Besler 45 MCRX, and a Dichro 45 color computer... Newbie needs help.

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Patrick,
I took your advice and took the back off, 12 screws, it is hinged at the top. I jiggled the biggest board and the lights came on. Thank you for that.
I had trouble getting the negative carrier and the base to level. Then I remembered where I read that someone took the base off and ran the motor all the way to the bottom and let it come out of the track. Then when they put it back on the track they let one side jump a tooth. I tried and it worked. So I am level left to right at all 3 places, negative carrier, lens (all 3), and the base board. I used the single screw where the enlarger rests back against the lower horizontal support, and now the negative carrier is level front to back. The base is level front to back also. The lens is slightly off front to back. I saw a potential place where I could adjust it by shimming but that would move it in the wrong direction. I do not see a method to adjust the lens front/back without moving the negative carrier. It is about 1/2 a bubble off on a standard torpedo level. Is this close enough? I could split the difference between the negative carrier and the lens???

Another question, the color head is plugged into the 'RESISTROL", which i assume is a voltage regulator. I have it at maximum, until I hear from the forum that it is safe to regulate the amount of light from the color head in this manner. I assume it will work just like the regular enlarger head, but I want to ask before I do it.

I think my color head is missing something. I can slip it into the hole on top of the bellows but there is nothing for the 2 slides to lock onto. It works but is not secure.

One last question, what is the other wire on the color head for? I have mine working and it is not plugged into anything. Yes, the 3 colors change, the display works, what else do I need it to do?
Thanks,
Bill

[Captain_joe6]

To open the head, just open up the top. From there, you can access the bulb on the right, the mixing box in the center (with the probe lead plugged into it), and then the enclosed section housing the circuitry on the left. To get at the circuitry, open the top of the head via the two screw which can be turned by finger, then undo the two or three phillips-head screws holding the inner top cover over the circuitry section. Much easier than undoing 12 screws.

The resitrol is completely useless for color head use and should be bypassed entirely. Running many electronics at less-than-rated voltages is bad for them. The resitrol was originally intended to be a vairable-transformer for condenser-head printing.

What it sounds like you *might* be missing is a mixing box, which is what the two lock slides grab onto. If you open the top of the head and look down, you should not be able to look all the way through the unit. There should be a big cylindrical unit in the center. On the top should be a socket for the sensor lead to plug into. On the side should be a small wind pointed toward the light source. The bottom of it should be enclosed with frosted plastic. If you're lucky, yours will be the 4x5 mixing box (entire bottom is white frosted plastic all the way to the edges) and not one of the smaller boxes (they have a black ring around the white diffuse plastic, which may only be a few inches around). As many have said: you can print 35mm with a 4x5 mixing box, but you can't print 4x5 with a 35mm mixing box.

If the box is there, there should be a ring around the protruding section of the box (on the bottom of the head) that those clamps can engage. The head will still rotate, but cannot be lifted off the chassis of the enlarger.

The 3-prong hard wired cord coming from the head supplies all the power. It should have constant juice to it (i.e., not plugged into a timer). The cord that is connected via a stange 6-pin rectangular plug on the left-hand side of the head, on the bottom, is for timer control. That one should go to your timer.

A half-bubble at the lens stage might not be so bad. Its tough to diagnose without being there to see it, as Beseler made so many incremental improvements to the 45M-series of enlargers that they're impossible to keep track of. The 45M came first, then the 45MC, then MCR, then MCRX, then MX, then MXT, and they all included little tweaks here and there. For general use, Beseler did, at one point, make and sell a fair number of an adjustable lens board. They can be found used, but would also be very easy to make. They were essentially a lens board suspended from another lens board by 3 screws spaced equally around the hole, and with the space between the two boards (perhaps 1/4-inch) filled with a dense, though pliable, black foam material. One mounted the lens to the bottom-most board, attached the top one to the enlarger per usual, and could then perfectly adjust the level of the lens by turning those three screws.

Hope all that helps!

[Brian Ellis]

Patrick, Thanks, I really appreciate it. I'll give it a try. It'll be a few days before I'll be able to, but I'll let you know how it goes.
I've been reading about these heads and polycontrast B&W paper. It was big a few years ago, but I do not see much being written about it lately. Does it really work? Can it produce a real "FINE PRINT"?
Bill

"Polycontrast" was the brand name of a b&w paper made by Kodak. It was an excellent paper but Kodak stopped making it, along with all their other b&w papers, some years ago.

Are you perhaps using the term "polycontrast" in a more generic sense, i.e. as being synonymous with what's more commonly referred to as "multi-contrast" or "multi-grade" paper? Multi-contrast paper is still being made, by Ilford among others. In fact there's more of that type paper being made than graded paper. If that's what you're talking about the answer is yes, your color filter can be used with that type of paper to make fine prints.

[marfa boomboom tx]

Patrick,

Another question, the color head is plugged into the 'RESISTROL", which i assume is a voltage regulator. I have it at maximum, until I hear from the forum that it is safe to regulate the amount of light from the color head in this manner. I assume it will work just like the regular enlarger head, but I want to ask before I do it.

........

One last question, what is the other wire on the color head for? I have mine working and it is not plugged into anything. Yes, the 3 colors change, the display works, what else do I need it to do?
Thanks,
Bill

[ color head ]
| ooo |
a | | b
| ---- [ motor control ]
[timer] |
| |
wall outlet wall outlet


a: a thin chord with an AC style outlet on one end; the other is "weird" science stuff ... the ac goes into "enlarger" on the Bessy Timer
b: the short AC chord goes into the motor control of the enlarger ...
the ooo are the color dials ...


marfa. where we know comes between

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Patrick, thanks for the explanation it really helps.
The Resitrol is out if the picture.
My mixing box must be in place because the bottom is a round pipe I' guess 6-7 inches and it is completely covered by the frosted plastic. But there is nothing on the outside of that pipe for the lock mechanism to grab. It fits and does not seem to present a problem, as long as I do not flip the enlarger head 90 deg. So it sounds like it is a 4x5 head, GREAT!
I was hoping that the other wire was for the control, and now that I understand it, I'll wire it correctly.
I'll probably try to split the difference between the negative carrier and the lens board, 1/4 bubble each while keeping the base level. If I have trouble, at least I'll have something to blame it on. If necessary I'll try the easy/logical fix you suggested.
Again thanks,
Bill

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Brian, Polycontrast was a generic term I used for multi-contrast paper.
A good question now would be what paper should I try first? In the service everything was RC Paper and that is not the look I want. If AA was to go shopping today for multi-contrast paper, which one would he buy?
Bill

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Marfa, I like your diagram, I will wire it correctly, and hopefully that will prevent problems in the future.
Thanks,
Bill

[Brian Ellis]

Brian, Polycontrast was a generic term I used for multi-contrast paper.
A good question now would be what paper should I try first? In the service everything was RC Paper and that is not the look I want. If AA was to go shopping today for multi-contrast paper, which one would he buy?
Bill

I don't know what he would buy and I haven't printed in a darkroom in years so I'm not current on papers for wet printing. But FWIW, when I did print in a darkroom I used an Ilford paper (MGIII or IV or something like that), then when I started doing different types of toning I switched to Kodak Polymax Fine Art (I think that's what it was called) because it was easier to tone. But someone who still prints in a darkroom could give you better advice than I can.

[marfa boomboom tx]

VC paper: one link http://tinyurl.com/8w9o2th

I prefer graded, but also use:
a- Multigrade IV Fiber Based, Variable Contrast Black and White Paper
b- Multigrade FB Warmtone Fiber Base Paper

c- Oriental Seagull Select VC-FB
-------
I print them, mostly, with a Dichro head...

they are listed in price (high to low) order. I buy the "a" in 250 sheet boxes (11x14) my most common print size.

[Bill, 70's military B&W]

Thanks everyone,
Marfa, do you always use glossy paper? How does it tone? AA always toned using selenium or something like that, it is still a good option?
Also, I'm just starting out and have not bought any developer for film or paper, where is a good starting point, what should I try first? I feel it should be something simple/common, I'll experiment later, just want to get up and going now. I plan on starting out using x-ray film.
Thanks,
Bill