CNC made close up lens filter holder

Close up filters attach to the end of a camera lens and allow you to take photos closer to the subject than you normally would have been able to do. This is very handy for electronics and other work as you can get clear images of circuit boards and other small detail. I recently got a collection of 3 such filters which didn't come with any sort of real holder, the container they shipped in was not really designed for longer term use.

The above is the starting design for a filter holder cut in layers from walnut and stacked together to create the enclosure. The inside is shown below where the outer diameter can hold the 80mm black ring and the inner circles are 70mm and are there to keep the filters from touching each other. Close up filters can be quite fish eyed looking with a substantial curve to the lens on the filter, so a gap is needed to keep each filter away from the next one. A little felt is used to cushion the filter from the walnut itself which adds roughly 1.5mm to the design so the felt layer all have space to live as well.

The bottom has little feet which extend slightly beyond the tangent of the circle so they both make good contact with the ground and there is no rocking. Using two very cheap hinges works well in this design to try to minimize the sideways movement (slop) in the hinges themselves. A small leather strap will finish the enclosure off allowing it to be secured closed.

It is wonderful to be able to turn something like this around. I can only imagine what the world looks like from the perspective of somebody who is used to machining with 5 axis CNC.

A floating shelf for tablets

The choice of replacing the small marble table entirely or trying to "work around" it with walnut. The lower walnut tabletop is about 44cm by 55cm and is just low enough to give easy access to slide laptop(s) under the main table top. The top floating shelf is wide enough to happily accommodate two ipad sized tablets. The top shelf and lower tabletop are attached to the backing by steel brackets which cut through to the back through four CNC created mortises.

Cutting the mortises was interesting, I had to drop back to using a 1/2 inch cutting bit in order to service the 45mm depth of the timber. The back panel was held down with machining clamps but toggles would have done the trick, it was just what was on hand at the time. I cut the mortises through from the back using an upcut bit and the front turned out very clean without any blow out. You could probably cut yourself on the finish it was so clean.

The upcut doesn't make a difference in this job but it is always good to plan and see the outcomes for the next time when the cut will be exposed. The fine grain of walnut is great to work with CNC, though most of my bits are upcut for metal work.

I will likely move on to adding a head rest to the eames chair next. But that is a story for another day.