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.


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.


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


8x10 negative carrier stage or spacer or whatever it is called


8x10 light source

[Scott Walker]

Assembled unit


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.


Head stage spacer


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.