Small stainless woodscrews

[Bale]

Can anyone recommend a supplier of small stainless crosshead woodscrews? 20mm and shorter. The sort that would be needed for a project like this...




Thanks in anticipation.

Pete

 

[leptus]

Hi mate I got mine from ebay different sizes in a box including 20mm. I hope that helps.

 

[Racers]

Stainless self taping screws are readily available.

Does it have a digital back? :wink:

Pete

 

[Bale]

Does it have a digital back? :wink:

You may laugh, but when I found this



I started to wonder if something similar could be cobbled together from an old scanner.

Oh, and thanks for the self-tappers suggestion. They will do nicely.

Pete

 

[Racers]

That's a big beast!

I hope you are going to do a WIP, that looks a nice blend of metal and woodwork.

I wouldn't mind making something like that, but I would still stick with my D800!

Pete

 

[nanscombe]

I wonder if you could just create a housing to take a smart phone instead of a whopping great scanner?

 

[AndyT]

I wonder if you could just create a housing to take a smart phone instead of a whopping great scanner?

Like this? iPhone = good enough as a viewfinder, not for taking pictures!

 

[rafezetter]

The big thing - I'd be scared of getting picked up by the local gendarme / mossad / whatever for espionage! I mean what tourist would have one of those; not exactly a happy snapper is it?? I have visions of the same thing as those guys that got done for watching planes in greece (?) a couple years back.

(and don't forget the car battery backpack)

 

[bugbear]

Can anyone recommend a supplier of small stainless crosshead woodscrews? 20mm and shorter. The sort that would be needed for a project like this...




Thanks in anticipation.

Pete

Interesting project, but why stainless (unless you're making a repro tropical model) ? I'd have thought normal steel, or more likely brass, would serve very well.

BugBear

 

[Bale]

I hope you are going to do a WIP, that looks a nice blend of metal and woodwork.

I'm thinking about it, but I'm just at the design and planning stage at the moment. The picture is of a Shen Hao 6x17 production model. Mine will be 5x4 and slightly different in design.

I wonder if you could just create a housing to take a smart phone instead of a whopping great scanner?

Well, yes; but then you wouldn't get a 160 Megapixel image. Do a google image search for seitz 6x17. I defy anyone to produce images of that quality on a smartphone. Also, I don't have a smartphone. A home-built view camera is cheaper :wink:

Interesting project, but why stainless

I'm planning to use aluminium for the metalwork and stainless screws will look better than zinc plate or brass. They won't rust or tarnish either.

Pete

 

[Racers]

I would caution against aluminium it won't look as nice as brass and it will mark and pick up, so things won't slide smoothly.
Unless you are going to have every thing anodised.

Brass and dark wood that will look very nice.

Pete

 

[zb1]

Have a look at Orbital Fasteners, they have a big stainless range. I use them for SS fixings for green oak. They are down in Essex but deliver nationally.

 

[Rhossydd]

They are down in Essex but deliver nationally.

Actually they're just to the West of Watford in Hertfordshire.
They have very helpful trade counter and for the odd few screws they usually just ask for a charity donation and don't charge at all. A complete life saver if you just need one or two odd bits and don't want to buy a whole box of something at an inflated price.
Their range of SS wood screws can be found at:
http://www.orbitalfasteners.co.uk/en/ca ... woodscrews

 

[nanscombe]

...

I wonder if you could just create a housing to take a smart phone instead of a whopping great scanner?

Well, yes; but then you wouldn't get a 160 Megapixel image. ...

:shock:

Crikey when they talk about turning your digital pictures into wallpaper I thought they meant for your computer screen not your house walls. :lol:

When I think of a scanner I tend to think of those A4 / A3 jobbies, is that what you mean?


ETA: But of course it's just the movable scanner head. Doh! :roll:

 

[Rhossydd]

When I think of a scanner I tend to think of those A4 / A3 jobbies, is that what you mean?

I can't speak for the poster, but it's probably what they werte refering to.
Building 'cameras' using flatbed scanners as the image sensor has been going on for years (decades?). It doesn't tend to be particularly successful due to the long effective exposure duration, plus other issues eg needing to be tethered to a decent computer/laptop, focus issues, etc.
It ends up just being a gimmick that doesn't really add much to the photographic diaspora.

 

[Bale]

Thanks to all for your helpful screw suggestions.

When I think of a scanner I tend to think of those A4 / A3 jobbies, is that what you mean?

I can't speak for the poster, but it's probably what they werte refering to.
Building 'cameras' using flatbed scanners as the image sensor has been going on for years (decades?). It doesn't tend to be particularly successful due to the long effective exposure duration, plus other issues eg needing to be tethered to a decent computer/laptop, focus issues, etc.
It ends up just being a gimmick that doesn't really add much to the photographic diaspora.

Quite right. I don't know much about it, but according to the promotional bumf the Seitz camera has a scanning back and that's what got me thinking. The Seitz also costs somewhere in the region of $45,000, so the prospect of coming up with something similar for the price of a redundant scanner off Gumtree is appealing. However, I don't have the inclination to explore this, for the reasons you mention, although with the advent of tablet computers the portability issue is not quite as bad as it was. But I don't possess a tablet either :lol:

...pick up...

Ah. I hadn't thought of that, but tbh I'm not sure yet whether to do a first "quick and dirty" build to iron out any problems or to go for a top notch "professional" finish from the off. I think if I take this any further I may start another thread over in the Projects section. At the very least, I may need to find a supplier of small brass woodscrews :lol:

 

[Rhossydd]

The Seitz also costs somewhere in the region of $45,000, so the prospect of coming up with something similar for the price of a redundant scanner off Gumtree is appealing.

I've got a Seitz camera and the build quality is outstanding, but in such small numbers of niche products there's never going to be any economies in volume production. Also Switzerland isn't a cheap place to make things. Trying to build anything vaguely comparable would be a masterpiece of home engineering.

although with the advent of tablet computers the portability issue is not quite as bad as it was.

Tablets would be a nightmare to try to interface (Possibly excepting the new MS surface Pro 3) as you'd need the correct drivers for the scanner.

Building a wooden field camera has been on my 'to do' list for decades. The woodwork is all dead simple, the difficulties come making the metal components. Brass and steel tarnish rather too easily, most grades of aluminium are too soft, which leaves what the high end camera manufacturers use, stainless steel or titanium. Machining either is beyond my skills at the moment.

I do have a continuing idea of making one entirely out of wood, maybe one day I'll have the time to refine the idea and build it.

 

[Bale]

I've got a Seitz camera and the build quality is outstanding, but in such small numbers of niche products there's never going to be any economies in volume production. Also Switzerland isn't a cheap place to make things. Trying to build anything vaguely comparable would be a masterpiece of home engineering.

Yes, of course. I didn't really think I could get the same quality for a few pounds :wink:. And I take your advice about the metal components. I'm going to be at my own limits just to employ 19th century materials and technology. But a simple field camera is do-able for a small outlay, and it would probably spend most of its time sitting on a tripod in my living room anyway. Thanks for your comments though. All input is useful to me at this stage.

Pete

 

[Rhossydd]

But a simple field camera is do-able for a small outlay

Absolutely, although I've always found the lack of plans anywhere a little surprising.
The bellows might/will be the most expensive individual item from Custom Bellows in Birmingham http://www.custombellows.co.uk/index.html
The other challenge is building the focusing glass assembly and getting the ground glass to sit exactly at the film plane. I've read guidance on this as part of the instructions in one of the wooden kits that's sold in the USA by Jay Bender http://www.jaybender.com/BPH/4x5.htm but annoyingly can't find my copy at the moment.

it would probably spend most of its time sitting on a tripod in my living room anyway.

<Huge grin> The real fun is using large format cameras with instant film. I'm hoping this project might come to fruition http://fstoppers.com/the-return-of-type-55-film If that succeeds you can bet that S/H Polaroid backs will be in demand again and prices will rocket.

 

[Bale]

Oooh! I've just found your portfolio. You're way out of my league :lol:

I may have a crack at making my own bellows. There's plenty of useful information and links on Jon Grepstad's website http://home.online.no/~gjon/index.htm . I too have been surprised at the lack of comprehensive plans or drawings available. It's not like they're still in copyright or anything. What i really want is a 6x17 for the convenience (to me) of using roll film. But a 5x4 is flexible and well-tried so I thought I'd have a go at one of those first. I've only actually used one once and that was back in 1975.

Right. I'm off to stock up on polaroid backs.

Pete