DIY hand-crank camera?

[pbryant]

Hi all,

 

I've always been a tinkerer, and looking through a gallery of old (~1890s) motion picture cameras, I got intrigued by the idea of building my own hand-crank camera.

 

I'm wondering if anyone on the boards could point me to some books with more detailed specs/blueprints for these classic cameras, or similar resources online?

 

I know it's an offbeat request, maybe a little (a lot) anachronistic, but I'd really appreciate a nudge in the right direction.

 

Thanks so much!

Paul

 

edit: here's a gallery I was looking at, if anyone's interested:

http://digitalfx.tv/kodak/html/cine.html

Edited June 15, 2008 by pbryant

[Patrick Neary]

Hi- I'd thought about doing that very thing, rehousing a geneva movement from an automax camera into a nice wood box and somehow adding a gear set so I could get 8:1 with a hand crank. So now I have the pieces, including the nikon mount, but need to be retired and have a workshop :) So if you need a 35mm movement and gears....

[John Sprung]

Some resources:

 

LaVezzi for sprockets:

 

http://www.lavezzi.com/lavezzistore.html

 

Boston Gear for -- of course -- gears:

 

http://www.bostongear.com/

 

You'll want to design around their stock items, just like any engineer building one-off equipment would.

 

I'd start with a crank about 6" long driving an 8 frame sprocket. Next to the big sprocket on the main shaft, you want a nice big straight cut bull gear driving a pinion gear 8:1 to make a one frame per revolution shaft for your pulldown. Make them nice and big to get out of the way of your sprocket and film path. A pulley to drive the takeup spindle and a 4:1 bevel gear set to drive a balanced two blade shutter complete the main shaft.

 

For the pulldown, start with a disc and eccentric screw on the one rev per frame shaft. Then two more moving parts, one with the claws on top and a hole for the eccentric screw on the bottom, the other a link from the middle of the claw piece to a fixed point. Or you could go with a single claw piece and a guide slot.

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Paul Bruening]

Hello Paul,

 

This is another Paul. How much pride will you derive from doing it yourself? Do you need to cut and file all of the pieces like some Afghani gun maker or could you strip parts out of other cameras?

 

Sincerely,

Another Paul