Originally Posted by
Drew Wiley
I used a long rail and front standard of a Sinar P for one of my vertical enlargers simply because this is very solid and gives me much more precise alignment control
than any typical enlarger per se. However, everything else (except the lens) was custom built, including the oversized bellows. I would agree that 8x10 enlargers
are easy to acquire nowadays (at least compared to how expensive they once were), and that one can simply acquire a full unit. In my case I wanted something
very solid and precise. ... where the Sinar rail clamps (yes I use multiple) would ordinarily attach to a long bar, then a tripod, in this case the whole assembly
attaches to a heavy precisely machined-bronze micrometer-driven device which allows even finer tuning in every plane. I cannibalized this from a WWII mortar
sight, then finished it to match the rest of the enlarger. Something like that would have probably cost at least five thousand dollars to custom machine, but I
snagged it for free, military surplus. While my neighbors were fooling around rebuilding sports cars and speedboats, I was tinkering on enlargers.
Bookmarks