Winter projects - What are yours ?

[andy153]

Excellent piece of engineering Don. Now you have the clamp, all you need is extra plates attached to the items you will use in the head. I have plates permanently attached to all my lens collars and "L" brackets on the bodies.

[Don Hoey]

Cheers Duncan,
Cost if bought complete is probably the reason I have not seen these lever jobs available in the UK. Lots more parts than the screw type. Add the cost of a fancy lever and I am reminded of my days at work where even a few pence per unit was argued about.

A couple more views attached for you.

Andy,
Well thats not much to do then. All of my lenses are in the 12-180mm range so no seperate tripod foot, apart from my only long lens that is. An old Ais 400mm f5.6 and the saga behind that one is in this thread.
http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...ead.php?t=1985

Yes, I know I'm a bit crazy.

Don

[andy153]

Well done Don all I can say is Kirk, Markins, RRS et al eat your hearts out - there looks to be a new leader of the pack -- LOL

[Don Hoey]

Thanks for the complement Andy, but I don't think I can compete with RRS other than mine probably cost around a fiver in materials. Heat particularly, would have added to the final cost but then I'll not know how much until the electric bill arrives .

I have had a good dig around and still have enough materials to make another. Big decision is should I go for an 80mm long version or stick with a carbon copy of my 60mm version. My big problem with 80mm is that I would have to sort a method for machining, as my machine vice has a max jaw opening of 62mm. No problem until cutting the dovetail which must be done in a single setup for max accuracy.
So into the future will I get any benefit from 80mm as I already have a Manfrotto long plate QR release. My QR has a 60 deg dovetail whereas Manfrotto use 45 deg, so my existing Manfrotto long plates would not fit my QR anyway. Mmmmmmm. Plenty of time to think as I carve another lever .

Don

[andy153]

Hi there Don, I have looked at my clamps and plates - Wimberley and others all seem to use the 45° dovetail?

[Don Hoey]

Taking a bit of a break from filing ( lots of it ). I have started on QR no2 and have now shaped the lever, still to be cut off and polished to a chrome finnish though. Pic attatched.

Andy,
You are indeed right in that Arca use 45 degree for their dovetails. Before starting out I thought I would check for a drawing. Arca's plates are shown as 32mm wide into the clamp with 45 deg dovetail. My preference is for 60 deg based on workshop theory. Most lathe top slides have 55 deg and they deal with major forces so I opted for 60 deg as being the nearest. Saved having to buy a 45 cutter for £25, and I am not likely to lash out on the storebought QR plates for these, as I can make my own for a couple of quid each. So my plates are 38mm wide into the clamp with 60 deg dovetail ( closest to 55 deg ). May have less contact area for a given height, but the shallower angle makes the dovetail stronger and in practice the clamp is really tight.

Something I did come across in that bit of research, was that although a number of manufacturers state Arca compatable, I found this link that shows this is not necessarily true.
http://www.afximages.com/stuff/arca-plates-xref.html

Don

[yelvertoft]

Don, you're not filing out the levers from solid, are you?

[Don Hoey]

I may be crazy Duncan but not that crazy . I mill as much away as possible with a 1/4 inch mini mill, but then still have to do a fair amount of filing. I am not really equiped for this sort of thing so the whole process is a bit long winded. Probably about 12 hours start to finish cutting out of a 30mm bar end. I use that as its my only means of holding it in the machine vice. The bits of black steel flat sections I have are a bit rough quality ( lots of hard bits randomly spread throughout ) and tend to eat milling cutters.

Now if I had still been at work, I could have had the outline laser cut in a couple of minutes then only around an hour to mill the spindle slot and drill for the pin.

As an aside and in response to your ealier comment as to how much it might have cost ready made, I found Robert White doing the Arca version less plate, for £130 excl vat.
Link to a review of that particular item.
http://liaoyusheng.com/arca/

Don

[andy153]

Thanks Don, It may be that I've been lucky. I printed off the chart from your link and I'm now checking all fittings. The Arca Swiss B1 is a monster and works with all my plates but I have a Novoflex Castel-Q focusing Rack and I'm going to have to remove the various stop screws to get it to fit properly. Thanks for the Link.

[Don Hoey]

Some days progress is a bit slow.
Today after I had finished polishing the new lever I only managed to make the pin.

Still I am impressed with the changed profile of the new lever - more pronounced thumb curve, so this is now attached to the monopod QR.

Don