Rail Guides for my 8x20

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Well, when I told you I was building an 8x20 and that I would work at my own pace, no time table, I wasn't kidding! I'm actually moving along thanks to Dan and Hugos 8x20 and 10x20's that were on display at the Per Volquartz workshop in January in Joshua Tree. Thanks for the inspiration. I have a question and need some suggestions on how to solve a small problem. I am using the parts from a Kodak 2-D for my camera. I am building the back base. I am using the rail guides and I realized that when I designed my rails I made them thinner than the Kodak's. Hence the rails are to long or should I say come down from the base about 1/8" to much. I will attach some pictures to help explain. My question is? Am I better off fabricating new rail guides or is it possible to bend the guides I have to fit my needs? The rail guides are original and I would have to bend them straight and then re-bend them. Am I crazy? Am I better off making new ones? I apologise to all of the other builders in advance if I am not using the proper terminology. After all I am building this in my Apartment with hand tools!

Jim

 

[Colin Graham]

Sorry, let me start over- if the metal is brass, re-bending will fatigue the metal and weaken it greatly, plus it's difficult to remove the crease from the old bend. Bending a new guide is possible but it's more difficult than it would seem to get the bends in exactly the right spot- even a 64th of an inch can make an enormous difference. Could you laminate strips of wood to the bottoms of the extension rails to make up the difference?

 

[John Koehrer]

So the problem currently is, if you place the rails on the guides the gear doesn't engage the rail?
Sooo, lower the gear, raise the gear track, form new guides.
From the standpoint of cosmetics and functionality I think the option would be to fabricate new guides. Would it be possible to make them from angled brass, soldered or screwed together with small brass screws & polished?

 

[doughowk]

For my old Koronas, I added a metal spring (cut from old leaf rake) in the groove that the rod & gear fits in. It forces the gears down just enough to engage with the tracks. A bit of a hack but seems to work quite well.

 

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Thanks for everyone's input. I do appreciate all of the help. I think I must re-fabricate the brass. This is my first camera build and in an attempt to save some weight with a design change on the rails I did not see how it would affect the camera at this stage. All of the brass rods and other pieces connect together very nicely. If I try to re-design at this stage I think I will be in for more trouble. I'm going to ponder my options. Thanks everyone. Man is this forum great or what!!

Jim

Stay Focused...or Soft Focused