RogerHyam
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This is just a quick share rather than write a long blog post or video.
A few years back I bought a Vageeswari 10x12 with four plate holders from Oxfam UK. I cleaned it up and got it working. Blog on it is here.
A commenter on the blog pointed out it wasn't a Vageeswari but made by a break off company in about 1950. I think they are right. The build quality isn't good. e.g. All the screws are steel not brass so all are rusted in place.
There was an issue with the focus in that one of the pinions in the rack and pinion had lost a tooth. This got worse and worse. Each time it slipped the frame got out of angle and jammed. Basically it was unusable. I tried removing all the teeth from the pinion so the frame could stay square if helped along by hand but that didn't really help things much.
I gave the camera a long hard stare ..... for a couple of years. There was no good replacing the rack and pinion because it was ridiculously under spec'd for the camera. It probably came off a smaller model. Last weekend I decided to grasp the nettle and build an entirely new base for it.
I used some old shower board plywood which is very stable (spray paint £5), some linear bearing rails (£20) and old worm drive from a scrapped 3D printer and a bunch of 3D printed bits. I cut the bellows off the front standard because my initial plan was to make my own standard. I then realised it would be easier to recycle the old standard and had to glue them back on.
The result is a Franken camera. Seems sound but I haven't made an exposure yet. It is still winter here in Scotland and I need some daylight. Maybe this weekend. At least is should work now.
I'm not even sure if I have some paper the right size for paper negs. Next I'll shop for some x-ray film perhaps.
A few years back I bought a Vageeswari 10x12 with four plate holders from Oxfam UK. I cleaned it up and got it working. Blog on it is here.
A commenter on the blog pointed out it wasn't a Vageeswari but made by a break off company in about 1950. I think they are right. The build quality isn't good. e.g. All the screws are steel not brass so all are rusted in place.
There was an issue with the focus in that one of the pinions in the rack and pinion had lost a tooth. This got worse and worse. Each time it slipped the frame got out of angle and jammed. Basically it was unusable. I tried removing all the teeth from the pinion so the frame could stay square if helped along by hand but that didn't really help things much.
I gave the camera a long hard stare ..... for a couple of years. There was no good replacing the rack and pinion because it was ridiculously under spec'd for the camera. It probably came off a smaller model. Last weekend I decided to grasp the nettle and build an entirely new base for it.
I used some old shower board plywood which is very stable (spray paint £5), some linear bearing rails (£20) and old worm drive from a scrapped 3D printer and a bunch of 3D printed bits. I cut the bellows off the front standard because my initial plan was to make my own standard. I then realised it would be easier to recycle the old standard and had to glue them back on.
The result is a Franken camera. Seems sound but I haven't made an exposure yet. It is still winter here in Scotland and I need some daylight. Maybe this weekend. At least is should work now.
I'm not even sure if I have some paper the right size for paper negs. Next I'll shop for some x-ray film perhaps.
