Repair - Slightly Bent Devere 5108 (Floor Model) Baseboard Frame

[mamypoko]

Hi all!

I accidentally dropped something heavy (old digital printer which was to be disposed, guess it wasn't happy I was going back to analog) on the baseboard frame while setting it up last night and the frame holding the baseboard is now slightly bent. The height adjustment still works albeit the frame must be perfectly level before it can lock itself.

Is there anyway to fix this issue by dismantling the main column and tightening or straightening a metal plate or one of the main rollers?

Otherwise I would probably just get a table leg from IKEA to hold it level and to also prevent future damage.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. would anyone have a PDF copy of the Devere 5108 manual?

[Luis-F-S]

Some photos of the damage might help. L

[mamypoko]

Went back to the office to take a few pictures. Also put some IKEA legs just to prop it up in case.

Would greatly appreciate a manual as mine is still on the way from the Bay. Thanks!

[Harold_4074]

I'm not familiar with that machine, but from the pictures it looks as though it would take a lot to bend the frame without doing damage to the rest of the structure as well. There seem to be four bolts holding it to the column, and there must be some way to align the baseboard frame perpendicular to the column; are you sure that you didn't just cause it to slip?

If it really is bent, you may be able to straighten it by using something (stiffer than the frame) for a strongback, some spacers, and a pair of really large clamps--it is a process of bending slightly beyond the yield point so that after springing back, the original alignment remains. Not a simple task, but then dismantling and finding the resources to do it the traditional way (acetylene torch, clamps, straightedges, paint to restore the finish...skilled mechanic...) may not be simple either.

[LabRat]

Are you sure it is really bent??? Not that maybe what rides on the tracks (up + down) got knocked out of alignment???

Wiggle the baseboard frame and see if you notice a little play while you do that... You can check if anything long is bent by using a metal meter stick (and a metal square) along the suspected area, and see if you see a gap between the stick and part...

If bent evenly, you might be able to just shim up that area to get the baseboard to align again...

Good luck!!!

Steve K

[Mick Fagan]

I don’t think you need to worry too much, although having something bent, which may or may not have occurred when you dropped something onto the drop table frame, is not a great thing.

The actual baseboard, or table as I think DE Vere refer to it, sits atop that frame on four adjustable legs, so you will not or should not have any lasting problems, if in fact there is a problem after dropping something onto the frame. The four holes, two on either side of the top of that frame, are where those adjustable bolts are inserted.

Essentially you place the baseboard onto the frame with the adjustable legs, then you align the board up to the negative carrier and lens carrier.

You can align these enlargers up by sight and/or using a scratched negative, I have done this. But this year I picked up an enlarger aligning tool and very carefully aligned my enlarger.

The negative carrier on the DE Vere usually just needs to be very correctly positioned in its neutral position, usually by ensuring you centre it. Then you centre the lens carrier very carefully, which leaves you with the base board.

To do it by hand you really need the negative and lens carriers centred and in a neutral position as far as left to right swings and forward and aft adjustments are concerned. Then you need to get you enlarger level, this can be achieved by using a spirit level, like the one in your picture. You need to have it level left to right as well as forward and aft.

Then you get your base board level, left to right and forward and aft and also at 45º angles.

Once that is achieved you will have a pretty workable and reasonably aligned enlarger.

However, as I mentioned before, my DE Vere 504 free standing with drop table enlarger, was aligned as mentioned and pretty damned good. But, when I used a proper aligning tool, I found micro adjustments were required to the lens carrier and the baseboard.

Once I did that, there was a noticeable difference in print quality. Well to be honest I noticed it, as did my wife when I reprinted one negative in particular, which is a high magnification enlargement, 26 times on a 35mm negative, give or take.

Mick.

[IanG]

I agree with Mick, the frame is relatively unimportant as you can rectify everything adjusting the base-board, and would have to set that anyway.

When I moved my 5108 and set it up again just over a year ago I made sure the enlarger head was level in both axis using the adjustment screws in bottom of the floor stand then set the baseboard to match. It's all perfectly aligned now.

Ian

[Fred L]

I'd suggest the levelling bolts as well but this seems to be the main concern. I'll look at mine later as it could just be the locking lever needs adjustment


<The height adjustment still works albeit the frame must be perfectly level before it can lock itself.>

[mamypoko]

Thanks guys, its the part that connects to the base thats bent, so theres a wiggle there on the left side. It still moves up and down normally but the locking mechanism needs a little wiggle for it to lock as mentioned by Fred. Just afraid over the long term the rollers that ride the track might get damaged as its not straight anymore.

I have done the levelling bolts on the frame and also the baseboard and hopefully will get some sample prints done. Now I just leave the baseboard fixed and adjust the head to make my prints.

Might spend a little extra to get a spare frame as its really tough to find anything enlarger related here in South East Asia unfortunately.

[ic-racer]

Does the bent part remove easily? An automotive or motorcycle body shop would have ways to straighten things.
http://www.seastarsuperbikes.co.uk/images/Jig%20Side.jpg
http://www.autosphere.co.uk/images/uploads/WP_20140715_004.jpg

[Luis-F-S]

You really should be ok once you have it leveled. I typically don't find a need to raise or drop the table and have mine set where I can comfortably work sitting down. I can usually make it work by changing the FL of the enlarging lens. L

[Luis-F-S]

That depends on how you work, Luis. I typically make an 8x10 print, then drop the bed to make a 16x20 of the same negative. I have my color head filtration calibrated to produce the right amount of neutral density so that I can use the same time and aperture for both sizes and can leave the head in place, so I am just moving the table and refocusing for each size after flipping the filtration off.

True, I forget that many people enlarge much larger than I do. I'm typically happy to print 8x10's or 11x14's. One of these days I may have an image that I feel deserves to be printed to 16x20. Care to explain how you figure the ND to go from the 8x10 to the 16x20? Thanks! L

[Mick Fagan]

A simple way to work out the ND required is to make your first print as perfect as you can, but with at least 1.5 stops of ND dialled in. 30 units of all three filters in the head usually equals 1 stop of density, so dialling in 45 units of each filter will give you 1.5 stops of ND to play with.

Pull the negative stage half out so just coloured light is hitting the base board, turn the lights off, then placement of almost any kind of light meter or specialised enlarging meter on the base board then take a reading or null the meter. The Ilford EM10 is brilliant and fast as with this procedure. With the EM10 you set the dial until the light is out, then the meter is dialled in.

After making your first print you drop the table, or move the head up until you reach the required enlarging factor. Focus and compose. Turn all lights off then pull the negative carrier half out to allow coloured light, place the EM10 meter (or anything else) change ND by adjusting all three filters equally in or out until the meter nulls or tells you it is correct. Place the negative carrier back, re-focus, compose, then hit the button and make an identical density print to the original without having changed the exposure time or the aperture.

This is as easy as to do, and quite fast in a darkroom. Having the cheaper and often much maligned Meopta enlargers with the Meopta colour head is a bonus, these units mostly come with a ND filter built into the head, as do some top of the range Durst enlargers that I have worked with.

My preference when doing lots of colour work, and especially when doing multiple sizes of one negative, was to run a minimum of two stops of ND with my middle enlargements. Then when going larger one simply reduced ND, when reducing from the original, one added ND. With one stop either way, there is a lot of leeway.

One word of warning, when doing a doubling of size, 8x10” to 16x20” I often found I needed to add 1/16 of a stop more exposure, this I found to be a constant more or less, no matter whether it was B&W or colour, but it was usually more noticeable with colour density, especially in the warmer colours. Almost imposible to detect in B&W, but with colour there was just the slightest difference which is noticeable with people with good colour receptors.

I used to do what we called colour stats from transparency film, these were used in page layout roughs, although calling what we printed as rough was not on. Density and colour correctness had to be spot on, just in case the whole pasted up page was used for reproduction work, which happened now and then.

It was reasonably normal to do about 300 colour prints with every one of them being a different size and matched to an exact layout line drawing, in a working day. Even we were surprised at the throughput we attained some days. I could never in my wildest dreams do this anymore, the body is weak, and so is the mind these days.

Mick.