From: "Nicholas Wright" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Kindof OT: Metal workers... Okay, I have drawn up rudimentary plans for an add-on tripod collar for the FA* 300/4.5 that I am, hopefully, purchasing this weekend. It would be a simple metal "bracket" (parts that come in contact with the lens would be covered with leather padding) with straps to hold the lens in place. My only problem is that I don't know where to go from here. What kind of shop would I need to go visit about constructing such an object. Metal fabricator? Metal worker? I have no clue where to go from here. Any help is greatly appreciated. ================================= Being one of those metal workers..... Yer BEST bet is to find something close to what ya want & "adapt" it... Bend it, drill it, shape it to change it into what you want. The folks with access to lathes & Bridgeports & etc usually don't own em. Then your project becomes a "government job" they have to sneak in on their "spare time". TABOO in a small shop. If you run into a bloke from the BIG-3, (that makes upwards of $30 an hour to sit on their arse all day)...they think their useless self is WORTH $30 an hour to cobble together something that you'll STILL have to take home & "adapt" to your needs. There may be the guy that works out of his garage, or advertizes in the phone book.... which may be the way to go. It all depends on what you have in mind. Personally, I think I'd get a 1" thick polycarb plastic block 2" bigger than the dia of the lens. Get a hole saw a skooch bigger than the dia of the lens; drill the center out (face). Drill a .280" hole top-to-bottom on ea side, then cut it in half left to right... get a .125" thick aluminum plate, add 3 holes..... one for the tripod screw & 2 for the ones on ea side of the lens. Add 2-.250" bolts with wingnuts & I'd have a compression clamp that kinda-sorta resembled the exhaust clamp used on your cars exhaust pipe. Get a nut the same thread pitch as the tripod screw & go take pictures. Wanna over-build it? Make that aluminum plate reach all the way back so it supports the camera as well..... "steal" the screw from an eveready case & bolt the plate to the bottom of the camera. (An aluminum plate can be Z-bent so it matches the height diff between camera base & lens dia). Now the lens don't have to support the camera & vice-versa. AND..... there's 10" or so of plate to add the hole for the tripod screw so the whole rig is balanced on top of the tripod. Get ready to go home, unscrew the plate from the tripod & toss camera/plate/lens in yer bag as ONE, solid, rigid unit. But that's me "guessing" what you have in mind. Like the commercial says "Think outside of the box". Scoot - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
