Graflex.org

[Jack5541]

Hi...
This is a quick & stupid question.
I want to get a Pacemaker lensboard from Midwest Photo for my 2x3 Speed and mount on it a spare Graphex shutter w/135mm Optar that I have from a 4x5 Speed I no longer have.
What size hole do I need to have drilled in the board to accomodate this lens?
Thanks.

[disemjg]

The Graphex shutter for the 135 Optar is 34mm over the threads; really a "tight" 34mm so if you want a good close fit tell them to cut it a bit small. The retaining ring edge does not have a lot of bearing area and if the hole is too big the ring will not catch the edge of the hole to tighten the lens.

Jim at Midwest probably has a Graphex shutter lying around, so you could ask him to have the board cut to fit it. He is the only one to deal with at Midwest regarding LF gear. He is hard to get on the phone, but you could email him at jim@mpex.com to tell him what you need.

I presume you realize that this shutter is a big fit on that small board; you may have interference problems as my eyeball check shows a lot of overhang. Maybe someone else out there has already done this and can chime in.

[Henry]

Well, you could use my special "brain-dead" method: thoughtlessly cut the hole oversize by a few mm, and while still cursing go to your workshop parts box and find a large O-ring (leftover from a Peerless single-handle kitchen faucet rebuild kit---never throw anything away, guys!). Slip the O-ring over the shutter threads, insert the works into the #$@%&* oversize hole, screw on jamb nut, and tighten gently but firmly with needle nose pliers in the cut-out slots on the jamb nut (unless you have the correct tool, a spanner wrench). If you didn't cut the hole *too* big, the shutter will now be mounted securely on the lensboard, and you've saved yourself several $$, the cost of a new board. At least it worked this way on my Century. (BTW, with this mounting method the flange on the jamb nut must face the lensboard; it contacts the O-ring, thus flattening and expanding it, and this combination is what holds the shutter in place.)

Or, you could do it the right way first, as disemjg has described. BTW, you can also have the right-sized hole drilled out at a machine shop. Around here that costs c. $8, well worth it IMO.

Don't know whether the 2x3 Speed has the same size lensboard as the Century, but I have found that the 135 as well as the 203, both in Graphex no. 2 (or no. 3? can't tell them apart from the outside---anyway, it's the larger of the two common Graphex shutter sizes) fit well on my Century and I haven't had any clearance or overhang problems except for the six-pack consumed following initial FUBAR incident. YRMV, however.

[Henry]

Mangez merd.