• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

3D printers of camera and darkroom kit

eli griggs

Subscriber
Allowing Ads
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
4,202
Location
NC
Format
Multi Format
Who here is already using 3D printers to make bit and pieces for their kit?

How useful is what you’ve made and can you share your data for useful lens caps, Minolta 16 film cartridge, film containers, lens cases, like the FSU Jupiter 11 hard case, etc?

I have a Bambu A1 but haven’t used it yet and starting projects are welcomed.
 
What 3D tools and gear would you make for your kit or, others, with your own 3D printers and what filaments would you suggest and why?

Would you try film mask for the Hasselblad or 4” x 5” holders?

How would you fill the micro fine layer lines?
 
Are you trying to justify having the printer?

My own photographic/related designs: a couple of Graflok-compatible backs for view cameras, lens board reducing adaptors, and an adaptor to use 4x5 film holders with a 2x3 Galvin.
Some other minor bits.

Other peoples': Morton Kolve's WillTravel cameras, Edgar Kech's 6x12 roll film back.

Just some highlights. If something exists and is reasonably obtainable, and I need it, I would probably go for the original. Otherwise ideas have to compete for my time with other things. And not everything is best done with a 3D printer (of any type). My printer is six years old now, but it should have a few more years yet.
 
Have been using one for a few years now for various odds & ends, including darkroom stuff. It's convenient to have one around. One thing that worked quite well was a set of negative holders for different formats for my enlarger. But at some point I ran into some proper holders/masks so I've been using those, since. But the printed ones were pretty good as well.

eli griggs said:
starting projects are welcomed
Click to expand...
The lens cap idea sounds a like a good place to start. Look into 3d design/sketching software, pick something you like, then give it a whirl. Set up a workflow that works for you. Personally I use Fusion for the design part and Cura for slicing. I've never printed any 3rd party designs so can't really help you with that.
 
eli griggs said:
What 3D tools and gear would you make for your kit or, others, with your own 3D printers and what filaments would you suggest and why?
Click to expand...
Most of the time I just use PLA because it's easy to work with. Some of the time I've used PETG but I've honestly never seen a very clear benefit to it.

eli griggs said:
Would you try film mask for the Hasselblad or 4” x 5” holders?
Click to expand...
No. I don't have a Hasselblad.
4x5" holders aren't too expensive or too difficult to find so I don't see the point in printing them. If I had to, I would print the frame and then obtain some sheet material for the dark slide as it doesn't make much sense to try and print that IMO.

eli griggs said:
How would you fill the micro fine layer lines?
Click to expand...
Ensure the printer is set up properly to begin with. Use a fine printing detail so layer height is kept low, which keeps the seams small. Design the part in such a way that any walls that need to be light proof are reasonably thick. Start by printing it with a high infill percentage (up to 100%). Then observe the result. Use whatever measure is feasible to fix any problems; this can vary from tape + tinfoil to paint to redesigning the part or adjusting printing parameters. There's no one-size-fits-all.
 
I make lens boxes for all my LF lenses, lens caps.

I just recently prototyped and printed a tripod mount for a majestic tripod head that I bought. I will send the file to a print contractor to get printed in stainless steel.

One thing I make that I didn’t think I would have a lot of trust in is threaded lens boards, which have held up wonderfully. I make them with petg cf.

I’d like to try and print one of the 6x12 cameras that a few designers have published online.
 
I am aiming to print push-on hoods for my Hasselblad lenses, based on the 3D hood and caps that came with the 3D hood for the 50mm lens I just bought.

Its a clean design, fine lines, and as good a design as I could want as a starting piece/place to begin.

I happened to recently receive a bottle of Black 4.0 recently, which is thick, syurp-like acrylic. paint that needs letting down a just little bit, with raw medium, that will fill the print line groove's for a smooth non-reflective surface, and should meet my needs, and will test this out on my first prints.
 

I was not clear about the 4”x5” masks, which can be read as holders Properly.

i was referring to masks to reduce the 4”x5” film or sheet paper image/exposed by way of a 3D printed mask, not the holders themselves.
 
Between Thingiverse and Printables.com, I've often found the thing I wanted. But I've also become more proficient at creating my own. I'd still consider myself a FreeCAD novice, but the more I use it, the more sense it makes, and I've gotten better at envisioning how I'll combine multiple simple elements to create the desired object.

But for better or worse, some Thingiverse members upload 3D-scanned objects which may or may not actually be printable, so I prefer those items which have reports of successful builds.

Some stuff, I don't bother with: For example, unless I need the part right now, I'm not going to waste time in printing Canon EF-mount rear caps when I can buy a half-dozen, injection-molded parts for very little money.

But 3D-printed lens shades can work great: They weigh nothing, they're impact-resistant, and if you lose or break one, print another!

For film cassettes, I've had success with Proto-Pasta's opaque black HTPLA. A 50 gram coil ought to be good for quite a few 16 mm film cassettes.
 
A free Tinkercad account from Autodesk is fairly capable to make parts if the design is not horribly complicated. A lot of tutorials on YouTube as well...

Tinkercad

Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use app for 3D design, electronics, and coding.
www.tinkercad.com
 
Have printed various film holders for DSLR scanning over the past few years, recently did a 110-reel for a Jobo tank that did the job.
Plus the usual handgrips, lens caps and hoods and various other itty bitty plastic pieces that tend to go missing. As 4season mentioned sometimes it's not worth the effort when you can get proper moulded items of eBay for little money, but for odd items or when you're in a hurry, it's a helpful option. Invariably any idea or need you can come up with, chances are someone already has and designed a solution ;-)

A longer term project for myself is to design a spiral loader to hold 15m of Super 8 in an old Jobo 2800 tank. Other solutions already exist for longer Paterson tanks but they require multiple cylinders inside each other.
 

Are you making any Minolta 16 cassettes?

While I have a couple of the originals, I crave making my own for extended travel abilities.
 

Cheers!
 
I have used mine for quite a bit of stuff.
Filter holders for enlarger, Negative carriers, an F-stop timer housing project, A "fake" Jobo developer motor housing.
Apart from alot of other little things.
Very useful.
 
I get a lot of enjoyment out of designing and printing things. I could not justify owning a machine for photographic purposes only, as you can contract out some low number of jobs before it becomes worth it to own your own machine, but there are countless household uses as well. The most useful photographic jobs that I have done for myself so far are a 'blad to rolleiflex prism adapter and a motor adaptor for paterson developing tanks. Its non-photographic, but just a couple of days ago I needed an adaptor to put an antenna on top of a tripod for a radio project. Less than an hour later there it was!
As a retired technician specializing in production engineering I can only imagine the wonderful outcomes there would have been if filament printers had been more available when I was working. Removing the machine shop from the prototyping process must be fantastic in terms of turnaround time (but maybe not so great for traditional R&D machinists).
For a subset of the objects that I have used for my own purposes see
 
I can not get my hands on my best measurement tools this week but when I do, I am going to measure and post the specs of the Hasselblad hoods, caps, and camera /magazine backs, as well as eventually, Canon furniture, like caps and body caps, here on Photrio, so others can see and add to them, quick reference for 3D prints for photograph.

in the meantime, I can study up the free software for making drawings real things for our kits.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register