Adapting a wide angle lens to a camcorder without threading - lathe project

A little machining and a little glue makes a pretty easy project to upgrade the functionality of an old camcorder. I add a removable wide angle lens to my old Canon Vixia camera. If you camera does not have the means to mount lens or adapter this is a good option. This will also work for other filter like polarizers, close up, etc. Also a bit of a running old John Deere tractor at the end.
Adapter used in video - amzn.to/3p5Vf9k
A wide angle lens attachment - amzn.to/3fxdzVM
The previous are affiliate links, every purchase helps out the channel but costs you nothing extra. Thanks!
Tim Sway's SqWAYreX #SqWAYre ‪@timsway‬
• Introducing the SqWAYr...

[@TheKnacklersWorkshop]

Hello Eddie, Nice modification... I look forward to the review of the Tim Sway's SqWAYreX... See you on the next one... Take care. Paul,,

[@theeddies]

Thanks Paul, I actually expected the square to be woodworking level precision, and that would have been fine, but it is actually pretty good. It might be better than I have the ability to test it. I have light tested it with the squarest blocks I have and it is very good, except one small issue that would take too long to explain but is correctable. I am trying to come up with a way to test it with indicators. My problem is establishing a known good reference and inexperience with QC testing of course. If you know any good home shop level squareness tests, let me know. Al the best! Eddie

[@timsway]

Thanks for the plug! And why do they not make things like cameras and hand drills square? Imagine how much easier life would be if your hand drill had a 90 degree flat surface parallel to the drill bit.

[@theeddies]

Thanks for dropping by Tim. My Milwaukee drill has protruding parallel screw bosses on the side that are in line with the bit but a flat surface would be very nice. Actually my very old dead Ryobi had a removeable level that had a flat surface under it but being at the back it was would have been about as useful as the level. I'm enjoying using the square, and really only found one little annoying thing. One of the legs has a very tiny amount of side to side play. Easily corrected by making sure it is set before use (and I might make a slight mod to it to keep it set). It is actually extremely accurate though. I am going to do a short video on it once I get enough footage using it in different ways. Anyway, nice job. All the best! Eddie

[@timsway]

@@theeddies I would appreciate your insight. I think future iterations will be machined metal and have turn screws to secure the rulers, which of course will increase the cost significantly. I was trying to keep both surfaces flat (and keep the costs down) with this design.

[@theeddies]

I think the acrylic works, I really like it, it is light, not magnetic and is plenty accurate. A tiny set screw was going to be my fix. I did wonder if there was a way to insert a very small bit of spring steel in the groove to tension the rule with a small notch to retain it. Might need tiny hands and better eyes than mine to place them but you have a son right😁 The material you used to get the side to side tension works very well. Obviously, as you said, you were building to a plan of simplicity, and you definitely pulled that off. It is extremely useful as is and any mods have to be balanced with cost.

[@timsway]

@@theeddies cheers. There is a tiny, "spring loaded" piece of metal in there. Tough to get the right tension consistently.

[@watevaa1234567]

Perfect , thank you!

[@theeddies]

That's funny, I was just going through old videos thinking about changing titles and/or thumbnails to maybe generate a few more views and this is one I almost changed. Glad you got something out of it. Best! Eddie

[@chazsteadman5020]

Excellent video! Thanks! I looked up the manual for your camera and it turns out you can turn off the image stabilization (OFF for when you have the camera mounted on a tripod). My R20 is threaded and only has half the zoom. Thanks again. Also, your Minolta wide angle attachment lens did a MUCH BETTER job than the Vivitar that I bought.

[@theeddies]

Thanks!

[@rockyvolcano122]

Do not use image stabilisation with a fisheye.

[@johnstrange6799]

LOL I knew that's how things were behind the scenes.

[@theeddies]

Mike is theoretically a good guy but dumber than a bag full of really dumb hammers. As far as the lathe goes, yes it seems to be a later (70's?) redesign of the 101. If it were closer I would go look to see how complete it is and low ball them. Some apparently had inch and metric change gear sets. Not sure how that worked but interesting. I have been thinking about that particular problem. I would really like to be able to do both.

[@johnstrange6799]

@@theeddies I just saw the clip on TMZ. Are you going to issue a Twitter statement, and maybe go to some kind of country club vacation island "rehab" and all that, or just claim that you were simply trying to stay in character? -- Yeah metric and standard thing is a quandary. I believe there are work arounds to a certain extent on some machines, but that's something I don't know about. The larger machines that let you just switch between the two with the pull of a lever seem nice.

[@johnstrange6799]

@@theeddies You can get a feel for the size of those Atlas here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooCmf3uddt2fqJY&ab_channel=805ROADKING805ROADKING

[@theeddies]

@@johnstrange6799 ROFL. I actually only realized after I did the bit that it was sort of like that Tom Cruise blowout a year or so ago. Not planned that way but I guess it was in the back of mind somewhere. I just wanted to say something stupid.

[@johnstrange6799]

@@theeddieslol I was thinking it was like the Christian Bale meltdown from several years back. Same same though. Still funny anyway you slice it.