Hello John, I have a toyo 45E (one of the cheapest monorails) and just checked it's rigidity.
-With the front rise up and locked, it took approx. 40lbs of pressure to push it down -With the tilt mechanism locked, I was unable to get any play out of it, but the standard did flex a little bit... maybe the top moved 1/16 of an inch at the top when a reasonable ammount of pressure was applied -I was unable to get any play in the swing or shift mechanism. -There was a little bit of play when I tried to rotate the standard on the rail. -The part that clamps to the rail is made of metal -The bellows are attached to the standards with screws John Overall, I think that the standard would be very suitable for your needs. The only problem I see is centering it on the film plane. At maximum rise, the lens is approximately 9" above the rail, and you would need it to be 12" in the standard position, more for rise. I imagine you could cut off the rail clamp right below the rack&pinion focusing mechanism and weld a riser to it. Everything appears to be made of aluminum, but I could be wrong. I'm willing to sell mine (It has no bellows) if you are interested. I could just send you a standard to check out and decide if you want to buy it or not. Contact me off list regarding that. John -- http://www.enteric.org ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Cremati" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 1:05 AM Subject: [Cameramakers] Toyo front standard adapted to 20x24 Does anyone have a Toyo 4x5 view camera that can offer a opinion on the use of the front standard which is to be adapted for use on a 20x24 camera that I am building ...... I am considering using the front standard off a Toyo 4x5 view camera on this 20x24. The Toyo's has some huge advantages with the removable bellows on some models ( I would like to be able to break the camera down for field use..) , and accessories like the large lens boards , compendium lens shade are available. The front and rear standards on Toyo's are usually the same and I could have a back up in case the camera decides it wants to become a box kite and damage should occur........ I do not think I could build a front standard with full movements and precision focusing for what I can buy a Toyo Camera for as they are basically one of the lowest priced cameras on the used market ... I would need one with a metal rail clamp so that I could tig weld it to my 6 ft long optical rail carriage.. The question I have is do you think that the standard is strong enough to handle the weight of a 20x24 6 foot long bellows which will collapse to about 6 inches . and do you think it is sturdy enough to withstand vibration movement on such a large camera or will things lock down tightly enough.. Do you think that there is any way to beef it up by adding a brace or doing a little tig welding to the assembly... Please let me know the model you have or are referring to ...and if this model has the metal rail clamp or is it plastic and the removable bellows feature or is the bellows just screwed in.. Thanks , John Cremati _______________________________________________ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
