Lens Board Options

[Silverpixels5]

Does anyone have a good source for new, undrilled wooden lensboards? I have a few lenses that I'd like to mount, but no boards for them. Lensboard design would be fairly simple. I have a wooden B&J which takes 6x6 boards, and a wooden Korona which takes 7.5" boards. Thanks for any info you can offer!

 

[juan]

For 6x6 boards, I go to the hobby shop and buy model airplane plywood. It's six inches wide. It's easy to cut with a jig saw and comes in various thicknesses. I usually just cut a second piece smaller and glue it inside rather than try to rabbet a thicker piece.

For 7.5 boards, I've read that some folks find appropriate plywood at a place such as Home Depot, but I haven't tried that.
juan

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've done what Juan is suggesting when I had a Linhof Tech II, which has an odd-sized lensboard. I drilled the holes with an electric drill and keyhole-saw set. The main thing is to have a thick piece of scrap wood behind the board when drilling it, and clamp it down very securely. I used three clamps and got very clean holes despite using a somewhat crude method. Forstner bits would be even cleaner.

If you don't want to make your own, try www.mpex.com (you might have to e-mail or call them).

 

[glbeas]

I have read that a lensboard needs to be of two different grain directions laminated together for best dimensional stability. Thats the reason I prefer metal.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Part of the attraction of the modeling plywood is that it's composed of thin layers glued such that the grain is of each layer is perpendicular to the previous layer. It's very stable and lightweight.

 

[Silverpixels5]

bump

I'm in need of a 6x6" lensboard for my B&J. Thanks

 

[James Bleifus]

bump

I'm in need of a 6x6" lensboard for my B&J. Thanks

I do what David does and buy thin sheets of plywood. I find it at Michael's Crafts, have a friend trim it down and drill it. It seems very stable and very affordable.

Cheers,

James

 

[Nick Zentena]

If you're unwilling to make your own you could get a cabinet maker to make a pile up for you. Have him make a bunch and sell the excess on Ebay. A small number won't be much cheaper then getting a bunch made.

You're asking about undrilled? If you can drill them you have enough skill to make your own. If you really don't want to do that then you'll have to get somebody else to make them. Or do any current cameras use the same sort of lensboard? Unless somebody finds a hoard of vintage boards sitting in a box the odds of undrilled B&J or other old boards has got to be pretty low.

 

[herb]

lens boards

Richard Ritter in Vermont makes boards for all kinds of cameras, will drill to a special size also. He has a web site, does a lot of camera repair.

don't expect rapid fire delivery

 

[Monophoto]

I've made two lens boards. The first was made by laminating a 1/8" sheet of basswood on the front with a 1/8" sheet of paneling plywood. I cut the paneling 1/2" smaller in than the basswood, so that when I glued them together, the smaller dimension formed a rabbet on the back of the board. I also drilled an oversized hole in the panelling to produce a rabbet around the 1-3/8" (Copal 0) hole the basswood. Painted the back a flat black, and finished the front with stain and polyurethane. It seems to work fine initially, but six months later it had warped so badly that I wasn't comfortable using it - concerned about both light leaks and excess stress on the clamps that hold the lens board on the camera as they tried to counter the warp.

So I made a replacement using 1/4" poplar. This time I routed the rabbet on the back. I also cut a rabbet around the 1-3/8" hole. Again painted the back a flat black, stained the front, but then applied polyurethane to both sides as a moisture seal. Finished with a second coat of poly on the front for appearance. Time will tell whether there is a warping problem.

Total construction time for the second unit was less than an hour.