Fotar 8x10 Enlarger used horizontally?

Hello,

I just picked up a beautiful Sinar Norma 8x10 camera, originally intending to do contact prints. But there is a lab in town that has gone digital and is looking to get rid of an 8x10 Fotar color enlarger. It's complete and in great shape. It's also very, very tall, and my basement has a low ceiling. But if I mounted it horizontally, it would fit just fine and open up a lot of possibilities. Has anyone tried to mount these enlargers horizontally? And can this be used for b&w printing? It uses four 250w Halogen bulbs. Are there other options to consider? I think this must be the only 8x10 enlarger in town. Thanks.

Correction: I think it's actually a 10x10 enlarger.

I think you have problems mounting one of these horizontally - the enlarger is built around a counterweighted system of pulleys and weights. Without gravity in the right direction, I think it's going to be an issue to get this thing operational. However, you can cut the column down (you'll need to shorten cables). They are really nice bits of gear - I have a 4x5 model which is essentially the same chassis with different standards on it. Once it's aligned, it pretty much stays that way and they are very smooth in operation because all the standards and baseboard run on multiple ball bearings.

Converrtng to horizontal is an interesting idea. In a horizontal position, the counterweighting should be unnecessary. It could be, though, that some components are kept in alignment by gravity in the vertical position.

I'm not directly familiar with this enlarger, but I noticed an earlier post about 10x10 enlargers and Arthur Nichols seems to have mounted his horizontal.

see http://largeformatphotography.info/lfforum/topic/505452.html

I would be concernred about cooling of the head as convection cooling for 1000w may depend partially or completely on convection vertically.

Also, I have a friend who is into machine tools and had a height problem in his basement for one of them and his solution included making an "improvement" to the first floor master closet "for his wife". His wife no longer has to bend over to reach her shoes. The closet floor is raised 15"!

Thanks for your replies. Since it will be horizontal, maybe I can just remove the counterweights? I'll have to take a closer look at the unit. The head is cooled by a wall fan with an exhaust tube running to the head. Seems to be part of the original equipment. Anyway, the studio just wants it gone, and has no other takers. Even the local community college said no thanks. Maybe I can just remove the head from the column and mount it on a movinng platform (like Ansel Adams set up in his "Print" book). I'll send an email to Arthur Nichols and see what he did.

Hi Eric

If you mount the column and head on a dolly you can move the dolly to get the size image you need and then do fine focussing moving the head on the column. You could then use a scale on the floor and another on the head for recording positions. I have done this sort of thing a few times before and if you want more information; contact me by email.

Richard