Ilford Ilfospeed 500 Enlarger System Reusability?

[Andytigerente]

Hi there,
I have just disensembled a complete Enlarger System in my parents-in-law house which was given to them by a photographer many years ago.
What to do wiith this professional yet out-of-date system?
Is there a market for this? Cannot find anything on www...
Does anyone need spare parts?
What else to consider?
Thanks a lot for any kind of feedback!
Andreas

[esearing]

I assume your are referring to Ilford Multigrade 500H system. It should have a controller 500C or 500CPM, a power source 500S, and maybe some other accessories such as the ilford safelight or foot switch. It also depends which enlarger it was set up for Beseler or durst or modified for other. There should be some white mixing boxes that fit inside the head that are the size of film they support 4x5, 2x2 , 1.5x1 etc...

Some pictures would go a long way to answering your questions. You can find one or two of these on ebay for pricing comparison if yours works.

[mpirie]

The Ilford Multigrade 500 system is very sought after by serious darkroom aficionado's.

As mentioned, the core system consists of the head, the controller and the power supply. There are a number of diffuser (35mm, 6x7mm and 5x4) mixing boxes depending on the negative format being used.

Ilford made a number of adapters to fit the professional enlargers of the time, such as Durst.

I think you'll find a ready need for the parts or even as a whole kit as they stopped making this equipment sometime in the 80's.

Mike

[Leigh]

The Ilford Multigrade 500 system is very sought after by serious darkroom aficionado's.
I use one of those on my Beseler 45MX as my only printing light source.

It's an absolutely excellent system, providing fine control of both contrast and time.
And it's plenty bright, using two 500-watt halogen bulbs, one filtered to blue, the other to green.

It is for black&white only. You cannot use it for (normal) color.

- Leigh

[Luis-F-S]

Hi there,
What to do wiith this professional yet out-of-date system?
Thanks a lot for any kind of feedback!
Andreas
What’s out of date about it? Would also help if you posted the enlarger and the format size.

[Bazz8]

I have the Ilford 500 series system mated to a RHDesign AnylserPro 500
this is fantastic combination,the blue and green filtered light is calibrated perfectly to Ilford paper grade.
you will need to calibrate the setup for each paper type you use but this is not to hard to do.
here is a x-ray print as printed using Gd3 Contact print 8x10 178610

[Jac@stafford.net]

I use the same on a 4x5 enlarger and the only problem I found was a bad electrical connection to a bulb. An easy soldering repair and all is still good.

[Steve Sherman]

The Ilford 500 enlarging light source is what I use and is an integral reason for the potential of multi contrast papers revealed in dramatic manner illustrated in this article. https://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/PPSS/ppss.html

[Bazz8]

I have had another connection hissy fit with my Ilford 500 head.
12 months ago I had some overheating of the head due to the fan,fortunately I bought another head for a reasonable price,
fired the enlarger up and away I went until last night doing a metering on a less than perfect neg so it took a while.
Put the paper in and exposed the paper nothing on the green side, so checklist from previous times
1.Check all connections ( used contact cleaner to be sure)
2. grabbed my spare globe tried again nothing ( checked Globe Blown)
Checked the Red connector inside the head and the wires fell out,I can only assume heat caused the expansion of the joiner changed the joiner crimped it tight.
3. Blue side working fine, changes over the globe and now green works blue does not LOL
4.Went to order from Amazon AU a pair of ELH 120v 300 w globes $70 AU postage inclusive each Stuff that!
found a Australian site and got two new ELH globes delivered to home address under $50 for both.
The results from the Ilford head is worth the mucking around Jacs post seems to indicate the same connection issue.
Oh well no printing this week