WORKSHOP HINTS AND TIPS

SlMPLE P L A T E CAMERA Ltd. You can buy as many as you

need at photographic dealers. Dia-
gram C shows details when the thin
metal cover is drawn off. There is
a spring against which you push the
end of the plate until it can be
I MADE a 3-1/2 in. x 2-1/2 in. plate The wood is oak. Front, back and slipped under two lugs XY. Then
camera, after some general sides are 1/2 in. thick; top and bottom you replace the cover. This is done
experience of photography, to are 1/4 in. thick. Front and back are with a safe-light in the dark, or with
the full width of the camera with the a changing bag.
eliminate waste when my needs sides fitted between them. Top and You push the slide into the
could be met with a single photo- bottom cover all. Countersunk camera, tighten the slide holder, and
graph. screws hold the pieces together. draw out the cover, ready to take a
Like many another, I had taken As shown, the right side is shorter photograph. As you draw out the
up photography in the grip of an than the left to leave a space through cover, a strip of velvet in the slide
enthusiasm that left little room for which the slide with the plate can be comes up against the right side of
reflection. For a time my Ensign inserted. The left side has a step the camera at W, to prevent light
Selfix 820 camera was in constant 1/8 in. deep into which the inner end from entering. You take the photo-
use. I did not dream that with re- of the slide engages. The back has graph, push the cover back into the
turning rationality my requirements two integral bosses through which slide, and remove the slide from the
would be drastically curtailed. the pins UV of the Y-shaped slide camera. I fitted the original Albada
holder pass. view finder so that I could see what
These pins are stepped at the ends I was taking.
to bear over the outer edge of the To get the length of the camera,
By GEOMETER slide as the slide holder is tightened I checked the lens at its different
by its nut. They prevent the slide settings, after screwing the front on
from being inadvertently withdrawn, a wood base with a ground glass
as might otherwise happen when the plate in a bracket, as at D. A piece
But what can you do with a roll cover was removed for taking a of cloth over top and sides excluded
film camera, unless the one urgently- photograph. Details of the fitting light so that I could see the image
needed photograph can be taken will be given in my next article. on the plate. The correct length Z,
near the end of a film? If it is near I chose the simplest single slide after the plate had been set. agreed
the beginning, you must waste the holder: A. P. Paris made by Posso closely with the dimension of the
remainder of the film or wait until Ltd, Paris, and distributed by Actina Selfix. q
it can be used on other subjects.
Soon I did not wish to do either. I
wanted single photographs, or at BA
most a few, without waste and with-
out loss of time. Obviously, I
needed a plate camera.
By this time I had used the Ross
Xpress lens of the Selfix for several
purposes besides the original one. It
was the basis of the apparatus for
the Profile Projector in ME of
November 26 and December 3 and
10, 1959. Mounted on a 3 in. square
of 1/8in. Tufnol, it had done copying
and enlarging in the dark room. I
could easily transfer it to a plate
camera on its Tufnol mount, which
was drilled near the corners for 2 BA
LIDE
HOLDER
bolts.
This lens has everything to
simplify camera construction. The
roll-film cameras are themselves very
cheap now at second-hand. The
maximum aperture is 3.8 and the
focal length 105 mm. By turning
the front cell, you can focus from
infinity to 4 ft. With supplementary
lenses you can get within inches of
subjects. The Epsilon shutter gives
a choice of speeds from “ time ” to
l/250 second.
With these built-in facilities, the
plate camera had only to be a suit-
able design of box to take lens and
slides. Diagrams A and B show its
main features.
13 SEPTEMBER 1962 329 MODEL ENGINEER
 WORKSHOP HINTS AND TIPS

SIMPLE PLATE CAMERA - 2

T theweek
HIS the illustrations show
dimensions for parts of
the camera whose purpose and
main features were described in
the first article.
Heavy wood simplifies the con-
struction for anyone who has doubts
about his skill. It leaves ample room
for all screws and so there is no
risk of splitting. For the front,
back and sides 1/2 in. oak is used. Top
and bottom are of fin. oak.
The focal length of the Ross
Xpresss3.8 lens controls the length
of the camera. The width derives
from the length of the A.P. Paris
slides for the 3 -1/2 in. x 2-12 in. plates
and the depth is equal to the width
of the slides plus top and bottom;
it is 3-7/16 in., the slides being 2-15/16 in.
wide.
Diagram A shows the front as
seen from the outside B. gives the

By GEOMETER

back, and C is a view of the top.

The bottom is the same. Diagram
D gives details of the two sides.
The left side is as seen from
above: 3-5/16 in. long with a step 1/8 in.
X 5/32 in. running the full depth at
the rear end to take the inner end of
the slide. The right side is shorter
by 5/32 in., leaving a gap between its
end and the back. Through this
space the slide is inserted.
Twenty-six No 6 countersunk steel
woodscrews are used for assembling.
Six are 1-1/4 in. and 20 3/4 in. The long
ones fit from front and back into the
sides and the short ones secure the
top and bottom. I made the clear-
ance holes with a No 28 drill, after-
wards countersinking them with a
rose bit so that the heads of the
screws lay flush.
For tapping holes, I used two
different drills : a N o. 50 for the long
screws and a No. 52 for the short
ones. This was to eliminate the risk
of wringing off long screws in
tightening, and to leave extra bite
for short ones.
The four holes at 2-3/8 in. spacing in
the front of the camera, as shown at
A , are for mounting the lens holder
by 2 BA screws. The screws are
inserted from the back with the
threads to the front, where nuts are
fitted.
20 SEPTEMBER 1962
Had I made the holes of clearance
size for the screws, there would
probably have been difficulty in
ftting the lens holder from ths
screws pushing back into the camera.
I therefore made the holes with an
undersize drill,. No 22, and tightened
the screws, which are 1 in. long, with
a screwdriver.
I used the same drill for the hole
W in the back of the camera, as
shown at B. It takes a 7/8 in. counter-
sunk 2 BA screw for the slide holder,
as shown a tE, where the hol eZ is
3/16 in. for clearance on the screw.
The lathe was used for boring the
hole for the lens in the front of the
camera and for machining the 1-1/4 in
radius on the back. I held the front
in the reversed jaws of the inde-
pendent chuck; the back I clamped
to the faceplate. For both I used
the same boring tool. The hole in
the front is stepped, 1-5/8 in. at the
outside and 1-1/4 in. at the inside. Its
off-set in the front is to bring the
axis of the lens to the centre of the
plate.
After machining the 1-1/4 in. radius
361
on the back of the camera, I used
the partly-finished slide holder, of
1/16 in. steel, as a template for drilling
two 5/32 in. holes. Then I turned a
3/4 in. diameter steel plug with a 5/32 in.
shank as a guide for filing the two
3/8 in. radii on the back and those on
the slide holder.
With these operations completed,
I opened the two holes in the back
to 1/4 in. clearance, and fitted the
corresponding holes in the slide
holder with 1/4 in. X 5/8 in. shouldered
pins, which I riveted and brazed.
Each pin has a filed step, as shown
a t F, to fit over the outer edge of the
slide to prevent it from being inad-
vertently withdrawn from the
camera. The slide holder has a
1/16 in. set for the ends of the pins to
bear on the slide.
A further point about the fitting
of the slide is that the right side of
the camera, as shown at D, must be
filed a few thou at X and Y, to clear
the top and bottom flanges of the
slide, which are tight on the outside.
The inside of the camera is painted
matt-black to prevent reflections.
MODEL ENGINEER