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[Hoagie]

Recently I made my own lensboards for my speed graphic, I have just a small question, on the rear of the original is a raised section that I assume is a light baffle, can I get away with just putting black felt on the back of the homemades, or should I really put more wood on the back to fit the camera? The board does have a tight fit in the front standard now, and I cannot see any light leaks. Thanks for all the help I have been getting off of this forum!!

William

[disemjg]

Traditional wooden boards achieve their light seal via the stepped ledge on the back; while you may get away with a flat board having a tight fit covered with felt, I suggest that you simply copy the century-tested design and glue the inner board to the back. It's really not a big deal, and the board should not fit too tightly anyway.

Do not forget to counterbore the inner board if necessary for your lens mounting requirements before attaching it to the rear of the main board.

[JBish130]

When I was making my lensboards, I started out with 1/4 inch thick wood. When I routed this down to the size I needed, that step was a by-product of that part of the process.

For the wedged shaped angle at the bottom of the board, I just used a pen-knife for that shape.

Hope this helps.

_________________
Jeff Bishop

"It's light and nothing more."

[ImageMaker]

I make my lens boards from two layers of 1/8" hardboard (same as Masonite, but generic). I laminate them with the textured sides together, blacken the exposed texture and cut edges with India ink, and make the hole in the back piece oversize to accommodate spanners and such (I can also prebore the back side hole even if making a blank board -- IIRC, I made that hole 2.5" diameter in the approximately 3.5" back board piece). I then glue with plain Elmer's white glue, using double glue technique (rub in a coat of glue, and allow to almost dry, then rub on a second very light coat, and join the parts), clamping the boards on the dining room table surface (nice and flat) under a conformal clamping system, i.e. stack of telephone books; the opposite curves of the two board pieces and holding them flat while the glue sets have resulted in dead flat boards on every attempt so far.

I've never seen a need to put a beveled edge on the "bottom" of the lens boards -- mine fit my 4x5 Annie in all four orientations.

You could use a flat board 1/8" thick, but I'd suggest mounting a black foam gasket so it compresses under the board at the edges of the inner well to ensure a light tight mount. However, a board that thin is a lot more prone to warping, and if not painted black on one side or the other, might also be translucent enough to cause fogging in bright light if the dark slide is left out and focal plane shutter open for a prolonged period.

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Is thirty-five years too long to wait for your first Speed?