Incoming! Another big enlarger!

[Tin Can]

These things are now finding me. No details until it gets home and set up in 2 months. Zip Nada

But it is a nice one, no not free.

If anybody is keeping count, I did sell my 10X10 FOTAR a year ago. A very fine enlarger that needed no adjustments at all. Difficult cable and weight system. Later FOTAR have safety locks, mine did not. I used Wilton C clamps. Basicly a 400% copy of DeVere 4X5.

That said I still think the Calumet 10X10 is almost better as it breaks down easier, is inherently safer, way easier to move. Shippable. I kept that one. The biggest flaw is the chintzy baseboard, but that is easily remedied.

My tiny Saltzman is on hold. It is the smallest and lightest of any 10X10 Salzman. I think the 14" condenser gave me a hernia. I did have hernia surgery last Spring...then things got much worse. All good now!

I gave one 8X10 Iron Elwood away. I still have and use the aluminum version. Elwoods are Art just sitting there.

Even retired people need goals and plans.

If you made this far, it was 73F today and I mowed my lawn. :)

[Christopher Barrett]

73??? Where'd you end up Randy? That's 30 deg warmer than Chicagolandia.

[Tin Can]

73??? Where'd you end up Randy? That's 30 deg warmer than Chicagolandia.

Shawnee National Forest

How's that big sink? I once filled it to the top to check it's weight capacity.

[Christopher Barrett]

Almost a year later, I'm just framing out the darkroom... It's going to be awesome, tho!

176012

[AJ Edmondson]

Congrats on getting the lawn mowed Randy - get all the leaves mulched? I've done mine once probably have to do it again early next week then I have to get to work on the lake... damned sweet-gum trees trying to grow on the dam.
Joel

[mdarnton]

Geez, man. You buy a shed, and it turns into the Moe Museum of Large Extinct Beasts! Did you realize that more space was going to lead to more stuff? :-)

[Luis-F-S]

Post some photos of the beasts!

[Tin Can]

Congrats on getting the lawn mowed Randy - get all the leaves mulched? I've done mine once probably have to do it again early next week then I have to get to work on the lake... damned sweet-gum trees trying to grow on the dam.
Joel

It was to mulch to leaves, I have 6 huge trees, they gotta be as old as the house, 100 years or more.

[Tin Can]

Geez, man. You buy a shed, and it turns into the Moe Museum of Large Extinct Beasts! Did you realize that more space was going to lead to more stuff? :-)

Or course!

[Tin Can]

Post some photos of the beasts!

I have many times. All dismantled now.

That’s the past. New vistas await creation.

I may adopt Drew’s imaging policy.

[Michael_Fuller]

Christopher...
When I was in school at Auburn long ago, my department moved into a new building. There was a darkroom already there with a feature I thought was cool...you could walk in and out of a light trap maze. Good ventilation, nobody could open the door. Walk down one black aisle,around the corner, down that aisle and into the safelight. (This may be late if it isn't already in the plan, but it was a good idea!) With or without, you'll love your dark space. Mike

[Drew Wiley]

That gear can double for landscaping tasks. The bigger the enlarger bellows, the more branches that can be fed into the shredder-mulcher on the easel below.

[Jac@stafford.net]

[..] 10X10 Salzman. I think the 14" condenser gave me a hernia.

You have a particularly valuable part! For others, the condenser is two lenses in a steel collar. I have the condenser, too, waiting to be picked up by one of our esteemed members in Wisconsin who is owned by a dog named Snow. Best hurry. I'm not real well anymore.

[Tin Can]

You have a particularly valuable part! For others, the condenser is two lenses in a steel collar. I have the condenser, too, waiting to be picked up by one of our esteemed members in Wisconsin who is owned by a dog named Snow. Best hurry. I'm not real well anymore.

I know and it's in very good condition, stored in a dry cool place.

I recently got a Saltzman Incandescent head. It holds 25 medium base photo lamps up to 30 amps 120 VAC. Hot potato! Came with huge cable and a few sample bulbs. It was supposed to come loaded. O well, I have bulbs.

24"X24" OD

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/788/40860313161_210a3062fb_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/25fFMxX)IMG-0938 (https://flic.kr/p/25fFMxX) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4772/40818886752_f93fdf571f_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/25c2sVw)IMG-0937 (https://flic.kr/p/25c2sVw) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/791/25988288607_0612f586d0_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FAuLMv)IMG-0939 (https://flic.kr/p/FAuLMv) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

[mdarnton]

The neighbors will know something is up over there when their lights start dimming irregularly. Do you plan to use that, or will you be cobbling up some sort of LED head?

[Tin Can]

The neighbors will know something is up over there when their lights start dimming irregularly. Do you plan to use that, or will you be cobbling up some sort of LED head?

What I do with things like this, is put it in the back of my mind. Then sleep on it until the plan shows up in the front of my mind.

These eureka moments usually happen in my morning shower or while napping in the afternoon Sun.

Or never...

I could turn my shed into the enlarger museum, but I need to sleep on that idea, for a few years.

Almost time for my morning nap!

[LabRat]

Man, 'ya gotta stop letting those things follow you home, or break something in you!!! :-0

Kool, but the operative term here is "need"... (You can print with your other enlargers, right!?!!!)

Steve K

[Len Middleton]

Is Randy finding these in the wild, or has he set up a breeding program?

I suspect the latter given the increasing numbers... :cool:

[Jac@stafford.net]

Randy, if you show that head to your rural power co-op they might pay you to never turn it on without 24 hour notice, or they might pay for your LED bulbs.
.

[Tin Can]

Man, 'ya gotta stop letting those things follow you home, or break something in you!!! :-0

Kool, but the operative term here is "need"... (You can print with your other enlargers, right!?!!!)

Steve K

Not picking on you Steve, but this forum and sport is full of excess. Most regulars sooner or later let slip how much gear they actually have. Why not, it's all worthless.

The other day somebody said and I forget who, they had 6 Semi-Centennial stands and cameras. Others have dozens of collector lenses. Investors.

My point is, so what?

I started collecting enlargers when I found out nobody really wanted any of them. I'll take all the 5X7 and bigger enlargers I can find. I have a dedicated space for them now.

I shine them up, I fix whatever, combine parts and use some of them more than others.

I don't find many young people being serious about anything we do, not for very long. Maybe in 20 years, maybe never. I have teenage grandsons. Heck, most here scan and digi print.

I have been collecting something all my life, since I was tiny. Daddy threw it all out when we moved each year. Pissed me off. Now I do what the Hell I want. :) Finally...

Reality is, I'm 67, everything I have will be back on the market sooner than I will like.

At age 16, I predicted I will live 3 score and 10. I think I got it right. Tick tock.

The Doors, 'This is the End Beautiful Friend' is playing right now on ye old radio. https://youtu.be/JSUIQgEVDM4?t=2

song ends, fade to Beatles

[Tin Can]

Randy, if you show that head to your rural power co-op they might pay you to never turn it on without 24 hour notice, or they might pay for your LED bulbs.
.

BS, they are trying to ban Solar energy here right now. Not kidding, it was on the news this morning.

My combined gas and electric is cheaper than cable and internet. I have only Internet and OTA TV.

[Jac@stafford.net]

My combined gas and electric is cheaper than cable and internet. I have only Internet and OTA TV.

So, the locals have not yet discovered how to get cable through the gas lines? Well, you are in the Deep South. Certainly they have found how to deliver Moonshine that way.
.

[LabRat]

Not picking on you Steve, but this forum and sport is full of excess. Most regulars sooner or later let slip how much gear they actually have. Why not, it's all worthless.

The other day somebody said and I forget who, they had 6 Semi-Centennial stands and cameras. Others have dozens of collector lenses. Investors.

My point is, so what?

I started collecting enlargers when I found out nobody really wanted any of them. I'll take all the 5X7 and bigger enlargers I can find. I have a dedicated space for them now.

I shine them up, I fix whatever, combine parts and use some of them more than others.

I don't find many young people being serious about anything we do, not for very long. Maybe in 20 years, maybe never. I have teenage grandsons. Heck, most here scan and digi print.

I have been collecting something all my life, since I was tiny. Daddy threw it all out when we moved each year. Pissed me off. Now I do what the Hell I want. :) Finally...

Reality is, I'm 67, everything I have will be back on the market sooner than I will like.

At age 16, I predicted I will live 3 score and 10. I think I got it right. Tick tock.

The Doors, 'This is the End Beautiful Friend' is playing right now on ye old radio. https://youtu.be/JSUIQgEVDM4?t=2

song ends, fade to Beatles

Sorry Randy, but I guess it's just me right now... I have been re-evaluating that want/need thing as my stuff is still in storage limbo from my last move, and was surprised by how a house can be a "clown car" of single items going in, and at moving time the "clowns" are like herding, well clowns as I escaped to another space (I'm just relieved I passed up that South Bend lathe and Saltzman enlarger when I did, or life would suck more!!!)

Great luck on your set-up and do nice stuff with it!!!

Steve K

[mdarnton]

Not picking on you Steve, but this forum and sport is full of excess. Most regulars sooner or later let slip how much gear they actually have. Why not, it's all worthless.

Indeed! I started buying LF equipment when I realized I could have all the camera fantasies of my youth for pennies on the dollar. Stopping is harder than starting. I'm trying. Really, I am.

[Tin Can]

Been there, more than once. I am twice divorced, that clears out a house or two real fast.

On a better note, before I ever married, in 1979 I sold and got rid of everything that didn't fit on a 1973 Triumph Bonneville. Not much fits. 2 canvas saddlebags and a sleeping bag with a tiny tent. I still have the 2 lb Gore-Tex North Face sleeping bag. The Gore-Tex tent nearly killed me on a rainy beach. Not enough air exchange to breathe as I cut my way out of that killer.

I left Chicago in snow in February on that well-used bike. Cold as cold can be until New Orleans. I rode that bike a year as I traveled solo, stopping by friends on the way. Long stop in Brownsville for winter to pass. Then West and North. Sold the bike in the rain of Eugene to friends. Hitched to San Diego. Bought a worn out '64 VW Bus, fixed it on the road and drove it back to Chicago.

Then I went to work, self-employed. Great money. Married then not. Lived in an SRO for a year, down and out. Owning nothing. Then back to work. Married again, then not. Now 23 years single. Life is good!

I wouldn't change a thing in my life, i am very happy with my stepdaughter and her 2 wonderful sons. Her husband is a friend.

I woke up yesterday and considered options. Sell it all right now, estate sale, sell house, sell new truck and trailer. Everything. Rent, travel.

But there is nowhere I want to go. Been there. EU thrice.

Summer is coming. :)


Sorry Randy, but I guess it's just me right now... I have been re-evaluating that want/need thing as my stuff is still in storage limbo from my last move, and was surprised by how a house can be a "clown car" of single items going in, and at moving time the "clowns" are like herding, well clowns as I escaped to another space (I'm just relieved I passed up that South Bend lathe and Saltzman enlarger when I did, or life would suck more!!!)

Great luck on your set-up and do nice stuff with it!!!

Steve K

[Tin Can]

Indeed! I started buying LF equipment when I realized I could have all the camera fantasies of my youth for pennies on the dollar. Stopping is harder than starting. I'm trying. Really, I am.

I used to buy Shutterbug every month to study/drool over all the gear I could not justify buying as I had no idea what to do with it anyway. My Pentax H1 was all I needed for many years until I gave it away... then replaced with a Pentax MX.

The trick is to stop looking. I stopped all eBay hunts, Searching all Craigslist and and and

Of course now, i just go pick one to fiddle with from storage.

The Mamiya C33 is perfect and wow is it heavy, but it works, unlike the lightweight C330 junk. Tin Can Cameras

[Jac@stafford.net]

Randy, you have book in you. I'm thinking of a melody mixed from Dharma Bums and Art of Motorcycle maintenance.

[Tin Can]

Randy, you have book in you. I'm thinking of a melody mixed from Dharma Bums and Art of Motorcycle maintenance.

Many tell me to write. I prefer to tell bar stories one on one. Now coffee tales. Tell a fast short story tailored to the listener, then buy them a drink. Once i get going i don't stop telling stories. as far as I know they are all true.

Why lie? Wanna hear about Matamoros? No, you don't!

I couldn't stand Zen and the Art of the Motorcycle. I know, it's a lousy book. A tale of nothing.

I like Kerouac, Kesey, Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Edward Abbey, Hermann Hesse, Michener, Plath, Dickinson, Brooks, Ursula K Le Guin, Asimov. Around age 8 I started reading a book a day, I have forgotten most. I was studying Nuclear Physics until I woke up. Sputnik was a major influence as were the Moon Landings. I suppose all us remeber exactly where we were November 22, 1963. I laughed as I couldn't believe it. Then most cried.

Hesse's Siddhartha I read evey few years. I buy a copy, read it and give it away. A great tale of life. I am near the river now.

My story may be closer to, Hesse's 'Beneath the Wheel'.

Cheers

[Jac@stafford.net]

I couldn't stand Zen and the Art of the Motorcycle. I know, it's a lousy book. A tale of nothing.

The view from the wooden fire escape behind my apartment in Hyde Park, Chicago, looked across the alley, over Robert's apartment. The magazine I worked for wrote about him. We were both involved in the University of Chicago and rode similar motorcycles (305 Honda). Pirsig was excellent. Guess you had to be there.

[Tin Can]

The view from the wooden fire escape behind my apartment in Hyde Park, Chicago, looked across the alley, over Robert's apartment. The magazine I worked for wrote about him. We were both involved in the University of Chicago and rode similar motorcycles (305 Honda). Pirsig was excellent. Guess you had to be there.


I couldn't take his meandering and he was no mechanic.

My first bike at 16 was a 305 with bent folk tubes. I bent them back in a press. Not perfect which is impossibe.

I rode that bike flat out most of time. Was called 10 grand as every shift was at 10,000 rpm. Bang shift. Almost...unless cops were about.
I ran it hard. Since the forks were not perfect it would enter a speed wobble at 80 and I could power through that to stability at 90 and get to an indicated 100. Fast for those days.

I weighed nothing, hadn’t had a hard crash yet, it was nuts. I was nuts. I have way more story that I won’t tell online.

I know many loved Pirsig. I did not. He was wordy. I prefer Hemingway. Short declarative sentences.

I have my Sporty ready to go. My clutch hand might work. Sometimes it fails me. I have every trick in the book in my clutch, including a special German ramp, cost $250. New Barrnet cable adjusted to short release. Bugs most riders. Too quick.

Maybe a 2018 diaphragm is next.

Do you still have that nice big twin?

L

[brucetaylor]

Ha! I had one of those 305 Hondas. First real motorcycle, turned into a high school project, bored out, cam, exhaust (made in metal shop), raced it at the track— I didn’t know what I was doing and it was slow but it sounded great! I never read Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, I was just a mechanic. So maybe I had the zen part down and didn’t need that book.

[Drew Wiley]

You could start a warehouse business : Mo Largers Fo Yo.

[Tin Can]

You could start a warehouse business : Mo Largers Fo Yo.

No business, thank you, been there, done that as they say.

Retired 10 years now and just getting into my stretch.

[Mark Sampson]

If you want a real challenge, find a Kodak Beacon Precision Enlarger on a gov't surplus site. And if you get one, I know people who can properly set it up, and I can teach you how to use it (used to be part of my job). 150x magnification sound like fun?

[Tin Can]

I can’t find an image of one.

150X is useful?

I am looking for a microscope with camera port.

Thanks for the offer!


If you want a real challenge, find a Kodak Beacon Precision Enlarger on a gov't surplus site. And if you get one, I know people who can properly set it up, and I can teach you how to use it (used to be part of my job). 150x magnification sound like fun?

[Drew Wiley]

I've coveted a trinocular Zeiss too, with a sheet film adapter. They aren't rare by any means, but are still apparently in demand and command steep prices. My own microsope was stolen long ago, and I got to use wonderful ones in my microbiology and invertebrate palaeo classes in College, when these instruments were at the peak of their mechanical quality. Heck, I'd love to just have one to look through, but will end up in the doghouse if I buy any more optical toys.

[Tin Can]

I used a Nikon Stereoscope with Sony video camera mounted to the camera port. It would print with a large Sony printer making what looked like 4x5 B&W Polaroids. Whatever it was, the printer seldom needed reloading.

Really expensive at the time and the boss man would not let me connect my Nikon Coolpix 990 to it. 30 second connect. Everything was scientific voodoo to this lab...Now the same type Nikon scope can directly mount a D series Nikon.

Like this would be fine. https://www.nikoninstruments.com/Products/Stereomicroscopes-and-Macroscopes/Stereomicroscopes/SMZ745

I was looking for stress cracks in spring steel shim crosssections. The little buggers were hard to see even in Stereo. Lighting was key. Find one and shut down a production line. I often did that without much authority. Not a popular task. But prevented huge piles of scrap.

I freaked the place out all the time when I would make lab improvement at night. They would walk in and wake up...then they listened to my tape recorded explanation. :)

Rock the boat, which I have done and capsized. We got towed in.

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah, I know a horror story about production line NOT being paused when a stress crack appeared on a key submarine valve. They welded over it instead. If the surface was acid etched, any trick like that was easy to spot on a low power scope. But they got away with it, at least for awhile.