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Lens Boards For Graphic Views
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JEFF MORFIT
Joined: 06 Sep 2008
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 12:32 pm   Post subject: Lens Boards For Graphic Views

I am planning on making some lens boards for my Graphic View cameras, and was curious to know if styrene modeling plastic of the correct thickness would be an acceptable material to use.
LelandRay
Joined: 24 May 2001
Posts: 115
PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:23 pm

If it doesn't flex and is totally opaque, I expect it would work well. If you can mill it without the plastic melting, it shouldn't take too long to fabricate a board, and once you got the first one done, doing others would be a piece of cake, especially if you have access to a CNC setup.
1banjo
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Posts: 492
PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:53 pm

I use two pices of Midwest #5305 - Baltic Birch 3mm
like ebay #280791723478
easy to cut with a square & a utilyknif one outer & one inside as for a light trap
45PSS
Joined: 28 Sep 2001
Posts: 4081
PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 8:22 pm

I've used black ABS and Acrylic to make lens boards for various cameras taking lens boards from 4 inch square to 6 inch square and they worked fine. I prefer the Acrylic over the ABS. The plywood Banjo mentioned is great also and available at many hobby or arts & craft stores. The biggest issue with thickness is will the shutter mount threads clear sufficiently for the lock nut to mate fully.

Cutting the outer edge down so it fits into the camera slots and leaving the rest to fit inside the front standard/bellows throat helps create a light trap.

Flat black paint on the inside (plywood) or sand the gloss off shinny plastic is necessary to eliminate unwanted reflections inside the camera.
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