Something to attach to a box camera to screw a tripod

[Jaume Tormo]

Hello all,

First of all, thank you very much to all the community.
I've built a very basic box camera. Wooden box, magnifying glass as a lens and a 4x5 filmholder.
I would like to be able to mount it in a tripod, but I don't know how to do it.
I have a pinhole camera that has this thing screwed in the bottom.

As you can see it has screws for different screw sizes of tripod. I think it could be a good solution, but I don't know how to search for it online How do you call it?
Any clue on how to search for it or where? Any other idea?

Thank you very much.

 

[xkaes]

Go to the hardware store and get a "hammer-in" nut the same size as your tripod screw. I don't know what these are called, but you drill a hole in the wood and then this bolt is hammered into the hole. There are three or four tabs that keep the nut in place.

Someone with jump in with the correct name for these nuts -- right now it's driving ME nuts. They are used in furniture building all the time.

You'll need to seal the inside on the camera once you drill the hole for the nut.

 

[Don_ih]

Get a 1/4-20 t-nut.

 

[dxqcanada]

It looks like someone customized a hexagonal quick release plate from a tripod.
The holes for the three screws would not normally be there ... I think they drilled new holes for that.

 

[Kino]

Yes, that's a Manfroto 130-14 Quick Release Tripod Plate that's been modified. Not a bad idea if you have a matching Manfroto tripod and a few of these plates laying about unused, otherwise its an expensive adapter if bought just for that purpose.

As suggested above, get the T nut, but I would suggest you mount it on a separate block of wood a little thicker than the T nut and then glue or screw it to the bottom of the pinhole to maintain integrity of the light chamber. You can also do this with a common 1/4/20 hex nut driven into an undersized hole and epoxied into the wood strip if you can't find a T nut.

 

[jay moussy]

I made a wooden L shape cradle for box cameras, with tripod screw mount. Box gets strapped onto cradle, Not elegant, versatile, works, could be improved with metal and magnets?

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

The hammer-in T-Nut is a good solution.

Note the T-Nut needs to be hammered in from the inside of the camera. Tightening the tripod screw should pull the T-Nut into an even firmer grip on the wood. If attached to the outside the T-Nut will be loosened as the tripod screw is tightened.

The wood needs to be the right thickness - too thin and the threaded section may stick out or even the 'tines' of the nut may break through to the other side; too thick and the tripod's screw may not be able to reach the nut.

If the camera's wood is thin then gluing a block of wood inside the camera will provide enough thickness.

You may, however, find that 1/4-20 T-Nuts are hard to find in the EU (but what do I know, I've never tried). Even a 1/4-20 nut carefully epoxied to the inside of the camera would worn - assuming the tripods screw can reach through the wood.

My solution is usually lots of rubber bands.

 

[grahamp]

If 1/4-20 T nuts or plain hex nuts are hard to source, another option is a 3/8" to 1/4" tripod socket adapter. Drill a hole slightly undersize and screw the adapter into the base of the camera or a block of the right thickness. A touch of wood glue or epoxy may be needed to hold the adapter in the wood, but this is a small box camera - you will not need to screw it to the tripod very tightly.

A T nut would be the best, but one uses what one can get.

 

[jeffreyg]

If there’s a machine shop available have them thread a brass or stainless steel plate the same size and thread as your tripod screw. You could epoxy or screw it to the bottom of your camera. It should be easy and not expensive.

 

[Dustin McAmera]

If 1/4-20 T nuts or plain hex nuts are hard to source, another option is a 3/8" to 1/4" tripod socket adapter. Drill a hole slightly undersize and screw the adapter into the base of the camera or a block of the right thickness. A touch of wood glue or epoxy may be needed to hold the adapter in the wood, but this is a small box camera - you will not need to screw it to the tripod very tightly.

A T nut would be the best, but one uses what one can get.

+1. I've done this a couple of times. It's cheap and it works pretty well, provided the base of your camera is thick enough.

Micro-Tools Europe Tools | Tripod Socket Converter 1-4 to 3-8 | buy online

Tripod Socket Converter 1-4 to 3-8 - Makes your tripod more versatile allowing you to use your tripod for cameras requiring either the 3/8" screw mount or 1/4" screw mount.

www.micro-tools.de

 

[Hassasin]

In all this the key is 1/4 - 20 thread, common tap available at any place tools are sold, so a piece of thick aluminum or brass plate could be easily threaded to size and neatly attached with screws to the bottom of camera.

T-nut is OK and as suggested needs to be on the inside to work right, hence the other suggestion about a piece of wood to attached to camera will make it all easy to put together AND right.

 

[ic-racer]

NO AFFILIATION. But, I'd use this.

 

[reddesert]

As others mentioned, the hexagonal plate you have there is a Manfrotto hexagonal quick release plate, with the central screw removed. Like this one: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...to_130_14_130_14_Hexagonal_Quick_Release.html

These plates also have 1/4 and 3/8" threaded holes, so you can mount them on a different tripod, if the tripod screw is not too long (it may bottom out on the bottom of the camera). Naturally, the hex plate works great if you already use a Manfrotto/Bogen head that accepts it, but is a bit of overkill if you don't.

Other options include the T-nut as mentioned above - must be installed from inside camera and masked off, works well on wood, not on sheet metal - or for example you could get an inexpensive Arca-style QR adapter for your tripod, and mount a QR plate permanently to the base of your camera.

 

[DWThomas]

I would vote for the T-nuts, at least here in the US, they are available with 2 or 3 different lengths of the tapped cylindrical portion which can help match the wood thickness. I have used them on a 4x5 and an 8x10 pinhole camera. I have made the holes almost a press fit and bedded the nuts in glue or epoxy so they can't wiggle.

4x5 Pinhole
8x10 Pinhole
(You can back up in that gallery hierarchy at the top of the page and see more than you wanted to know about the overall construction.)

 

[Jaume Tormo]

Thank you very much!
Very useful information!
I'll look for the t nuts online... And don't discard de craddle option.

Jaume.

 

[Jaume Tormo]

I would vote for the T-nuts, at least here in the US, they are available with 2 or 3 different lengths of the tapped cylindrical portion which can help match the wood thickness. I have used them on a 4x5 and an 8x10 pinhole camera. I have made the holes almost a press fit and bedded the nuts in glue or epoxy so they can't wiggle.

4x5 Pinhole
8x10 Pinhole
(You can back up in that gallery hierarchy at the top of the page and see more than you wanted to know about the overall construction.)

Dave, very interesting web. Thank you.

Jaume.

 

[grain elevator]

I think directly using a tripod quick release plate rather than a screw is smart. Doesn't have to be a big manfrotto kind, use whatever fits your tripod head.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

Get a 1/4-20 t-nut.

View attachment 360679

Bingo!

 

[wiltw]

1. Epoxy on a QR baseplate that has a pre-drilled 1/4"-20 thread drilled into its bottom, for the tripod screw, or
2. Epoxy on a QR baseplate and attach the corresponding QR clampthat accepts a 1/4" tripod screw, on the tripod baseplate or
3. find a small piece of metal suitably thick, drill and tap it for 1/4"-20 x 7mm depth hole, and epoxy that plate on the camera

I once thought that Manfrotto offered some suitable small accessory brass piece that had a 1/4-20 hole drilled into it, for use with one of their clamp/lighting products, but I could not find a list of such pieces (I used to walk into a local photography pro shop and walkup up and down their aisles of such things!) The Manfrotto rectangular QR baseplates would work just fine.

 

[Jaume Tormo]

NO AFFILIATION. But, I'd use this. View attachment 360708

Very interesting, thank you!

 

[runswithsizzers]

NO AFFILIATION. But, I'd use this. View attachment 360708

Looks like a nicely made piece of work. Your screen shot looks like it might be from eBay, but I can't find a seller by that name on the USA eBay website. With an approval rating of only 85.7%, I probably would avoid that seller, anyway.

@Jaume Tormo, I see you are in Spain. There is a machinist in Portugal who makes some nice lens adapters. He does not offer what you are looking for as a stock item, but I am sure he is capable of making something like shown above in either brass or aluminum. He does some custom work, so maybe he would be interested(?) His name is Jose Meneses and his website is https://customphototools.com/

 

[Rolleiflexible]

The easy solution would be to get a used pan/tilt head made for a large format camera. (See attached image from a current eBay auction.) It will have a big flat base. Use a bungee cord to attach the camera to the base and you're ready to go.

 

[Rolleiflexible]

Or, if you already have a tripod head that accepts Arca-Swiss plates, get an L-bracket and bungee-cord the camera to it. Here's one on eBay for US$10:

Pardon Our Interruption...

I use one to mount my iPhone (with a hair bow) on a tripod. Useful and inexpensive.

 

[Jaume Tormo]

Well, thank you all!
I'm overwhelmed!