I have some funky lenses (like a 75 mm Agnar and a 105mm tessar) I want to use on my Crown Graphic. Please! no comments about the advisability, images circles etc. I know and have my own direction for these.

I don't want to sink a lot of cash into buying a bunch of used lens boards. Can you make your own? Would a flat aluminum plate cut correctly to size work and be light tight even though it was missing the lip? Put some thin foam on the back? I guess an alternative might be making some special rings to hold smaller diameter lenses in a larger hole?

Thanks all. This is a great forum!

RA

For very light use and trying lenses out, try black foamcore cut to fit (just) inside the front standard's light trap. Crude, ugly, works.

Do you have access or a helpfull friend with a lathe?
For my 4x5 Pacemakers I had one lens board with a pretty big hole, and spun stepped spacer washers to fit a couple lenses I wanted to use.
I'll make a couple more for my smaller 2x3 series cameras as I found it worked real well and supported the bigger stuff nicely.
My idea here was meant to be a semi permanent mount so it is aluminum and solid.

I have used 3/16 ABS and Acrylic. I like the acrylic better. Take sheet of acrylic and mark outline of existing pacemaker board or mark measurements of the front standard opening and cut out with a jig saw using a fine metal couuting blade. Test balnk to fit the front standard opening. Measure and mark the bellows opening on the blank. Using a Dremel in a router base, Rotozip (Craftsman Rotary tools are Dremel and Rotozip rebadged) or small router fited with a straight cut router bit trim the outer edge down so that the blank will fit into the bellows opening and the lens board locks will enguage fully. Remove the paper on the inside and sand the glossy surface until it is flat. Drill the mount hole and mount the lens. The outer edge will be very thin but acrylic is strong enough to support a 12 inch focus lens in a #4 Ilex shutter. There is no need to form the lip or add foam, just have the inside edge relatively smooth and the board should just fit snugly, not loosely.

In case anybody is interested I've posted pixs of my DIY by apartment dweller with a drill Pacemaker boards: http://ragarecords.com/photo/

Nice, John! This would work for my Century Graphic as well. I also enjoyed looking at your comparative scans (and conclusions!), as well as the wide angle viewfinder that you fashioned from the Kodak disposable camera. I bet this would work for my 65mm Optar on the Century, too. Thanks!

P.S. Great egrets and black-crowned night herons in Central Park---wonders never cease!

I"ve used black mat board. I trace a metal lensboard and cut to size. For heavy lenses I may use two layers.

I used this technique to mount a heavy 152mm baltar f2.8 when I didn't want to pay for a flange. It worked very well. I just cut the hole for the lens a bit tight and the lens "cut" the threads in the board. A little gaffer tape on the back for insurance.