Perhaps the most time consuming part of this whole endeavor is milling, drilling, and filing all of the brass pieces. It definitely puts a whole new perspective on things when you start looking at all the little pieces of machined metal all around you. Although most of that work is automated now, it really makes you wonder how anything got done back in the day when files were the most readily available thing.

Making a hole in a piece of brass takes three steps. First, you need a center bit to drill a small hole right where you want it. For most of my pieces, precision isn’t necessarily required, so I’m eyeballing hole placements with a drill press and some scratch marks to save time. When precision is required, a milling machine is definitely needed.

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Now that I’m comfortable with most of the machines at the hobby shop, the progress on the camera is definitely increasing in pace. This week I’m wrapping up work on the focusing rack and starting on the front standard.

• body
  
• base
• focusing rack
• front standard
• ground glass and negative holder
• finishing

I can confidently say that I’m finishing up the toughest and most complex part of the camera. I’m also hoping that my ground glass arrives soon so I can finish up some simple things on the ground glass and negative holder frames.

Here is what the camera looks like so far.

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