4x5" Wet Plate Holder v2 by robertbieber

Last crawled date: 3 years, 3 months ago

This is a wet plate holder for 4x5 plates. It will fit standard, modern 4x5 spring backs, and should fit plates anywhere from true 4x5" size down to plates sized for Chamonix holders. This supersedes my old 4x5 design. The main difference is that the new one uses all toggles to attach the lid to the holder, as the slide latches were a bit flimsy. You will need to provide your own dark slide (I use the same aluminum that I make tintypes out of, cut to size with a paper cutter) as well as something springy to provide pressure to keep the plate flat against the inside of the holder.
To assemble this, you will need the following printed parts:
File Name
Quantity
bottom.stl
1
top.stl
1
lid.stl
1
toggle.stl
4
retaining_tab.stl
1
In addition, you will need the following non-printed parts:
Part
Quantity
M2x4mm screws
4
M2 washers
4
M2x4x3.5mm threaded inserts
4
1/4" foam backer rod
~10"
Low strength thread locker
Small amount
Assemble as follows.
Using a soldering iron or other heat source, set the eight heat set inserts into the eight holes in the back of the bottom piece.
Cut two pieces of foam backer rod to fit the tubular holes in the front of the bottom piece. Squeeze the foam into place to form the light trap.
Using your adhesive of choice, glue the top and bottom halves of the body together using the ridge on the top half and the trough in the bottom half to align them. Be sure to clamp the two halves together until the adhesive is fully dried.
Glue the retaining tab into the trough in the front of the holder.
Use the M2 screws and washers to screw the toggles into the threaded inserts. Putting some low strength thread locker on the screws before snugging them down will keep the toggles from coming unscrewed as you move them back and forth to lock and unlock the lid.
Once the holder is assembled, the toggles will allow you to secure the lid firmly in place.