Making Bungs & Photos

 

I took the wife to the hospital yesterday for a blood test and a port flush. She didn't have it marked on the big calendar, so it caught me off guard. She said she didn't put it on the calendar because she was planning on going by herself but no reason I couldn't drive her. It was a beautiful fall day and we took the long way home out through the country. 

When I got home I made one of the end pieces for the rear radius rods. In the photo, it's sitting in the threaded end of the 1" pipe I cut off. I don't need the thread as I'm going to weld the bung into the pipe and thread the Ford tie rod end into it just like the front radius rod is. I'll make the second one up today. 

I had to buy a tap to thread the bung. The standard 11/16" fine thread is 16 TPI. The Ford tie rod ends call for 18 TPI. I bought it from Speedway Motors and the price was actually pretty reasonable. At that price I was expecting something made in China but it's a USA made item and it cut the threads slicker than a whistle. I'll probably never use it again after finishing the radius rods but it'll be here if I need it.

I dropped the motorbike off at the storage space yesterday, got a few groceries and loaded the roll of film in the can before taking the Missus to the hospital. Seems that the film is Bergger Pancro 400. I shot the roll in an old twins lens with out any metering device. I'm a little rusty at estimating exposure levels and since after I shot the first couple of frames I could no longer remember what the film speed was, I'm surprised I got any printable negatives at all. This was the first time using this brand of film so it was basically just a trial run. However, if you're going to experiment, you should really control the variables like the film speed. 

I normally mix my own film developer that's similar to Kodak D-23, which has close to the same development times as D-76, one of the most common B&W developers. The times listed inside the film box called for 17 minutes when mixed 1+1 for D-76. That's unusually long but that's what I did. The development seemed to be OK judging by the first few frames on the roll where I actually knew what the film speed was and exposed it accordingly. I might try printing a couple of them just to see how the grain looks when enlarged. I've got another roll of this same film - maybe load it up in my better twin lens and try a few low light shots and a couple of flash photos. 

I want to try making some tintypes one of these days. Freestyle photo, where I usually buy my photographic supplies, sells the Rockland kit. It comes with 4x5 plates and it just so happens I've got two cameras that take 4x5 film. I've got some film holders already loaded with film. I should shoot those up and then see about making some tintypes. It's been awhile since I've done any photography work. Now with the time change coming and the days getting shorter, I can work in my "darkroom" without having to wait until 9:00 at night.