Reproducing parts in un-obtainium

[Occasional machinist]

In this clip I make up some photographic equipment parts that a friend of mine was having trouble getting - supply chain issues meant waits of many months, if then...

[DIYer]

Thanks Occasional machinist! We've added your Camera Mounts to our Photography and Videography category,
as well as to your builder page: Occasional machinist's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Camera Mounts by Occasional machinist

tags: mount

[WmRMeyers]

In this clip I make up some photographic equipment parts that a friend of mine was having trouble getting - supply chain issues meant waits of many months, if then...

Pretty nifty. I have, somewhere here, a tripod that uses a similar plate to hold the camera in place. Bought it from a thrift store decades ago, planning on doing something like this to it. Life interfered, and I put up my cameras, instead. Maybe sometime in the new future...

Bill

[Occasional machinist]

A bit off topic, but that's a nice little shaper there Bill - never seen one that small. Does it work or is it more a show piece?
Michael

[WmRMeyers]

It sort of works, but needs another overhaul. My so-called workshop is a former back porch, slab on ground, and whenever it rains, the floor floods. I apparently didn't get it oiled sufficiently to keep it from re-rusting. Have a VFD & 600rpm gear motor to install on it, and that's been on hold for several years now. Keep getting distracted by other problems. Mostly medical these days. It's a Lewis Machine Tool shaper. Lewis was a manufacturer of kits of castings, active from the 1920's too 1957, so no two Lewis Shapers are identical. When I got it, it had a 48vdc motor generator, and some really sketchy wiring, and had been sitting out in the rain for some months after the previous owner died. My friend Bill Hinkle knew I was looking for a shaper, and was pretty broke at the time, and bought it, and offered it to me for $150, on any payment schedule I could manage. My wife is the understanding sort, and allowed me to buy it, and pay for it immediately. A few years later, she bought, for me, his restoration project South Bend Heavy 10L tool room lathe. That's sitting here waiting for me to work on it, too. I'm over-subscribed for restoration projects.

Bill

[Frank S]

In this clip I make up some photographic equipment parts that a friend of mine was having trouble getting - supply chain issues meant waits of many months, if then...

Very nice solution for a friend's needs. I find it most satisfying when I can help someone out like that. Making things like those trays can never be looked at from a cost to produce perspective, Which, is something most cannot understand why a person would even want to make them. In the past I have made or repaired parts for some very antique machine assemblies that were originally cast parts made out of cast iron. Sometimes all was needed was to shape a bit of steel to resemble a missing piece then weld it in and peen it to roughen the surface to disguise the fact it was a repair other times it might require making the entire casting because it was so worn out or damaged as to not be repairable. or missing. from a business standpoint it would never be feasible, but from the standpoint of you helping someone get what they need disregarding manufacturing cost is more rewarding.

[Frank S]

'Snip' That's sitting here waiting for me to work on it, too. I'm over-subscribed for restoration projects.

Bill

It has always been my case. If at any time I find that I am not oversubscribed in projects. Another one will invent itself to refill may plate.