Back and front view of the field camera base plate. This is made from seven separate pieces of wood. It shows the channel cut for the pinion rod used for the focussing mechanism. The short recess above it is to house the focussing lock and the recessed brass strip at the leading edge of the base is guard it from knocks. This last is not essential. There are also simpler ways of locking the focussing and which I will discuss later.
The alternative way of making a baseboard using MDF or Plywood. Apart from cutting everything square and true and making the long recess for the focussing rod, it is a fairly simple operation. Once the sliding platform for the lens support has been made to slide in and out of the base freely, drop the focussing rod into the recess and fasten it in position with the brass bearing plates. Make sure the rubber rollers are in firm contact with the glass paper strips before screwing the plates to the base board. Then put the focussing knob in position and you have a simple focussing mechanism. Incidentally, if you put a another knob on the other end it not only keeps the whole thing in place but will enable you to focus with either hand.
I hope the slotted strip illustration is self explanatory. While I have suggested a way in which these components can be built up, I really would recommend cutting and filling the slot from one piece of metal as described in the main text. It makes a much more durable job unless you are an expert with silver solder. The main thing is to get the slot even and constant in width.
The old saying goes that there is more than one way of skinning a cat. The same is true about some of the operations necessary to build a camera. When you need to get something done there are both more or less involved ways of doing things. The easiest way to work is having the right equipment and skill; but what if you have not? As an example, we will take again the baseboard of a typical field camera like the one I produce. Because I need something close to the craftsman built baseboards of the old-time cameras, I make mine in a complicated way. I want it to look as good as possible so I make it out of at least seven separate pieces of wood. These are recessed and mitred together with channels and rebates routed or milled out of them. I have also added slotted-in brass strengthening pieces.
I go to all this trouble because I want the finished product to be as stable as possible, long lasting, and respectable to look at. This is fine if you can manage it but at the end of the day, all you have is a flat square of wood. So why not make it that way. As I said in the previous section, why not use instead a thick piece of ply or MDF. You can build up any complex profiles you might need for your design by using strips of your chosen material the right thickness and width without resorting to the router or milling machine. The result may not look as good but it will do the same job in terms of becoming a working camera, and if you lack tools or confidence, a lot easier.
The beauty of a design like this field camera is that it has few actual working parts. The ones it has are mostly pivots and locks for the various movements apart, that is, from the focussing rack. This is something that can make the hair stand on end, when you think about it for the first time. What we have to arrange is a sliding platform for supporting the front lens standard that can move in and out of the baseboard section as a focussing knob is turned. There are three ways of doing this. The first is to buy some focussing rack in strip form and screw this to the platform then fit a metal shaft carrying pinions that mesh with the rack. This shaft runs under the rack at right angles to it, in bearings screwed to the baseboard section. With a knob on the end of this shaft, you can wind the sliding platform back and forth.
The second way is to use this whole system plundered from an old discarded camera; perhaps a part of something you found on a camera fair junk table. I used this method the first time I made a camera. See the description in the first section of this piece.
The third method is the easiest to make. Fit the metal shaft as before to your baseboard, and then instead of using pinions, push onto it some sections of thick rubber tube. Then arrange the positioning of the sliding platform so it bears down on the rubber-covered shaft. This platform should have a strip of medium glass paper stuck to its underside to provide extra grip over the rubber. You will then have a focussing system that works by friction. It may not be as elegant as a rack and pinion method but it will work. You may have to replace the rubber and glass paper from time to time but that is a small price to pay for the ease of making it.
The other area of the job that may seem difficult is the slots in metal strips used for side support or limiting movements. It is possible to cut these by hand by starting with a fretsaw and making an opening big enough to get a hacksaw blade in to finish the job. Cut the slot under size, and then use a small thin flat file to tidy it up and bring it to right dimensions. If all this is beyond you, then build up the piece out of several separate bits of metal and glue or solder them together. Whatever you do, it is vital to make any slots even and parallel, or things will not work smoothly.
When confronted with something to make, if you cannot form it from one piece of metal, break it down in your mind into separate components and then improvise them out of other shapes or sections you are able to find. It is amazing what is possible after a little thought.
So much from some general thoughts and suggestions on camera building, I will deal with other short cuts, or easier ways of overcoming problems, as they occur. In the following sections, we now come to the actual process of making a typical large format field camera.
