small steps - the beginning

My sweetheart and I were at a flea market in a nearby town yesterday,
and when I asked a vendor that we've bought a few things from over the
years if he had any really scrappy cameras that I could pick up cheap
"for parts", he gave me (for free) a Kodak Autographic 3A. This one was
bent, leatherette was peeling, the bellows were rotted away, but the
lens appeared to be in good shape, so..........

I removed the lens from the front plate of the camera and made up the
following mount this morning in the basement:

1) the material I used was 1/8" thick aluminum plate and these pics are
the plate marked for cutting with the pilot hole already drilled.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/001.JPG
http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/002.JPG

2) this is a rough hole cut with a jigsaw and ready for cleaning up

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/003.JPG

3) the hole cleaned up and the lens set in to check the size and fit

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/004.JPG

4) and the back side of the lens for size and fit checking

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/005.JPG

5) this is the cutting set up - a metal (non-ferrous) cutting blade set
up on my table saw

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/006.JPG

6) the lens mounted and screwed in tight to make sure it all works and
a first sanding done to the aluminum, prior to polishing and waxing

http://www3.sympatico.ca/oldrad/LF/007.JPG

I'm thinking that I'll inset the 1/8" thick aluminum plate into the
front board of the camera, with the idea being that if it's dadoed /
routered etc. properly for a nice snug fit, then no light should be able
to make the bend around the edge of the aluminum plate and so it should
be light-tight.

cheers

--
regards from ::

John Bartley
43 Norway Spruce Street
Stittsville, Ontario
Canada, K2S1P5

( If you slow down it takes longer
- does that apply to life also?)