I’ve recently gotten myself the Sony FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS lens. But given its size I always unmount it from the camera when I’m not using it. I didn’t have any vertical space for it to stand upright. Laying the lens horizontally the foot has to be upwards, but tend to make the lens roll over. Because of that I decided to create a cradle for the lens to hold it in place.
I took some measurements of the lens where I figured the cradle arms would be and using SketchUp traced a drawing of the lens I’d found on the internet.
It was only a rough trace, but more than enough details for what I needed. In fact, I could have just used the diameter dimensions of where the cradle arms would be, but I like to visualise a build before I start.
I allowed for 1mm gap between the diameters I measured and the cradle. That, along with the the slight sliver the laser would cut would be enough to easily fit the lens in the arms. After modelling a 3D model of the parts I used my Milling Tools extension to extract 2D line drawings of each part. I’m using the Full Spectrum Muse 40w laser cutter of my local makerspace, and it prefers PDF files. I imported my SketchUp drawing into LayOut to generate the PDF I’d send to the laser cutter. Using LayOut I have better control over scale and page layout than if I were exporting directly from SketchUp.
The makerspace had recently gotten a batch of 3mm matt black acrylic sheets. Matt black material was perfect for this project and looked lovely. I had originally thought I’d have to fill the engraved Sony logo with paint to make it visible, but the finish was nice enough without. The laser job itself was done quickly within a few minutes.
I don’t think I’d laid the material completely flat on the bed, as there were some parts that hadn’t cut 100% through. Though they where 99,9% cut through so it didn’t take much to pry them loose.
With a few dabs of glue the cradle was quickly assembled.
One thing I’d forgotten to account for was the lock screw on the lens, so the lens could only be inserted into the cradle with a couple of millimetre of leeway, but it works fine. I was initially afraid it’d be too fiddly to fit it exactly where it needs to sit, but it turned out to not be a real problem.
While it’s a bit front heavy there is enough weight on the rear end to make it sit steady without tipping.
- Download SKP, LayOut and PDF files for Sony 200-600mm G Lens Cradle
- 3D Warehouse Collection of the SKP files
- Milling Tools Extension for SketchUp