Hell yes, it worked!!! (Pin registered Beseler 45mx)

Well, I wanted one of those fancy pin-register systems but hard to pull the trigger on $450. Managed to DIY it using a spare neg carrier, a drill and some head-scratching. Just did a test - made an unsharp mask and a SCIM mask, and my registration looks perfect. Total expenditure (since I had a donor neg carrier and a glass 4x5 carrier) was some pocket change to buy 4 flat-head machine screws.

Mercy, a SCIM mask is a powerful thing, especially combined with an unsharp mask. This feels really "next level" for me, thanks to those who piped in when I was building and to all of those who have shared their mask making techniques. I was able to get really good results with ortho-lith film, which is so freaking easy to work with. Man, I'm pretty stoked.

Pictures of the modified carrier would be appreciated.

Don't have a really clear photo of the final, but this gets the idea across -

Basically, I had a 4x5 carrier that was like a "sandwich" - no hinge. Beseler 4x5's use 4 posts that sit in a big round opening to be able to rotate the carrier. They're not all in the same place though, but I found that the pins on the "sandwich" board aligned with the pins in my 4x5 glass carrier. So I considered the bottom half of this lens board to be the donor, and cut the opening bigger, and drilled out the 4 pin-posts (they're like rivets) and beveled the top of the holes, and verified that my glass carrier "clicked in" to that carrier. Then I made a drilling template, dropped the springs to the neg stage (so it drops down a few inches) and used a right-angle drill to make mounting holes from the carrier-plate to the neg stage.

So in the pic below, I screwed the carrier to a sheet of 3/4 plywood and used a drill press to make the holes through the plate and wood - then clamped that to the neg stage. The ply acted as a template and made it easier to drill straight-down into the neg stage. Removed the plywood, tapped the holes in the neg stage for an m4 machine screw, countersunk them in the donor neg carrier, and screwed it into the neg stage.

So now my glass carrier just "clicks in" to that plate (which used to be 1/2 a neg carrier); a I have a 6x6 and a 35 carrier that match up as well. Can't really photograph the final unless I drop the spring again, but that may explain it all. Didn't have to mod my actual carriers at all (other than taping silkscreen pins inside the glass carrier for registered masks).

Thanks , that is very helpful.