Making a Wooden Box for my 4x5 Film

I wanted a small wooden box to hold two packs of Shanghai Pan 100 sheet film. I had some nice beech hardwood that I could use.

Using the ‘shooting board’ and plane to make the ends square. I planned to use use butt joints for this as I am about to go on holiday and I want to take the finished box with me.

Quick glue up using a box clamp.

Some boards I had previously glued up for a different project that went nowhere. These would be the top and bottom of the box.

The boards glued on the top and bottom and a heavy weight added. In the future I will use clamps, as this didn’t work so well.

Closed box with oversized edges. Next to trim down the edges, then cut the box open.

I used a little wooden block plane to trim the boards down to size, along with a sander when close.

Looking good so far.

Carefully cutting the box open by hand.

Success!

Gluing little pieces in to held keep the lid in the right place as the box closes. This will also help the clasp align.

The clasp I plan to use.

Hinges and clasp fitted.

The shut line is a little uneven

But the two boxes of film fit like a charm

I adjusted the hinges a bit to get a better shut line, then gave it a nice coat of bee’s wax furniture polish. Job done.

Pinhole Camera – 4x5, 90mm (Build Part 2)

Minor update on the 90mm focal length pinhole camera. I sealed the joins with black silicone, then painted the inside with matt black chalk board paint. I made sure to cover the shiny brass bolt in lots of paint so it doesn’t reflect.

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.

Cutting the tails and pins.

A closer look… these were my first dove tail joints and whilst ok they weren’t as good as I’d hoped.

Test fit. They fit together fine, but not as close as I’d have liked.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hinges added. I used brass ones and made sure to recess them.

The film holder fits in quite snug.

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.

Next I drilled a hole for the vertical spirit level.

And same again for the horizontal one.

Next I did the same for the tripod mounts.

And again…

With the tripod mounts and the spirit levels epoxied in, I added the catches.

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.

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).

Building the shutter, here you can see the holes for the magnets, and the magnets themselves.

Holes drilled in the camera body ready for the magnets.

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.

Next was some furniture polish.

All ready to go!

Pinhole Camera - 4x5, 90mm (Build Part 1)

All the pinhole cameras I currently own are ones I have bought, not built. I need to change that. I've recently become interested in woodworking, so I decided to make one out of wood.

I cut the boards out of a solid slab of Oak I got from a local DIY store. The boards are to be screwed together, so I drilled pilot holes, and also cut the recess for the tripod mounts.

Once I assembled the box, I cut some rails for the film holder to rest on, these were also screwed in so more pilot holes.

I was constantly test fitting a double dark slide to make sure it was the right size.

I needed to shim out the side to hold the double dark slide in the centre, so these were glued in place and held there with clamps whilst drying.

I also added some brass corner protectors to make it look nice. The tiny brass screws were a PITA as brass is very soft.

I added a horizontal spirit level and a vertical one too.

Next came the tripod mount. There’s one for portrait format and one for landscape. Both were epoxied in place into the recess cut in the board.

I bought a premade 0.4mm pinhole off an eBay seller.

This part holds the pinhole in place and acts as part of the shutter too.

This is the other part of the shutter and pivots on the brass bolt. There’s a magnet that I glued in place that works on the steel screws to keep the shutter either open or closed.

And that’s as far as I’ve got on this camera. I started to build a second shorter focal length pinhole camera at the same time, and that one I finished first. I need to return to this one to finish it.