Schematics/building resources for Arri ST/Bolex

[Andrew Clark]

Random question for a crazy idea project, but seeing the 3D printed 16mm camera another poster made had me curious if anyone was in possession of schematics and/or requirements for camera bodies of Bolex or Arri S/T , BL etc etc and resources on building and timing motors and film gates for cameras?  I have a friend with a CNC machine at his workshop, and so I’ve been curious about the possibilities and challenges of building a clone/amalgamation of a simple 16mm camera.

[Aapo Lettinen]

if wanting to make a completely newly made camera, I would concentrate on the mechanics and use some easy-enough solution for electronics to make it work. This way you can concentrate all resources on the mechanical work and testing which are more critical on this type of project.

I would absolutely use some other motor arrangement than the Arri ST has. the 3-revolutions-per-frame system is absolutely horrible to make motors for and has other faults too making it technically complex, annoying and overly expensive. Also the BL has that reduction gear drive system which is not ideal for cameras made in small quantities. You will really want to use 1:1 direct drive on all diy projects. 

It would be great if you have possibility to cnc machine the most critical parts out of metal. I think the biggest fault with these diy camera projects has usually been them trying to make it fully 3d printable for loving the 3d printing process and thus cheaping on wrong spots having tolerances all over the place. 

Copying the Arri movements may not be ideal for one-off diy camera, I would design some simple intermittent movement which can be made easily enough with good tolerances to get stable image. Something super simple which still works, more towards Krasnogorsk-style or Bolex-style than the ArriBL .

The cheapest way to get it crystal sync would probably be to design it around direct 1:1 drive 42bls01 motor which is used wild for tests, then when the camera is final it is replaced with my 4-speed "camera testing oriented" motor kit which has 6 crystal speeds and works at 14.8v so vlock etc would power it fine. If you want to make your own motor system that would be fine but it takes tons of time and costs lots more than using a readily available solution like this. these are around 500usd with shipping. (empty casing for reference, the controller and control panel are the same than on my Universal 4-speed motor and the motor drive is similar than 42bls01 but has custom dual axle I got made for these. so if using stock 42bls01 for tests this kit could readily replace it for final camera if needed)

[Aapo Lettinen]

Did previously some drafting on how a super simple intermittent movement could work. The claw moving on guide rails supporting it from both sides and the movement of it created by mounting it on the offset pin on the driving wheel. Just a draft to show the idea.

Something like this could work fine for a simple camera. Or some similar style simple idea. Would indeed be great if there would be some good resource on different existing camera movements which could be used for reference, if people know links please post them here :) 

[Tyler Purcell]

10 minutes ago, Aapo Lettinen said:

Would indeed be great if there would be some good resource on different existing camera movements which could be used for reference, if people know links please post them here 🙂

I'm probably going to copy the Eclair ACL one shortly, I'll post it once we have the model done. 

[Andrew Clark]

42 minutes ago, Aapo Lettinen said:

if wanting to make a completely newly made camera, I would concentrate on the mechanics and use some easy-enough solution for electronics to make it work. This way you can concentrate all resources on the mechanical work and testing which are more critical on this type of project.

I would absolutely use some other motor arrangement than the Arri ST has. the 3-revolutions-per-frame system is absolutely horrible to make motors for and has other faults too making it technically complex, annoying and overly expensive. Also the BL has that reduction gear drive system which is not ideal for cameras made in small quantities. You will really want to use 1:1 direct drive on all diy projects. 

It would be great if you have possibility to cnc machine the most critical parts out of metal. I think the biggest fault with these diy camera projects has usually been them trying to make it fully 3d printable for loving the 3d printing process and thus cheaping on wrong spots having tolerances all over the place. 

Copying the Arri movements may not be ideal for one-off diy camera, I would design some simple intermittent movement which can be made easily enough with good tolerances to get stable image. Something super simple which still works, more towards Krasnogorsk-style or Bolex-style than the ArriBL .

The cheapest way to get it crystal sync would probably be to design it around direct 1:1 drive 42bls01 motor which is used wild for tests, then when the camera is final it is replaced with my 4-speed "camera testing oriented" motor kit which has 6 crystal speeds and works at 14.8v so vlock etc would power it fine. If you want to make your own motor system that would be fine but it takes tons of time and costs lots more than using a readily available solution like this. these are around 500usd with shipping. (empty casing for reference, the controller and control panel are the same than on my Universal 4-speed motor and the motor drive is similar than 42bls01 but has custom dual axle I got made for these. so if using stock 42bls01 for tests this kit could readily replace it for final camera if needed)

This is incredibly helpful, thank you!!!