Re: Larger negatives

Peter Marshall (petermarshall@cix.compulink.co.uk)
Sun, 14 May 95 08:41 BST-1

In-Reply-To: <memo.262818@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Judy Seigel mailed me:
>Would you consider giving us more description of the contact frame you
>"knocked up in an hour"!?
and suggested that I post my response to the group. I've added a bit at
the bottom which asnwers two of her questions (so far as I can).

It looks as if it was knocked up in an hour too. Started with a sheet of
plate glass and some planed all round wood about 2 inches wide. Cut four
pieces of wood to fit round the glass (ie 2 x length of glass + width of
wood, 2x width of glass + width of wood). Cut another set of 4 half an
inch smaller. Assemble the two sets on top of each other, the joints of
one set staggered relative to those of the first and nail to make frame
to hold glass. Cut piece of blockboard to size of glass, then cut this
into two pieces (so one can be removed while leaving other in place).
Paste black card to blockboard. To hold back in place I use two strips of
wood which are have holes at each end. These fit on some things I don't
know the name of with a woodscrew on one end and a normal screw thread on
the other, which are screwed into each side of the frame, and are held
tight with wing nuts.

This was a bit of quick and dirty design making use of materials I had
around - only thing I had to buy were the special screw things - very
cheap. It would be possible to think of a more convenient way of holding
the back in place - or to copy the fixing from old printing frames - but
I needed it in a hurry so it had to be done with what I could get from
the local hardware shop. The whole job - including 'design' and shopping
- fitted into a morning.

To clarify a couple of points above:

Blockboard is bonded timber strips enclose by two thick veneers. I used
it because it is (usually) pretty flat - anything else would do so long
as it is flat. Like all the other materials I just used what I had lying
around my loft.

I have tried using a foam padding, but it usually seems to work anyway
without this. I often put several sheets of paper under the sheet being
used.

Mine is a bit large than 8x10 - I think around 14x10" - again just the
size of the glass I had. I haven't tried larger.

Peter Marshall
petermarshall@cix.compulink.co.uk