Need Elwood 8x10 enlarger advice

[Mike Tobias]

I recently aquired an Elwood 8x10 enlarger off of eBay (quite the beast, although not as large as I was fearing), and have some questions for those of you out there who already have this enlarger:

1) It didn't come with a bulb. Can I just put a normal bulb of some sort in there, or is there some special bulb that I need? Also, I was thinking of putting a daylight balanced floresent bulb in the socket (since this would produce minimal ammounts of heat), is this feasable?

2) Can I get good results with the original head (reflector type) or should I seriously think of getting a cold light head for this? I know it produce as good results as a cold head, but how much different can I expect? Much light falloff at the corners?

3) This monster didn't come with a base board, so I'm thinking of mounting above the base board. For referance, my lens is a 300mm nikkor, and all of my prints are going to be 11x17 and up. Good idea, or should I not fool around and just mount it on a regular flat?

Thanks in advance for all your help! I'm just giddy with excitement to start printing some 8x10!

[ronald lamarsh]

I don't know about an Elwood but I have a Burke&James solar in 5x7 which is similiar. If I am correct it is a diffusion enlarger with diffusion glass, mine also has a supplementary piece of clear glass with the etched to correct for the light fall off. All of this depends on the bulb lenght and its distance from the glass. I ahve had good results with a 300w bulb I picked up at Ace Hardware but it doesn't have any markings to say what kind of bulb it is. I no longer have the link but there is a website that has all kinds of discontinued bulbs and specifications on what these older enlargers used. I used that as a guidline. My bulb was about 11/2 short so I just use an extender. You can measure light falloff with your handheld meter to check it out but make sure you stop down the lens. Wideopen I had significant falloff but 2 stops in it was cured. I believe that the elwoods used a 300w bulb also, if you can't find one locally I'll try to send the info on the bulb I found. Cold heads for these are about 275$ from arista but would cut exposure times significantly.

[ronald lamarsh]

forgot to add I also mounted mine to the wall permanantly and use a variable hieght base which works great.

[John Kasaian]

Mike,

Terry Seaman might have original bulbs. Glennvew would be another place to check. Glenn might know how to get in touch with Terry if he's still in business. If yours still has it's glass diffusion disk you're a lucky dog indeed! If not, you'll find that putting a 15"x15"(? I haven't measured mine in awhile) piece of ground glass(you can have a stained glass shop blast it for you, you don't want fla$shed opal!) will keep you from projecting GE, Phillips, or Sylvania onto your paper.

I like the reflector head. On long sessions you can also use it to heat tortillas for your lunch or midnight snack. Do not try this with pizza though, melted cheese makes a mess. Aristo makes a head that fits but they are expensive. Cheapest price I've found is through B+H. They rarely show up used and aren't much cheaper than new ones, plus you'll probably have to have the new grid installed if you want to use multigrade paper.

My baseboard is a piece laminate tabletop with castors on the bottom so I can move it out of my dark room/bathroom. If I leave it in there, guests might mistake it for an old time toilet and tank. They'd get frustrated looking for the chain to pull and the fruuits of thier efforts are an insult to my easel(!)

Do you have 8x10 anti newton ring glass for your negative carrier? I've got a great source in LA. I'll look up the name of the place when I get a chance.

Also, there is a wood to wood bearing surface that supports the lens stage on my Elwood. After 70 years of pro service it wore so the lens stage wasn't "square." Its an easy fix to sister on a new piece of hardwood or even shim with a couple of little wedges of wood.

The spring loaded tapes that support the massive head are often broken. They can be replaced with the units for Omega D-2 enlargers---they fit right into the Elwood castings, not as heavy duty as the originals, but they help a lot when cranking the head to raise or lower it.

Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, don't let it fall over on top of you!

~Cheers!

[jnantz]

mike -

if the bulb is like a solar's bulb, it has a very long "neck" ...

you might try this place: http://donsbulbs.com/cgi-bin/r/t.pl/equipment.burke_and_james_incorporated.html there is a list of all the bulbs for the B&J Solar Enlargers :)

if "Don" doesn't have the bulbs, or know where to find them, you might contact grey supply ( i think they are still at topbulb.com) they *might* be able to get what you need.

i worked for a woman years ago who only used a solar enlarger. i can honestly say the images i printed with it sparkled ...

good luck and have fun with your new enlarger !

- john

[Chuck_1686]

My Elwood information says to use a No. 300 (150w) or 301 (300w), 3 3/4" diameter, PS30 size opal enlarging bulb. I never used the original head as I found an Aristo 1212 before I started using the enlarger. An Elwood 8x10 C-2. My information also shows that it originally came with a piece of sandblasted glass and 3 pieces of heat absorbing glass. These are square and fit into the piece above the carrier. Mine never had these so I'm not sure if the sandblasted piece was made to have more density in the center to control the hot spot. As far as heat goes I see that for large wattage bulbs they recommend that you get two sets of negative carrier glass. You change the glass after a few pictures and let the first set cool off. Think they are talking commerical use here. I built my own massive stand so that the top just clears my 8ft ceiling. Another problem is the long focusing distance. If you have normal arms and use a grain magnifier you will need some kind of focus extension. I use a crude split piece of wood to grab the focus knob. If you have some of the diffusion glass give the thing a try. Without any glass you may have to find some to control hot spot and heat.

[Sandy Sorlien]

I have an Elwood 8x10 and I use it with a cold light. I'm projecting horizontally on the wall and some exposures are more than 8 minutes. For multigrade paper, all you need is one or two pieces of #15 green gel over the blue cold light, which brings it to a neutral color to add filtration successfully. Works fine with MG filters and Agfa Classic . For a neg carrier, I am using two pieces of regular plate glass with tape around the edges of each piece. The thickness of the tape separates them enough so I don't have Newton rings. My negs are weird sizes like 2 1/4 x 7" so I cut rubylith masks to size, to keep too much light from going out into the room.

My enlarging lens is a 240 G-Claron.

The Elwood sure is an old beast. I have to use vise grips to adjust the focus.

Have fun!

Sandy

[jantman]

Mike, I've got an 8x10 Elwood which I just got working.

I'll post some more advice this afternoon, I have to get going soon.

However, let me give you one piece of advice. DO NOT attempt horizontal projection with it. I tried this with mine and it fell into two pieces. No way to repair it, I have do have all the glass re-cut and then mount the head on a horizontal cart.

[jantman]

Ok. I will attempt to answer your questions.

1) Mine has a photo bulb (the type with no logo in the middle and frosted glass) of about 175 or 200 watts. Normal tungsten type. The head is designed for this type of a bulb, and might not work as well with other sizes. However, this is the only bulb I've tried. If you have trouble finding one, I'll check the exact bulb, but I think it's a Phillips.

2) If you have the money for a 12x12" cold light head, sure, go for it. But I was able to get good results on my first print with the original head. I'd recommend only switching if you find it absolutely necessary. I have found no light falloff at the corners. This is due to a very specialized (and, from what I hear, expensive) sheet of 12"x12" graduated diffusion glass in the head, somewhat like a giant center filter.

3) Mine came with a giant baseboard which it was bolted to, with a size of well over 40x50". This even came with a 30" stand, but I needed to put it on the floor in order to fit in my darkroom. When the whole thing came crashing down, before I even used it, I rebuilt it on a cart as a fixed horizontal enlarger.

Ron, I don't belive that a 12x12" cold light head is $275, at least a VC one. I thought they were well above $1,000.

I use regular window (float) glass in the carrier without a problem.

If you need any parts, like the spring-loaded tapes, I have much of the stuff that I no longer need from when I scrapped the column of mine and used it for horizontal. Just send me an e-mail.

The one problem I have with mine is that the focus gear is totally stripped, and I haven't had a chance to get a replacement yet. Also, the bellows looks like a fancy Chinese lantern.

[Chuck_1686]

Jason,

Did yours come with 3 pieces of heat absorbing glass in addition to the diffusion glass? This is what some old info shows. Mine was missing all glass when I got it.

[jantman]

Chuck,

Yes. However, when it fell, the three pieces of heat absorbing glass broke. Amazingly, the diffusion glass was fine!!! A true miracle!!!

I replaced the three pieces with normal float glass, single thickness, spacers between. As to the diffusion glass, you'd need to search around for a source for it. I think tha Glenn Evans (glennview.com) may know of someone.

-Jason

[Mike Tobias]

Thank you all for your replies. I'll try it with one of the bulbs you recommended and see what kind of results I get. Alas, when the enlarger was shipped, the diffused glass plate broke, but the three remaining plates were fine (lol, opposite of you Jason, perhaps we could share). And I concur with Jason on the light head as well, from what I've seen, all the 8x10 heads are $800 and up, worth it perhaps if the existing head were worthless, but from what others are posting, I'll at least try the existing head first (now that I know what kind of bulb to look for). I'm not looking for perfection here, just functionality. And thanks for the tip on tortilla warming John, although it's a shame, I really like pizza ;).

Mike

[kthompson]

fwiw, I picked up a used Aristo T-12 coldhead for $100 a couple of years ago. I wound up donating it to where I work--when we, in turn, were donated an old 8x10 Elwood, which is lying on it's side in the back of the darkroom---have more pressing matters right now, but someday we'll get it going....

[Chauncey Walden]

I just found an unused Sylvania 301 (300W, long neck, large globe) in the bottom of my darkroom cabinet. Also some GE 212's. If anyone has need of them, contact me off list.

[John Howe]

I have an 8X10 Elwood and I am in process of getting my darkroom set up in my newly purchased house. During the moves before the house I broke down the enlarger to fit into a regular closet. The bell housing seemed too much to store, or carry around, so I chucked it. I knew before hand that the bulbs are rare, and that a coldhead may be a option. Lately that seems a bit expensive, so I think I have found a cheep solution. If I steal six GE Chroma 50 fluorecent blubs, and there fixtures, from my Picker light table, buy two new electonic intant start balllasts, and make a box to fit them to the elwood head, I will have a 3700 lm light source. This should compare to the 300w bulb. The light should be very even with the six bulbs being 1/4" apart and exending past each side. I also plan to put the diffusion material from the light table in the enlarger. Checking the paper color response curves and the output color of the bulbs, the design should be capable of VC printing. This is just a guess now, I hope to test it in June. If you seen a problem with the design please let me know. I can draw up simple plans if you want to atempt it too. If you live in eastern Iowa and want a big Picker light table, I know where you can get a few for less than $100.00 each, from a surplus house, just email me.

[Murray]

A (1955?) Elwood catalog says 7 pieces of 'ordinary' glass functions as heat absorbing glass, and works better than one thick piece.

The sandblasted spot is approximately the diameter of the lamp, according to an Elwood patent. It can also be on both sides (catalog or patent, I can't remember).

[Captain_joe6]

I've got an Elwood 8x10 enlarger that has only one piece of frosted (sandblasted? not graduated) glass and nothing else between the bulb and the negative carrier, nor do I see any provision for any other pieces of glass to fit in. Can anyone provide pictures of their heat-absorbing glass setup so I can get an idea of what I'm after?

Thanks,
Patrick

[John Kasaian]

Heat absorbing glass? I don't have heat absorbing glass on mine.
It does a great job of warming tortillas though.
Quesadillas, anyone?? :D

[Captain_joe6]

So its been a while, and I've spent the morning digging through old threads, and I'm still stuck on this one question: could anyone post a picture of their diffusion glass from an 8x10 Eldwood? As I mentioned, I've only got the one piece of what appears to be evenly frosted glass, so I don't know if that's going to be correct or not.

Thanks all,
Patrick

[Mark Barendt]

I have the 5x7 version of this enlarger and broke some glass with some of the larger bulbs I tried.

I ended up making my own diffusion glass, frosted both sides of each sheet, and stacked several of these in separated by paper clips at the corners. Didn't need a pattern just made sure to do the middle a bit extra.

Once I got the diffuser glass fixed I used a light meter to measure the light hitting various spots on the baseboard, "focusing" the bulb in the reflector solved the rest of the hot spot issue.

[AJ Edmondson]

I have an Elwood 810 (cast aluminum version) which I retrofitted with an Aristo 810 Cold-light Head (W45 Tube I think but am not certain). Even with the sand-blasted diffusor in place I couldn't get enough even illumination to satisfy me before changing to the Aristo. Anyone interested in parts send me a PM as I no longer use the enlarger and would like to have the space in my darkroom. Also have a 240 El-Nikkor and a 305 Repro Claron on aluminum boards.