Any repurposing ideas?

BGHansen

BGHansen

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My parents ran a photofinishing business (E-6 slides) back in the day. I'm in the process of cleaning out their basement and hauled this contraption to my shop. It's a copy stand and was used with a camera to shoot artwork off the table. I will never use it for its intended purpose.

Any ideas what this could be repurposed for? I was thinking a tapping guide; make some sort slip spindle that mounts where a camera would. Currently I'll use my drill press with a Procunier tapping head (or manually turn the chuck) or my Bridgeport. I'll disassemble it and sell it as scrap aluminum before using it (and taking up the space) for a hand-tapping fixture. Any other good ideas?

Thanks, Bruce


The carriage moves up/down on the vertical aluminum tracks. The black knob on the side is for fine adjustment; the carriage is tied to a tensioning reel that counterweights a camera being mounted.
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If the angular relation is truly 90* maybe combine with an optical loupe? Seems a bit lightweight to hold anything subjected to force, but might be great for an inspection tool. Heck, it might make a great mount for a binocular microscope head if you just happen to have one and need to occasionally look at something large.

GsT
 
Use a very high resolution CCTV camera and monitor. Use it to visually inspect things at high magnification.

As I get older, this appeals to me more.

I collect old tools, and often post photos of them on Garage Journal. That rig would make it for much better pictures that my current system of holding my cell phone over a table!
 
No real good ideas on repurposing it but Evrett from Everett's Workshop on you tube repurposed an old overhead projector and made a poor man's optical comparator out of it. He just copied a drawing from his pdf files onto a transparency or what we always called a Flimsy" Projected the flimsy on a white wall screen Laid the machined part on the flimsy and Wa-La a comparison to the print. Very creative I thought. Due to the wonderful world of PowerPoint overhead projectors that we knew Before the digital world we now live in are obsolete. I love creative repurposing. I should have been born a Junk Dealer ... lol If I ever find a find a Free one, I will do the same as Evrett did.
 
Interesting . I keep things like that down the basement just to have them . They make great conversation items , but nobody dares to enter the dungeun lately . Keep thinking Bruce . The day you get rid of it is the day you'll need it for something . :encourage:
 
Oooooo that is something I’d have a really hard time parting with. Even though no obvious repurposing comes to mind. I would think the hardware and lift mechanism would be really cool. I’d be thinking about making it into a guide fence for my bandsaw or something like that. Its kinda hard to get the true potential through a picture.
 
I have a similar thing in the back of my shop. Has a USB video camera. My wife used it like an Elmo to project projects/books/etc onto a multimedia screen teaching 5th grade and library. Could use to trace patterns with a projector onto the wall.

If you are a utube video author would be great to demo stuff.
 
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