Ilex Shutter question

So I have this Ilex #4 shutter that I lent to a friend a while ago. I didn't have a camera so he borrowed the lens and shutter. It came back attached to a Cambo board. Thanks dude! Anyway, it was attached via a treaded mount that kinda looks like a T-mount for a 35mm. I don't recall it had that. So I take it apart and unscrew it and put it on my wooden lensboard. Works good.

So now, my question is, if I want to put it back on my cambo board, do I still need that mount or can't I enlarge the hole and just put the Ilex on it with the retaining ring? Or do I always need that t-mount looking thing. I don't want to unscrew it from the wooden holder cause if I keep doing that, the woodscrews and holes will probably get worn out and now "hold" it anymore.

I guess my bigger question is, if I get a shutter/lens like a Copal or another Ilex, do they always mount on wood boards like that or is the back side recessed so the shutter fits right on top of the wood and the retaining ring is inside a recessed area? Thanks!

Hmmm, I just realized something. I don't remember seeing a retaining ring for it but I think I remember it had one. Are Ilex #4 retaining rings common? Is that hard to find?

Are you sure the flange that you have now isn't the "retaining ring" that you remember? Normally Ilex shutters have flanges that attach to the lensboard with screws, rather than retaining rings.

You could just get another Ilex 4 flange, but they're not very common. www.mpex.com sells new Ilex 3 and 5 flanges, so you could ask them. Otherwise, a machinist like SK Grimes is your best bet.

I've got three boards with Ilex 5 flanges so I can move my big lens between the Sinar P, Gowland 8x10, and Korona 7x17.

David A. Goldfarb said:

Are you sure the flange that you have now isn't the "retaining ring" that you remember? Normally Ilex shutters have flanges that attach to the lensboard with screws, rather than retaining rings.

You could just get another Ilex 4 flange, but they're not very common. www.mpex.com sells new Ilex 3 and 5 flahges, so you could ask them. Otherwise, a machinist like SK Grimes is your best bet.

I've got three boards with Ilex 5 flanges so I can move my big lens between the Sinar P, Gowland 8x10, and Korona 7x17.

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I just did some googling and it is a Flange. Retaining rings look more like the ring on the back of my Copal 0 and Copal 1 that fit in my Cambo board.

I just saw a picture of flange on an wooden board with Ilex # 5 BUT!! the flange was on the back of the board. I'm wondering if I made a mistake and put the flange on front of the board cause that's the way it is on my Cambo.

I just went to mpex.com and yes, mine does look like that but just a little different. So I need that all the time to install my Ilex #4?
David, please don't tell me I f* up and put the flange on front of the board and it should be on the back

The flange is supposed to go on the front of the lensboard.

Some people use a flange like a retaining ring on the back, and if the lensboard is big enough and the shutter doesn't have levers on the back that require that the shutter be offset from the lensboard, it can work.

David A. Goldfarb said:

The flange is supposed to go on the front of the lensboard.

Some people use a flange like a retaining ring on the back, and if the lensboard is big enough and the shutter doesn't have levers on the back that require that the shutter be offset from the lensboard, it can work.

Click to expand...

Ahh good deal. I think I'm dyslexic. I just checked and its an Acme #4 (Eastman Kodak Company) and not an Ilex. I'm wondering if they are the same pitch.

I just worked with these back in the 80s. I never owned one before
I used them like a wrench in a toolbox. "grab a lens and slap it on the camera and take some pictures". I wasn't very technical on how it was put together.

The Kodak has a different thread pitch. If you need a new flange, your best bet is SK Grimes. There's a Kodak #4, and an everyone else #4.