I'm curious too about the movement of the enlarger on the rails. my 184 if I'm not mistaken has the wheels arranged for a right / left movement instead of forward / backward, so it's not very clear to me how it should be positioned. basically if I put it against a wall, it just slides to the right or left. I don't think the wheels can be rotated.
The wheels do not rotate on purpose. Once your rotate the head 90 degrees for horizontal projection, the lens faces in the direction of travel.Originally Posted by Andrea Gazzoni
Yes this is clear, what I don't get is why the enlarger is meant to remain in fixed position in relation to the back wall. I would have expected it to travel towards the center of the room, in order to make an horizontal projection on the center of the wall.
to better understand, left is the current configuration, right is as I would have expected for murals.
I get now that the left scenario allows for size adjustment given a focal lenght, while the right configuration makes for a fixed size of enlargement.
Still the bottom wall (which is at the back of the enlarger) gets in the way. Confused. I mean I would never choose to project horizontally to the corner between two walls, but rather to the center of a free wall
maybe this would be the ideal placement
Yes, this is the correct placement.
The rails (and the enlarger's base) need to be perpendicular to the wall you want to project on.
Based on the size of that wall and the largest negative-to-wall distance you can get in your darkroom, you can calculate the biggest enlargement achievable with a given local length.
The equation is:
D=(F*(M+1)²)/M
(D=film-to-paper-distance, F=focal length, M=magnification)
Also, it makes sense to try and aim the len's axis as close to the center of that wall as possible.
It's easier to understand all this while standing in front of your enlarger, than by reading this text alone…
From the durst 2506 documentation.
Both L1840 that I obtained were used permanently for horizontal projection. At the time the L1840 was about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of the dedicated Durst horizontal enlargers. So, for both labs, it was more cost effective to get the vertical enlargers and tip them 90 degrees.
AFAIK the rails required for the 1840 is the same as for the 2506.
One could easily replace the sheave rollers on these enlargers with ones specifically matched to other tracking. An industrial supplier like McMaster here in the US could provide a matched set. But I have no idea about Euro sources.
You DON'T want any rubber under the rails. That will induce vibration. You want as solid, flat, and firm a floor as possible. There are types of self-leveling rapid-curing concrete which make that task fairly easy. But again, I'm only familiar with specific products here.
OR you could affix your rails to two very solid thick milled planks of a dense stable hardwood like maple, even atop a single wide maple countertop, or something analogous, and in that manner have an even dependable support.
Last edited by Drew Wiley; 31-Jul-2023 at 15:24.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks