Condensor lens chip

[Dave Schneidr]

I have an Omega D5 condensor light source. It was shipped with the two fixed con densors in place in the housing. I believe the bounced against each other causin g a few small chips or scratches in the surface of each condensor. I knew this w hen I purchased the unit but since I got the whole enlarger including chassis an d baseboard for $300 I thought I could live with the chips in the condesor, unti l today. I am trying to print some shots with a large area of uniform color and of course those chips show up as a lighter area in the print. It's not bad which is why it has not been noticeable on photos with much more variation.

My question, is there a recommended repair for this short or replacing the conde nsors? Could they be polished? Has anyone ever tried the repair kits used to rep air chipped windshields? Does anyone who has switched to a cold light head wish to sell their condensors?

[Duane]

You might try clear nail polish to fill in/build up the hole. It should have a similar index of refraction and can be removed with acetone (or nail polish cleaner).

In theory the defects should not affect illumination but it appears that the imaging lens can actually bring the defects somewhat into focus and you get the light areas.

Also, I have used a translucent plastic sheet above the negative to try and build a poorman's diffusion head. It didn't work as expected but I'd bet that something like that may work very well for you. The sheet was from some plastic box for cosmetics and I cut the center out of it.

Cheers,

Duane