Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Drew Wiley
My home-made additive 8x10 color enlarger for sake of 30X40 prints is 14 feet tall, but that allows me to use a 360mm lens with a comfortable height easel position. It's built like a tank and certainly does not look homemade; it's a beautiful machine better built than most commercial units. This is earthquake country, so solid is the name of the game. But if I need to, I can also print 30X40 color CMY subtractively on my smaller Durst L184/CLS system. I've been down the horizontal enlarger road, and it simply took up too much floor space.
If you're able, I would love to see some images of how you built yours. One of my concerns is that the column design I have won't be rigid enough, it's made from aluminum extrusion, but I'm contemplating whether some steel rods or something like that to strengthen it would be needed.
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ic-racer
Have you considered horizontal? No counterweight or baseboard; wheels and simple track.
I'm trying to make it as compact as possible while still being a full size enlarger. Horizontal enlargers would take up too much space in my opinion.
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
Wouldn't it be far easier to simply use your existing wall-mount chassis and build a suitable drop table assembly from 8020 then to recreate the whole thing? This solution would be far more rigid in a mobile scenario - more so than even the OEM floor standing unit.
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
As all this MUST fit in a tiny trailer, how will you develop big sheets of paper?
I struggle with 20X24 and have decided 16X20 is big enough once it is matted to far bigger and framed
which may be larger than 26 X 30, few have walls for that
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
calebarchie
Wouldn't it be far easier to simply use your existing wall-mount chassis and build a suitable drop table assembly from 8020 then to recreate the whole thing? This solution would be far more rigid in a mobile scenario - more so than even the OEM floor standing unit.
While that is a definite possibility, if I can make a rigid enough system myself, I would prefer to do that. I'm not sure it's a great reason but I would like to have a cohesive system, rather than cobbled together components. Building the chassis and head myself also lets me make some upgrades, such as having color control on the table, rather than having to use a stepladder to reach the knobs on the head.
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
A CB7 has power up and down with power focus, with push button timer at front edge of base
It can be operated from a wheelchair and that is why I got 2, 1 for spares
I have 240mm Nikkor enlarging lens with custom lens board that fits on any OE Beseler, 2X3 to 4X5 to Beseler 45V-XL Enlarger Chassis
I bought the 45V-XL lens and mount from a highly respected photographer
I mounted it just like he did, on wall perch that extends out enough to make 40X60 prints
2 Attachment(s)
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tin Can
As all this MUST fit in a tiny trailer, how will you develop big sheets of paper?
I struggle with 20X24 and have decided 16X20 is big enough once it is matted to far bigger and framed
which may be larger than 26 X 30, few have walls for that
My concept for processing paper, which is another thing I'll need to do some tests on, is to make a sort of developing reel. Inspired by the reels used for processing roll film. It would hold the sheet of paper in a spiral, making processing in a narrow, but taller, tray/tank possible.
also might try scrolling
Attachment 216976
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
Those were invented long ago
Make them from PVC pipe
I have a few factory made, somewhere
I have a 'reel' aversion to reals
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tin Can
Those were invented long ago
Make them from PVC pipe
I have a few factory made, somewhere
I have a 'reel' aversion to reals
for pvc pipe ones, are you thinking of just a drum the print goes in? A drum with a circumference large enough for a 30x40 sheet would take up a lot of space, so my thinking is that by spiraling the paper it can be put in a smaller tray
Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis
Ethan, my column was made of a parallel strand structural beam. Unlike a glue-lam beam it is homogenous throughout, so can be resized, that is, if you happen to have access to 440 volt 22 inch diameter blade table saw like I did! With this kind of beam material, the wood strands are all completely bound together in phenolic resin, making it exceptionally dimensionally stable, better than steel beam, and much more vibration-resistant too. After the beam was resized and perfectly squared off, I then further pickled it in marine epoxy and laminated it with black formica, and then added the corner trim to match all the stainless fittings on the rest of the enlarger.
The additive colorhead itself is a rather complex topic, so I won't discuss that. But the cast precision 30X40 vacuum easel was cannibalized from a 22 foot long process camera left behind in a building renovation, and weighs nearly 400 lbs. I can stand on it without deflecting it. The support system for the colorhead and platform below are likewise massive. The colorhead housing is made of 3/8 inch thick black phenolic (Garolite), so is itself quite heavy. Everything is securely bolted to both the wall behind and the concrete floor below. The master yaw correction mechanism is machined bronze and micrometer driven, and a dumb luck free military surplus find that once served as a sighting mount to a big ship artillery gun. It's far more strong and precise than any kind of professional tripod gearhead. The focus mechanism was cannibalized from a Sinar P camera, but with a big custom bellows and special oversized lens board capacity. The carrier is pin registered, and completely made by myself. It was a fun project, but took 3 yrs off n' on to complete, and around 15K in materials and components, including the colorhead parts and primary lens. I doubt 75K would be enough to subcontract one.
But the electronics for complex additive systems like these can be temperamental at times, and one has to carefully protect from any voltage surge or EMI (electromagnetic interference). I've run out of big color roll paper, and Fuji distribution seems disorganized this year due to pandemic chaos, so this big enlarger is not in usage at the moment. I did make some 20X24 color prints with my smaller Durst 8X10 color enlarger this past spring, until that paper ran out too. Getting color paper per se is not a problem, but the specific types I prefer is dicey right now. I'll just wait it out until mfg and distribution issues stabilize, and do black and white work in the meantime.
Processing drums are obviously a different topic, but the spiral concept you are contemplating will be much harder to load and need far more chemistry than a larger-diameter ordinary hollow tube. It will have to be outright full for every print, whereas I need only 12 fl oz of developer to do a 30X40 inch print in one of my custom drums. A completely full drum also requires a more powerful gearmotor due to all that extra fluid weight. Unless you want to roll a big drum back and forth on a sidewalk like some people actually do, get a serious gearmotor regardless. Nothing like the tiny, too revved-up motors on Jobo equipment, for example, are suitable for big processing drums.
Trays take up way more space than a drum system anyway. But you could look into something analogous to the old Kodak color processors, where the paper is attached to a netting OUTSIDE the drum diameter, rotating in a bath trough below (total darkness needed, unlike processing a print INSIDE a drum),
or try to find an old Metz semi-automated vertical-cabinet drum processor.