Polaroid 110A 4x5 Conversion

[stevelmx5]

Does anyone have or has used a Graflex Grafmatic? I'm watching a couple with the view to fitting one to the Polaroid to save carrying a pile of DDS but I can't find the dimensions of them anywhere. Whilst their length/width should be the same as a DDS I'm more concerned about the thickness of it so I can see if it will slide into the same slot as the DDS.

Cheers
Steve

 

[stevelmx5]

It's ok, found out it's only 12mm thicker than a standard DDS. I'll keep an eye out but have also come across some of the 12 frame holders. They're not as automated as the Grafmatic but might be an idea for portability.

 

[mbphoto]

i some how missed this thread good job steve coming along nicely

 

[stevelmx5]

Thanks :0) I'm going to have a couple of days off it seeing as it's my wedding anniversary tomorrow so we're away. I'll get back on to it next week.

 

[mbphoto]

nice one have a good one

 

[stevelmx5]

[emoji3]

 

[stevelmx5]

Had 10 minutes free so I've cutout the viewfinder from the top plate. Still need to sand it properly flat but it should fit into the storage area nicely.

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Once it's sanded flat I'll add a new acrylic base with 2 embedded neodymium magnets (opposite poles) and embed matching magnets in the top plate.

 

[stevelmx5]

Looking a little more like a finished article. I've been shaping it by hand with a dremel and a couple of cutting/grinding disks. I've only lost a little bit of skin from my left hand...

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Just thrown a single coat of primer over it to see where I need to fill/sand but looking ok so far. I've also cut a piece of 3mm acrylic for the base to give a flat bottom and embed the magnets.

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Sitting on top of the camera I think it looks quite useful for quick composition checks but can be stowed away in the storage compartment when it's not needed.

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[stevelmx5]

This will be its home when it's not being used.

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I'm going to pickup some body filler tomorrow so I can smooth the edges and the joint between the finder and base before spraying it. I've only got a can of gloss white to hand so I think I'll get some black to match the top plate acrylic.

I'll head down to see the laser cutter tomorrow so he can cut some test top and bottom plates out of MDF.

 

[stevelmx5]

While the lasers are out of action I've carried on working on the removable viewfinder. Started by embedding two small neodymium magnets into the 3mm acrylic base (opposite poles) and filling over them to keep the base smooth.





After that I primed both halves of the viewfinder separately and gave them both a couple of coats of flat black. I would have sprayed them ideally but I've only got white paint to hand and that seems a bit too brash for the top plate!



Once those coats dried I fitted the lens/locking spring and bonded the two parts together with araldite to make sure it stays together. I've then used some fine filler to fill the gaps so am now waiting for it to dry before I sand the whole unit and paint it as one.

 

[Lemaildetom]

Just wow to everytime you touch a camera....
What a project! Must be stressfull that until you put a film through you won't know the results?

 

[stevelmx5]

Thanks :0) With all this design work I almost forget I'm going to be actually shooting with this eventually!

Looking at the camera, it's mechanically pretty simple so the main thing that's going to stop me shooting is getting the infinity focus sorted with the film plane moving back about 10mm. Having seen other conversions using a full Graflok back bolted to the rear of the camera I don't think I'll have issue getting infinity.

My main frustration is being stuck waiting for the laser cutter I use to be functional again so we can start cutting the top/bottom plates because they're going to take a bit of trial and error to get the channels cut out with the laser to the right depth. The DDS locks onto the camera body as it is now so I don't need the top/bottom plates to be too tight but I'm fussy so I want it to look as clean as possible!

This is my current plan for the top/bottom plates. They will be cut from 5mm acrylic (or possibly hardwood) and the section that's shaped like the DDS will be burnt down by the laser about 2mm into the material so the DDS can slide in.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4qhcqx1w11nxnwx/Photo 27-08-2015 22 25 06.jpg?dl=0

 

[Woodsy]

Bloody awesome Steve, loving this thread

 

[stevelmx5]

Thanks mate. It's hard to type at the moment because i'm holding the finder between my fingers to paint it :0)

 

[desf]

Bloody awesome Steve, loving this thread

Agreed. There will be a virtual 'standing ovation' when it's finsihed.

 

[stevelmx5]

Ok, the viewfinder is all painted now with a few coats of flat black. I'll let the paint harden before I go over it with some wet and dry to smooth it all out.







Here's the view :0)

 

[stevelmx5]

Today I've turned my attention to the side of the camera where the original catch for the back door was. I didn't want to leave the slot doing nothing or bulging under the leather when I recovered the camera so I decided to grind the edge flat and make a new MDF insert to round off the corner.

The original chrome catch is on the left side of the camera



I firstly used a Dremel to grind the metal lip flush to the body of the camera then roughly cut a piece of 15mm MDF to size across the camera;



I used the four original screws to attach it to the camera then started to shape it using rough sandpaper.



Until I've pretty much got it how I want it.



I'll sand it a little more before I fit the skin but I think it makes the camera look a lot smoother and gets rid of the redundant locking latch :0)



I'll bond a thin strip of MDF/acrylic into the gap left before I skin the camera so the leather stays flush.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Woodsy]

Minty

 

[stevelmx5]

It's starting to look like a camera now...sort of :0)

 

[Woodsy]

Can I ask fella, how have you gone about insuring that the film plane is in the correct place?

 

[stevelmx5]

The original roll film plane is level with the rear frame of the camera (about 5mm lower). I've mounted the DDS direct to the rear frame so it's level with the expected plane. I just need to use some light seal around the edge of the frame to make it light tight below the DDS.

 

[Woodsy]

Ahh good stuff.

I had it in my head that, if in this lifetime I have the free time to get round to building my own camera, I'd have done something elaborate and no more accurate, such as cutting the middle out of a DDS and mounting some tracing paper into the film grooves and setting the distance by looking at the "ground glass" sharpness. Your method is far better

 

[stevelmx5]

I did that already (without the DDS butchering!)



This is just grease proof paper held roughly across the back plate of the camera where the DDS is mounted. The actual film plane will be 5mm back from here inside the DDS so once I've made acrylic ground glass holder in the same dimensions as the DDS I'll adjust the lens infinity focus by moving the lens board back.

 

[stevelmx5]

I've spent half an hour working on the rear door tonight. I've been racking my brain thinking about an additional support for the rear of the DDS without making it look like a bolt-on or spoiling the shape of the rear of the camera.

When I measured up I found that the original hinged rear door section that locked in pace will fit perfectly over the DDS.



I've roughly cut off the frame leaving the original left hand hinged door and the hinged rear section. I'm going to use the bandsaw to cut the rear door around the DDS properly later in the week but for the time being I can see that it will fit perfectly.





I'll be fitting hidden magnets in the top and bottom plates to secure the left side hinged door so have been thinking about ways to make the rear door spring down over the DDS and add some additional support. I was originally going to fit a simple spring mechanism but with the space I have it wont be particularly strong.



I'll measure up my options properly once I've cut the left side door but at the moment I'm thinking of using either a rubber friction fit bracket under the top/bottom plates or a similar rubber strip across the end of the rear door to make a tight fit around the right side of the DDS.



There's already a slight curve in the end of the hinged door so I should be able to bend that round further and add a thin rubber strip to give more friction around the end of the DDS (above the rear dark slide) which will pull it into the left side bracket. Along with the existing camera back panel friction I'll also be embedding a rubber strip into the top/bottom plates to keep the DDS in place so I reckon it will be solid.

I also tested the DDS for light-tightness last night before I got any light seals. Amazingly there is only a small amount of light leaking around the DDS so I ordered a couple of different light seal types. One is a basic 9mmx5mm rectangular foam and the other is a 9mmx7.5mm D-section rubber so I'll test them both when they arrive. I'm only going to be fitting the seal around the outside of the opening behind the bellows so they should both work out ok.

Cheers
Steve

 

[stevelmx5]

Sketching a few designs showing the hinged rear sections. The large flat rear cover is perfect for a film usage tracker :0). I'll laminate the tracking sheet so I can use a dry wipe pen to mark off each sheet once it's been exposed along with the film type and exposure settings if I'm feeling organised!



My drawing is slightly off in that the left side hinged door will overlap the edge of the ground glass so I'll have to open the door fully to pop up the surround. Shouldn't be a major problem though.

Cheers
Steve

 

[stevelmx5]

I came home to my new D-section rubber seal so have just fitted some around the film opening with some help from Chloe :0)





This is proud of the rear frame by around 2mm so it compresses slightly when the DDS is installed so should provide a good light seal.

 

[Woodsy]

This thread really is an example of how to mod a camera like a boss.

 

[stevelmx5]

Thanks mate. I'm really enjoying this camera mod, possibly even more than actually shooting with it! It's really keeping my mind active trying to work out the best way to convert it without changing the external styling too much.

 

[desf]

Looks great.

Do you think you might get a bit of vignetting when the seal is compressed?

 

[stevelmx5]

I did wonder about the seal cutting into the edge of the frame. I can't see for definite at the moment so will wait until I've got the ground glass fitted to see what effect it has.

 

[stevelmx5]

I've just done a visual comparison and I reckon it might cut off around 3mm off each edge of the frame. The difficulty is knowing exactly what the impact will be overall because the actual opening at the rear of the bellows is quite a bit smaller than the 4x5 sheet. Working on the fact that the actual film plane is around 10mm back from that point, the area to be exposed on the film will be larger.

Basically, I'll need to actually expose a sheet of film before I know for definite! The ground glass will give me a good idea about the finished frame size too.

 

[desf]

Vignetting probably wasn't the correct term here but you knew what I meant!

Can't wait to see your first pic with this but the build has been entertainment enough.

 

[stevelmx5]

Thanks, me either. I reckon it will be the Lakes meet before I get to shoot anything 'in anger' but I'll try to shoot at least a couple of sheets before then so I can develop them and make sure everything's working properly.

 

[pingu666]

you could do some paper negatives, be a cheaper way of finding out?

 

[stevelmx5]

I've never shot paper negatives or have a proper darkroom to develop them otherwise I'd be tempted to try it out. I bought a box of 25 Shanghai 4x5 sheets last week so I reckon i'll have to risk wasting a couple of those to find out. Hopefully I'll have enough detail from the ground glass (which will be the same size as the 4x5 sheet) to make a judgement on the impact of the depth of the DDS and the light seals.

 

[stevelmx5]

Well, I'm now a walking pile of metal filings :0). I popped down to my folks' house at lunchtime to use the grinding wheel and now have a fully functioning rear door.





I'm going to cover the inside of the door in black felt so it looks neater and fix the hinged rear door in place so it adds an extra fixing point for the DDS. I've bent the end of the original rear door so it curves around the DDS to hold it in place.







I'll embed a couple of strong magnets inside the left hand door so it stays in place when it's shut over the DDS. When I want to frame the shot I'll need to just open the door and insert the ground glass holder.

 

[stevelmx5]

After modifying the rear door I didn't like the fact the D-section seal I fitted yesterday was pushing the DDS out of its channel so i've removed it and fitted some standard 2mm closed cell foam around the outer edge instead.





I've tested this inside a pitch black room and there are no light leaks or pressure on the DDS which is all good.

I've also fitted a small piece of flocking felt around the inside edge and top of the channel I slide the DDS into. I'll need to buy a bigger sheet to cover it properly but I think it makes the interior look much more finished and adds some extra friction to the DDS mount.





I've just shot a very quick video showing the installation of the DDS with the new mount/seals. I'm no Spielberg but it at least shows how tight the fit is. I don't think this is going anywhere :0)

https://flic.kr/p/yd3GXp

Cheers
Steve

 

[stevelmx5]

I've just ordered a custom sized ground glass so should have that in a couple of weeks (it's coming from Lithuania!). Will give me time to cut the acrylic GG holder ready for it.

I haven't had much time this weekend because I spent all day yesterday clearing out my garage and fitting a new workbench/storage area. Not film related but i'm happy with the result :0) I'm not quite finished yet, need to build and fit another 600mm wall unit and fit the remaining handles. It will be much easier working out here than at the dining table!



I did spend a bit of time this evening grinding a couple of high spots down on the top of the camera so I can mount the new top plate flat. I also cutout some card templates which I'm going to cover to trim the interior panels.







I'll pick up some black material in the week so I can trim the panels ready to fit once the rest of the camera is done.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Andysnap]

Excellent work Steve, looks like you've got room for an enlarger and a sink in there as well.

 

[stevelmx5]

Hmmm, you could be on to something there Andy ;0)