind up as a PDf on my site. Things have just become quite backlogged...

Thanks Rich. One of the problems I see with the process as described in these threads is that the measuring or scanning process is overly complex and fraught with far to many variables and inaccuracies. Forget all that. My idea was to have interested participants trace the outline on paper, and send it by old fashioned mail... Scan, line out in AutoCAD, absolute scale, and import to Acrobat 7. Result: perfectly scaled templates for recordation and duplication. Maybe even a step-by-step article on producing them accurately at home.

Thought I might even churn a few of them out, as I have the equipment to knock them out in a few minutes. But then, when one can buy them from B&H for $75, or grimace at whatever arbitrary price appears on eBay or a camera store, maybe this is too much work for any of us. Just a thought...

The problem is not the archiving of templates or scans, nor the process chosen. Even the duplications is fairly easy. Certain dimensions are always the same, so simple scans work just as well by the way...

The problem is and has always been getting people to do the work. That's why I said "good luck". I haven't even had the time to assemble the few scand I have for a PDF for my site. Getting other people to do the work is a task in itself. It would be nice. I tried with very limited success. I wound up buying all the cams I needed...

I hope you have more luck....


P.S. If anyone feels the compulsion, it would be very easy to come up with a math equation to calc any cam needed. I also plan to do this, when I find the time....


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RichS on 2005-06-05 20:30 ]</font>

Here's a dumb question.

My SG had the rangefinder cannibalized before I received it.

My CG was in such poor shape form the previous gorilla that owned it, it's missing so many RF coupler parts I don't know whether there is even a cam in it.

So I don't know what they look like. I do have the original lens, so if there is a cam still lurking under the RF cover, it matches. I just don't know what the cam is supposed to look like, so I wouldn't recognize it if it was staring at me.

Can someone tell me where it is supposed to be and maybe link to an image of one, installed or removed?

Thanks

Murray

Murray,

The best I can offer in the wee hours...

Try here for a drawing:
http://graflex.org/articles/oakes/

The best I can offer for the cam changing info would be the manual itself. Those you can download from
http://www.southbristolviews.com
under Graflex manuals.

Any more than that and I'd have to be awake

OK, thanks.

The SBview manuals as I printed them were too grainy with inkjet dot pattern to give me confidence recognizing anything I wasn't already familiar with. I'm mechanically challenged and spatially inept, however.

I had seen the 'make a cam' article, but either the cam is missing or I'm completely lost. (I know where the RF is and found the spring-loaded access door!).

This camera had been poorly treated and some horrible self repairs attempted, so some parts have been given up on.

I'll keep looking (camera archaeology).

Thanks

Murray

Hi,
I will be happy to participate to this "CAM project" since I'm working and testing a plot for the right sizes ot them and that we could, I hope, apply for the topRF. Scanning my p18 CAM, for the 10" lens, I verified with the tools of Corel Draw that using a resolution of 1200 dpi and 1:1 copy, the Epson scan do not changed the sizes that I previous checked with a digital caliper (short end 10,14mm; long end or infinity 11,14mm; bottom 26,12mm, top 23,14mm). Checking my plot I found that the short end of 127mm lens should be 7,88mm. But on another post a read that someone it pointed out different measures for this lens(7,6mm); moreover, if my plot is going right, the short end of a p88 CAM (i.e.for the 7" Aero Ektar)could be 9,28mm and the p26 CAM ( i.e. for the 8" Dallmeyer ) could be 9,66 mm. Is there anyone that can verify with a digital caliper these sizes on his/her own CAMs? Finally, where can we send the scan copies of our CAMs ? May we have a space in this website?
Thanks in advance for your contribution to this "Genoma CAM project"

Could someone be kind enough to contact me through the board and provide a 1:1 scan of the 127mm cam for the Super Graphic? Thanks.