Omega D2 lens board dimensions

[Wally Hess]

I have happened upon a very old rusted Omega D2 enlarger that, while missing most of its parts, looks like it could work given replacement parts and would like to restore it for use if possible, The Aristo cold light head is broken and before I buy a replacement for it, I want to see if the enlarger itself is worthy.

I want to make my own lens board and would appreciate if anyone could provide me with the dimensions including thickness. I measured the opening and its about 8 inches, but have no idea what the original thickness was. I will use a hardware store type clamp light whose bell cone just happens to fit into the empty lamp housing for the temporary light source. Once I have the lensboard and lens mounted I will test it with the clamp lamp. The bellows appear in good shape and the gearing still works.

Thanks

[ronald moravec]

Lens boards are only flat for 50mm lenses.

For a 150 or 135 , the lens is mounted to a truncated cone either 5 in tall or 3 1/2 tall for the 135.

The bellows are too short for a 135 / 150 to focus.

I have made cones from 1/8 in aircraft plywood. It ends up being a box mounted on a flat board that goes up into the area under the bellows. There are thumb screws and clamps to hold it in position. It is round with segments cut off the edges so it can go in the area and then rotated 90 deg and clamped. Make a cardboard pattern to trial fit.

The actual lens boards are just discs that fasten to the bottom of the cone with a appropiate hole for the lens in use .

[Ralph Barker]

The stock D2 lens boards are a 6 3/8" disk, with two sides cut flat to a 5 5/8" width. The cones then extend from that, with a lip of 3/8" on the curved ends, and almost no lip on the flat sides.

[Wally Hess]

Great information about the cones - never would have thought of that by myself. Do the cones extend outward (down) or inward (recessed)?

Also, any links to pictures of one?

Thanks

Wally Hess

[Ralph Barker]

The cones extend downward, toward the easel, thus extending the distance between the lens and the neg.

[Conrad Hoffman]

I've made cones for my D3 using two plates epoxied to a section of an oatmeal box. Paint it flat black. IMO, enlargers are so cheap, if you going to put much into this, I'd just go buy another enlarger and use this one for parts for the new one.

[Donald Brewster]

http://www.classic-enlargers.com/

Everything you want to know about Omega Enlargers.

[Donald Qualls]

Also, FWIW, the portion of the cone or plate that fits under the thumbscrews is (on mine) .096" thick. There's enough adjustment in the screws that you could probably use 3 mm plywood or even 1/8", if you're fabricating a cone or board.