8 x 10 enlarger questions

[atlcruiser]

Hi All,
It looks like I just scored an Elwood 810 enlarger with an aristo cold head as well in the 810 size.

I have done a bunch of searching and I have a good idea of the size of the Elwood. It will sort of fit in the darkroom but I dont think I will use it enough to justify the space it will take up. I have started the planning for the new "backyard shed" darkroom where this will fit so it will be used eventually.

If I bring this into the house and announce that I will be cutting a hole in the roof of the darkroom the wedding will be OFF!

I also have a bessler 45MX45 motor etc.... the big guy with a dicro head. It fits a bit better in my darkroom :)Does anyone have any experience in trying to mount the big aristo head to it?

I have heard of but never seen the conversion for the 45MT to 810. Any thoughts on a homemade conversion? I only need to print to 16x20.

[Pawlowski6132]

My elwood doesn't extend past six feet. Try not to bench mount it.

[R Mann]

Beseler 8x10 conversions include a spacer to move the entire lens and 8x10 head assembly forward - the lens needs to be centered on the negative holder.

[Scott Walker]

The top part of the bellows on the beseler gets replaced by the 8x10 head stage which is held on by the 3 big screws pictured.
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/Beecool/f63f929e.jpg

There are 2 ways of doing this; The easy way, you replace the whole top assembly with bellows attached by simply running the thing up and off the track and puting the 8x10 assembly on in reverse order. The hard way, detach the bellows from the old 4x5 head stage and reglue the bellows to the 8x10 head stage.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/Beecool/5e072647.jpg
4x5 head stage with bellows attached, note the 3 screw holes in the head stage

The rest of the parts simply sit on top of the 8x10 head stage

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/Beecool/43d5f756.jpg
8x10 negative carrier stage or spacer or whatever it is called

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/Beecool/4b8a2b41.jpg
8x10 light source

[Scott Walker]

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/Beecool/92f85559.jpg
Assembled unit

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/Beecool/43894e50.jpg
negative holder

The spacers are required only so the head assembly is moved out far enough that it clears the top bar of the enlarger frame. if you do not have the spacers you will only be able to move the head up about half way to the top of it's normal travel.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/Beecool/092ab8dc.jpg
Head stage spacer

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg90/Beecool/94c5f4c2.jpg
Lens stage spacer

I have the Beseler instruction manual for the conversion if you think a copy of it would help you

[Scott Walker]

Forgot to mention, the Arista cold light head fits right on the Beseler conversion, not sure about the dicro head though as I don't have one

[atlcruiser]

thanks Scott! It loooks like I would still need to buy/make a negative stage. I wonder if it is easier to just hold off until I can find a kit cheap on the evil bay or get the darkroom shed built.

[bob carnie]

So the wedding hasn't happend yet??? CUT THE HOLE


Hi All,
It looks like I just scored an Elwood 810 enlarger with an aristo cold head as well in the 810 size.

I have done a bunch of searching and I have a good idea of the size of the Elwood. It will sort of fit in the darkroom but I dont think I will use it enough to justify the space it will take up. I have started the planning for the new "backyard shed" darkroom where this will fit so it will be used eventually.

If I bring this into the house and announce that I will be cutting a hole in the roof of the darkroom the wedding will be OFF!

I also have a bessler 45MX45 motor etc.... the big guy with a dicro head. It fits a bit better in my darkroom :)Does anyone have any experience in trying to mount the big aristo head to it?

I have heard of but never seen the conversion for the 45MT to 810. Any thoughts on a homemade conversion? I only need to print to 16x20.

[rjmeyer314]

I have an 8x10 Elwood. Right now I have a 180mm Repromaster lens on it. It will cover the 8x10 format and let you get a bigger print than you could get from a 300mm-360mm lens.

[Jim Noel]

With the cold light the Elwood height is reduced considerably from that of the original head. You should have no problem. I use one with a 180mm lens and have plenty of head room.

[Scott Walker]

thanks Scott! It loooks like I would still need to buy/make a negative stage. I wonder if it is easier to just hold off until I can find a kit cheap on the evil bay or get the darkroom shed built.

The only part of the Beseler conversion that would be difficult to make is the head stage and that is because it is cast. The rest is sheet metal and could be fabricated rather easily.

I do have a spare head stage kicking around that I would sell for what I paid for it, $100.00 if memory serves me well.
I could supply you with detailed pictures and dimensions for the negative stage so you could have one made. All you would need to do is set your cold light on top and you would be good to go.
The Beseler was not designed for 8x10 so their recommendation for a lens is 240mm, I put my 302mm on and it vignettes due to the bellows size/extension.
I don't have a 240mm so I am using a 180mm and with the carriage raised about half way up it projects an image about the size of the baseboard from an 8x10 neg.

As pointed out your Elwood may work just fine since you likely willl not need to get the head any where near the top of it's travel if you use a 180mm or 240mm lens.

Good luck with the cheap conversion on ebay, I chased two of them to $1,400.00 before giving up and finally found one on the forums here for a more reasonable amount, but still not cheap by any means.

[atlcruiser]

thanks for all of the replies and your kind offer Scott. Funny enough, I made a decision a few months ago to put away my enlargers and concentrate on contact printing for a year or so.

Just a few short months later I am almost sucked into the world of more giant equipment that I will not use enough or, if I do, I will leave my plan of contact prints.

And Bob....your new giant print washer and the conversations around my dragging that into the house played a big part in this decision :)

I decided to not get the enlarger and the head. it was a great deal but right now we have a wedding to pay for.

I figure another 810 enlarger will show up about the time I really need one :)