Cleaning a De Vere 504 or other large enlarger

[Rory_3532]

This afternoon, I purchased a floor standing De Verre 504 that was manufactured in 1986. It has been in storage for some time. I want to strip the enlarger and clean everything, including all greased parts, including chains. I am thinking of using Varsol to get rid of the grease. Are there any better ways to do it? Any thoughts on re-greasing? Any general comments on cleaning this brand of enlarger? Thanks.

[Ernest Purdum]

If I remember correctly, Varsol is a petroleum-based solvent which should work well on bare metal. On painted areas, one of the many spray-on household detergents would probably work well, be safer and leave the surface drier. The DeVere rather resembles metal-working machinery. I've cleaned several items of that nature in this way. We used to use a proprietary engine cleaner which was better, but then ran into problems regarding environmental pollution regulations.



Regarding the chains, I'd be inclined to visit a cycle shop to ask their recommendation. They are quite a different matter from the other metal pieces as you apparently realize.



Before starting to clean the other parts, I'd remove all the parts having to do with illumination and image formation and put them in a different location.



That's a nice enlarger. I hope and believe it will do good work for you.

[Ernest Purdum]

I see I ignored your request for thoughts on re-greasing. The first thing I would want to try would be a dry film lubricant of some sort, perhaps a molybdenum disulphide base or a teflon. Only if that didn't work well would I go to an actual grease.

[Dave Langendonk]

I can't give specifics on the De Verre but offer encouragement on the effort. I purchased a used Omega F series 8x10 enlarger with Chromega colorhead and have stripped it down, degreased all the parts, and repainted it. I used Prep-sol from Dupont as a degreaser and to prep the surfaces for painting. You can get it at auto paint supply stores. I'm not familiar with Varsol, it may be the same thing. As for lubrication, Ernest's comments above are sound. Light oils or dry lube should be all that's required.

[Rory_3532]

Thanks to both of you for helpful comments. I will check what's being done these days to clean bicycle and motorcyle chains. Ernest, yes I think that the enlarger will work out just fine. I like the fact that it is free-standing, that the baseboard height can be adjusted and that it is absolutely rigid. I don't think that a cleaning is essential, but it can't hurt to get rid of old grease and accumulated dust. I may come around to a different view about the need to do this about a third of the way into the cleaning process :)