Saturday 19 November 2016

Pinhole Camera – 4x5, 60mm (Build Part 1)

This is the second pin hole camera I started to make, and the first I have finished. The last camera was made out of Oak and used butt joints, this one is made out of Mahogany and uses dove tail joints.
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Cutting the tails and pins.
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A closer look… these were my first dove tail joints and whilst ok they weren’t as good as I’d hoped.
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Test fit. They fit together fine, but not as close as I’d have liked.
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I’d previously created a wider board by joining two pieces of stock together. In this case a cut the second piece in half, so I joined a half on either side of the first piece. I did this so I wouldn’t have to drill a hole for the pinhole on the join. I really wanted to see how the wood would look with a finish, so added some bee’s wax.
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I glued up two more pieces of stock for the back, this time I didn’t need to worry about the join being in the middle.
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I added a border for the film holder to fit into, and also cut a channel for the notch on the film holder to fit into.
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I cut a notch out of the side of the camera to let the film holder sit inside the box slightly so that the edge didn’t line up with the light seal. I added a lip all round the inside of the camera for the film holder to sit on.
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Test fit of the film holder. Once it fit correctly, I could add the hinges to allow the back to open to accept the film holder.
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Hinges added. I used brass ones and made sure to recess them.
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The film holder fits in quite snug.
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I still need to add some felt to act as a light trap. This will also give some spring for the catches to work with.
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Next I drilled a hole for the vertical spirit level.
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And same again for the horizontal one.
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Next I did the same for the tripod mounts.
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And again…
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With the tripod mounts and the spirit levels epoxied in, I added the catches.
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And drilled the hole for the pin hole to be installed. The pin hole will be glued on the inside, but I need to make sure that the outside won’t vignette as the wood is quite thick here, hence the step cuts.
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I added opaque sealant (black silicone) to the seams and a felt light trap. This also adds some pressure to the catches (which I had notched anyway to stop them flying open).
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Building the shutter, here you can see the holes for the magnets, and the magnets themselves.
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Holes drilled in the camera body ready for the magnets.
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I used the same black silicone sealant to glue the pin hole into the camera, then painted the inside of the camera with chalk board paint.
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Next was some furniture polish.
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All ready to go! Smile

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