Building a Large Format Camera for Wet Plate Photography Part 2

This is part two in my plywood camera building process (part one here:    • Shapeoko 3: Building a Large Format C...   ). The main camera structure is built on my Shapeoko cnc machine.

The project turned out quite nice but there are a couple of flaws here and there. I tried to fasten the vacuum hose when the Shapeoko was running which caused an indent in one of the corners. Not very clever. There are also some chip outs here and there both from the cnc and the table saw (it is after all plywood...).

I used a water based finish hoping to avoid yellowing the wood but it did not work very well. I usually use oil/poly mix for finish but wanted to try something different. I am not very happy with the finish. I like the beautiful natural color in bare plywood but it seems to be impossible to avoid yellowing when finish is applied.

I am new to cnc machining and need to learn more about it. I am quite happy with the design but there are some things I need to improve.

I hope you enjoyed this project and subscribe to my channel. I will make videos building more exclusive cameras in walnut and cherry wood in the future.

Check out my site at http://dieter.me