Beseler 4x5MXII adapter to Ilford 500H

[esearing]

Does anyone know of a source for Beseler enlarger adapters? Tried SHD in UK to no avail.

I found an Ilford 500 multigrade head and accessories. But what I am lacking is the mounting bracket and ring that would mount it. I can make a bracket to fit the 500H but the ring is the hard piece to find. The head sits about 1/4 inch above the enlarger due to the mounting brackets posts that stick up on the enlarger, so there is a light gap . I have thought of using 1/4 inch thick ply wood and just drill out the holes for the mounting posts and cut out the center to allow the light to pass through. This obviously would not allow me to tilt the head, but that is not something I do today anyway.

I also have a non-functioning Dicro45 S head from which I could remove the ring from but its mounting flange is 8.25" x 8.25" and the 500H dimenisions are roughly 6"x12" so no way to really attach it without creating an adapter plate of some sort, like a giant plus sign with a center hole for the light to pass through.

If I make a metal mounting bracket how does one drill a 7" round hole? or even cut out the 4.5"x5.5" hole to match the head? Probably need to find a metal fabricator in the Atlanta area but not sure what to even search for.
Any other readily available material suggestions that I could use wood working tools on?

[angusparker]

Try contacting this guy. He made the adapter for my Beseler 45vxl to 810 head: https://ebay.com/usr/apogeebee


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[esearing]

I ended up making my own adapter out of 1/4" birch plywood. The adapter is an 8x8 square center to match the enlarger, with a 6x12 rectangular section to match the head. Kind of a fat plus sign. I cut a rectangular hole in the center to match the hole in the bottom of the head. I found a 7" ring on the auction site from a cold light head and mounted it under the adapter. Working with wood was easy enough and I was able to do most of it with a dremel, drill, and hand tools. I used a paper template for the drilling of holes for the screws and bolts that hold everything in place.

So after all that I hooked everything up and the controller is malfunctioning. There are some available for $275 but I need to fiddle with it to see if I can get it working again.

[George Richards]

What the controller doing? I've fixed a couple power supplies, which provide the DC power for the controller. The electrolytic caps are getting old, one had a bad bridge rectifier as well. It's hard to tell where the fault is unless you have spare parts to swap to narrow it down.

[esearing]

The controller is half working. Grades 3,4,5 , 1/2 and -10,-1,-.1 buttons work, but grades 0,1,2 and +10, +1, +.01 and beeper buttons do not work. I opened up the controller and it looks clean inside and connections seem intact. The plug to the power converter is green with corrosion though.
When I first got it last month the non-working buttons would work after it warmed up, but had to be held for a second or two before it would change the display.

[George Richards]

Green corrosion is never good, hope you've clean it up. It can actually wick up the wiring in cables as well. Sounds like you have the 500C controller. I don't have much info on those. Just the operating manual no schematics. It does sound like bad switches though or maybe a corroded traces on the PC board.

If anyone has a service manual for the C controller or maybe even a part number for the switches maybe they can share it.

BTW the 500C and the 500CPM controllers can be interchanged. The CPM version being newer.

George

[William Whitaker]

Eric,
Have you considered the Analyser Pro/500 from RH Designs?

[esearing]

Eric,
Have you considered the Analyser Pro/500 from RH Designs?

Yes but its a bit more than I want to spend currently - StopClock 500 is an option too. Only see 500CPM's out there currently.

[esearing]

Eric,
Have you considered the Analyser Pro/500 from RH Designs?

I caved and splurged and ordered the Analyzer Pro 500. Despite some calibration I will need to do for Warmtone paper it works right out of the box.

I now have new issues:
1) The bulbs are so bright, an 8x10 on f22 is still a very short exposure, 6-10 seconds. Can I merely add a layer of diffuse material or paper above the negative carrier to reduce brightness.

2) I have a line on the lower long edge of the enlarged image that is darker than the rest of the image but still transparent. It would make the lower edge of any image not develop fully.
Upper bellows are compressed as small as they can get but it seems to be an issue of the distance of the head to the negative stage.
Need to find a way to lower it but the design of the enlarger seems to prevent that. I may have to drill out my new bracket where the posts stick up on the enlarger.

3) A sliver of light on the sides due to the mixing box being about 1/16th smaller than the opening. Projected this becomes 1/8th inch. I am guessing some tape around the outer perimeter will fix that issue.
Also noticed that the insert for the mixing box has a cardboard liner with reflective mirror tape that doesn't seem to adhere to the walls so was getting some shadow shape from that.

I am hoping to get to print with this head one day.

[Graham Patterson]

1) Probably. It will have to be neutral (no tint) and I would avoid texture on the bottom surface in case it gets imaged. I have had some artifacts from filter drawer use in the past that ought to have been out of focus. Tracing vellum has worked for me in various enlargers.

2) Sounds like a reflection from metal that is now in the edge of the light path.