Homemade camera by Denis MO (amazing)

AgX · Feb 24, 2014

benjiboy said:
One of the first principals of engineering is not to spend time and effort manufacturing components that you can buy in cheaper.

The engineer works to achieve something.
This guy works for the fun of it.

trythis · Feb 24, 2014

Some people are perplexed by people that spend time and energy on things just for enjoyment.
They aren't usually great artists.

benjiboy · Feb 24, 2014

trythis said:
Some people are perplexed by people that spend time and energy on things just for enjoyment.
They aren't usually great artists.

I have no aspirations to be a "great artist" too many people as soon as they able to make recognisable images of objects, landscapes, and people delude themselves that they are..

E. von Hoegh · Feb 24, 2014

benjiboy said:
One of the first principals of engineering is not to spend time and effort manufacturing components that you can buy in cheaper.

Yep. This guy's a hobbyist though.

E. von Hoegh · Feb 24, 2014

Lee Rust said:
I am awed by things like this. Pretty sure the SLR was his first effort. The rangefinder came later and used the same shutter mechanism and body style. The rangefinder itself seemed to be the most difficult part. He even ground the internal RF lenses himself.

Very similar to the guy who manufactures his own glass vacuum tubes. If I remember correctly, he is also a Frenchman.

There was an English fellow who made his own amateur transmitter, using tubes he made himself. I think he made a reciever the same way.

TheToadMen · Feb 24, 2014

E. von Hoegh said:
Yep. This guy's a hobbyist though.

So was Noah building a boat in the dessert, while listening to his inner voice. And we all know happened next ...
So sometimes it is good to do an apperently silly thing, no matter what others say, just because we have to (as long as you don't hurt anybody in the process).
Bert from Holland
http://thetoadmen.blogspot.nl

Newt_on_Swings · Feb 24, 2014

Shoot if I had a garage with all that machinery for tooling, and the know how to operate it, I would make these things all day. I cannot wait for 3d printing of high resolution and low cost to finally get here so the layman such as myself can make stuff similar to this.

trythis · Feb 24, 2014

3d printing brass will be interesting. I know they do metal now, but really its just metal casting that displaces metal infused plastic. Making useful things in home printers will probably come along about the same time as replicators ala Star Trek. Surely it will happen, but once they are around there will be sites like this dedicated to building stuff the old fashioned way using manual machinery. There will be arguments on the site about whether or not you can discuss punch card programmed machines that still have manual handles.

Dan Fromm · Feb 25, 2014

Newt_on_Swings said:
Shoot if I had a garage with all that machinery for tooling, and the know how to operate it, I would make these things all day. I cannot wait for 3d printing of high resolution and low cost to finally get here so the layman such as myself can make stuff similar to this.

Amazing. You've just converted me to Benjiboy's point of view. If your time has value, why spend untold hours making what you can buy for very little money? Unless, of course, what you really want is the joy of making things.

Your idea makes me wonder, though. Will plastic as can be laid down by 3d printers serve where metals are now used?

alexfoto · Feb 25, 2014

-Amazing and amazing also the pictures!! what a tonality!! Ahh!! those Russian cheap lens some times surprise me with what can do..

Newt_on_Swings · Feb 25, 2014

Dan Fromm said:
Amazing. You've just converted me to Benjiboy's point of view. If your time has value, why spend untold hours making what you can buy for very little money? Unless, of course, what you really want is the joy of making things.

Your idea makes me wonder, though. Will plastic as can be laid down by 3d printers serve where metals are now used?

Well right now you can send out plans to get printed as bronze or steel objects. Supposedly it uses a sort of binder to adhere the steel from the printer bed as it's being printer. I am not all to clear on how similar it is to printing plastic (there are also many ways to print plastic). It would be interesting if a combination of new and traditional methods would pall to printing, such as first printing a model out of low temp plastic (or wax) and using that to create a mold for casting metals. If you check out shapeways.com and look for the steel option you can see some of the stuff that's already being made now.

Waldi · Feb 25, 2014

benjiboy said:
The expression that springs to mind is "using your head to save your legs", why expend so much time and effort to produce an object that can be obtained in more highly developed form cheaper ?.

There is nothing more rewarding than building something using your hands, especially in case of complex engineering apparatus. My hats to Denis, great job and keeps gray matter working. I love building wind turbines, of course I could buy one that is mass produced, but satisfaction of making one and learning that I obtain during process are invaluable and rewarding. I add, Denis now has one of a kind camera, congrats!
What a great project!!!

trythis · Feb 25, 2014

Dan Fromm said:
Will plastic as can be laid down by 3d printers serve where metals are now used?

Even metal infused epoxy cant really hold up as a gear as well as brass, I think Nylon would be considered weak in pro camera equipment. Maybe someday they will get to Nylon with printing, but only when they can print moleculary.
Look up some places doing metal "printing", dig deeper and they are casting metal into the space that the plastic filled. This is not the same as 3d printing. It is making plastic patterns for metal casting with all the limitations of metal casting. That includes, shrinkage, texture and everything would have to be machined afterwards to get flatness and any sort of tolerance on gears. They dont build machines, engines, gear boxes, etc. from rough castings now and never will be able to. When metal cools from a molten state it shrinks and always will. They are also limited to pretty thick minimums for these metal castings, such as 3mm...Who wants a 3mm thick camera body?

AgX · Feb 27, 2014

Metal 3D printing is no castíng in negatives made from 3d-printed plastic, but 3D-printing of either metal powder with plastic binder and a subsequent sinter-process, or direct sintering of metal powder.

fretlessdavis · Feb 27, 2014

alexfoto said:
-Amazing and amazing also the pictures!! what a tonality!! Ahh!! those Russian cheap lens some times surprise me with what can do..

My Helios always surprises me with what I can do. It has bad flaring, but it's my absolute favorite lens on my Pentax gear.

Awesome job on the homemade SLR. No doubt it will serve him the rest of his life, and likely his children's lives, too.

trythis · Feb 28, 2014

AgX said:
Metal 3D printing is no castíng in negatives made from 3d-printed plastic, but 3D-printing of either metal powder with plastic binder and a subsequent sinter-process, or direct sintering of metal powder.

I was just going from what I had read here: http://www.shapeways.com/materials/brass

How it's 3D printed:
Brass models are fabricated using a complex five-step process. First, the model is printed in wax using a specialized high-resolution 3D Printer. It is then put in a container where liquid plaster is poured in around it. Once the plaster sets, the wax is melted out in a furnace, and the remaining plaster becomes the mold. Molten brass is poured into this mold and set to harden. The plaster is broken away, revealing your new product. Raw Brass is briefly tumbled. Polished and Gold Plated Brass are carefully cleaned and hand polished. Gold Plated Brass goes through a final electroplating process for an outside coat of 22k gold. Please be aware that polishing and plating can wear down or fill in very fine details and edges.

The direct laser sintering process wasn't what I was thinking of, but looks like a much better process than 3d printing for metal.

Homemade camera by Denis MO (amazing)

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency