Not much to look at considering the cost I know, but there it is. The clip that holds the ground glass on the B&J Grover 8×10 camera I am “restoring”. I’m missing one. I went on emachineshop.com the other day and had a grand time learning their free design software and mocking up my little brass part. Unfortunately when I ran the price calculator it came out to be about $1200 USD for making one unit. I have since learned from others that emachineshop is great for small production runs, but not for making individual parts unless you have a lot of the other kind of “brass” too. In all fairness I did follow the making-it-cheaper hints and got it down to around $200, but that was still over the top for a piece of metal that doesn’t even register on my 1 gram resolution scale. Emachineshop is still a cool concept and a has a cool piece of free design software, and I recommend a visit even if you don’t have a specific use in mind. You will learn a lot. But don’t expect to make one single part unless you REALLY need it.

What I learned most is that doing this particular process on the cheap is going to take cleverness, and thinking outside the (fuming) box. When I woke up this morning I realized that I don’t really have to duplicate this clip to hold my glass in place. A rectangular piece of brass with a small hole in it will work just fine. Seems obvious now. Even my limited tools can handle that. And even though my solution won’t look as pretty as that original clip, it still will look better than the piece of duct tape holding it on right now.

So maybe necessity will drive innovation. Maybe other innovaters will come out of the woodwork and we will design new equipment and new processes that will enliven our modern antique field. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

7 Responses to “$1000 per 1/2 gram”

1. Jon Lewis says:

   June 17, 2008 at 6:36 am

   I always thought it was going to be the fine silver and gold chloride that was going to be the expensive bits of the process, who knew about those priceless metal clips! :)
2. andy says:

   June 17, 2008 at 7:07 am

   I can’t remember where I saw it now, but early in my research I saw a picture of someone who was using a battered old frying pan as a mercury fumer (it was sitting inside a lab grade fume hood BTW). I felt pretty scornful at the time. As my investigations and pricing research continue I have grown in my understanding of the dedicated soul with the frying pan. :)
3. Jon Lewis says:

   June 17, 2008 at 8:23 am

   Last night I spent an hour looking at lab grade glass pans for the fuming box and the cheapest one I found was $175! After a bit of thinking I finally went to target and picked up perfectly sized pyrex dish for $5.
4. Jonathan Danforth says:

   June 17, 2008 at 11:29 am

   E-mail me your part and I’ll see if I can make it for you on my CNC.
5. andy says:

   June 17, 2008 at 7:04 pm

   Jonathan – thanks for your generous offer. I have emailed you the plan. Please don’t spend too much time on it. I don’t want to use up your patience for beginners too fast – I will have a lot more questions as things go along. :)

   Jon – frying pans and baking dishes; we will continue to hope that great things can arise from humble beginnings.
6. Jonathan Danforth says:

   June 19, 2008 at 5:55 am

   I designed your part in CAD yesterday. I’ll get around to machining it this weekend or next week. It’s fun for me!

   http://www.shinyphotos.com/pics/part.png
7. andy says:

   June 19, 2008 at 7:13 am

   Thanks Jonathan. Perhaps when I get my own milling machine I will make a brass plaque for the camera naming it the J. Danforth Memorial Camera in honor of your donation. :) Then again maybe I have been working in a university setting too long…