All the photos of my conversion on this site are no longer available. I look through some back-up drives and see if I can find anything. My conversion looked almost like the original Alan Ross conversion, except, as I noted, I removed the upper bellows. I then brought the lower bellows up and attached them below the light source stage, on which I mounted the plywood box which contained the cold light source and the glass negative carrier.
Is there still a lot of interest out there for a 810 conversion kit?
I had a conversion and sold it to someone on the forum. The conversion kit was designed to work with either the MXT or VXL and came with hardware for each. I had both the VXL and the MXT. I think the conversion kit works best with the MXT, partly because of the motorized chassis.
You need to make sure that the kit comes with all of the hardware. Nothing complicated but one missing piece could cause problems. the challenge is the lens. The kit was designed to use with the Beslar 210 mm lens which was a crappy process lens. Some people say they are fine but I bought one that simply did not work. In the end I had a Rodenstock Rodagon 240 mm lens kindly given to me by someone on this forum. However, it does not fit naturally and needed a pricy conversion from SK Grimes. The lens was brilliantly sharp though and I loved using it. A 300 mm lens is too much for the enlarger.
These kits are not commonly available now. Mine had an Aristo 8x10 variable contrast cold light source with two spare bulbs which is truly a rare find. I hated to part with it but so life goes. Mine was also retrofitted to use a Radeka 8x10 masking negative carrier which is much better than the Beseler. the Beseler uses a glass sandwich, which is fine. But the 8x10 negaflat carrier is crap as far as I am concerned. I though that the 4x5 negaflat was outstanding but I could not use the 8x10 reliably without scratching the negatives.
One way to increase the print size is to wall mount the 45MXT with a 8x10 head. I happen to have those brackets if you are interested in buying them. I started out thinking I'd get the 8x10 conversion kit on the 45MXT but found it too flimsy for my liking and it intruded on my workspace since I wall mounted it. Then I upgraded the chassis to the 45VXL which I also wall mounted - this worked better but the metal for the 45vxl for accepting the head is pretty flimsy too. So I bought a kit off Ebay that is two L brackets that you bolt on to the sides to provide extra strength. That's where I am now. If you want to use anything other than the Besseler 240/9 which is a so-so lens you will need to probably custom mount a 240mm or 300mm f5.6 on a lensboard and grind out a portion of the bottom of the metal that attaches to the bottom of the bellows. Happy to send pictures on my final setup if you PM me your email.
I did cut a hole in my drywall ceiling to allow the head to go up a bit, but all in all I think this set-up uses the least headroom for the highest quality. As for an 8x10 head, if you can't find the 810 conversion that I'd consider making a 8x10 head out of strips of tiny LEDs. It seems to work quite well although I will probably be a challenge to your VC paper with it.
Modern 8x10 color heads from Durst, DeVere, Omega etc are beasts with load cooling systems and they often need higher voltage etc. Think carefully before going in that direction. But the enlargers are like Ferraris compared to a Ford which is the Besseler!
Hello, I'm trying to convert a Beseler MCRX to an 8x10 with an Aristo 12 x 12 coldlight. I've started making plywood spacer blocks but would be helpful if I had other's measurements. I'm doing this now by trial and error. I know this has been discussed many times before, but if someone could post or email to me photos of their conversion, I would be most grateful!
You have some wiggle room due to the bellows on the Beseler enlarger. You could try to guesstimate from photos of the converter unit. The bigger problem, and the most tedious part of installing the conversion kit, is adding spacers to the chassis to move it farther away from the column. The kit contains longer bolts and spacer blocks for that purpose.
I don't have any photos of my old MCRX conversion and they are gone from the site, but this is what I did. You need spacer blocks of 4" top and bottom of the "camera" stage and a 4" board added to the rear of the baseboard to bring the baseboard out 4". I removed the negative stage and the upper bellows and brought the lower bellows up to the lamphead stage. I hogged out the lamphead stage as much as I could and mounted a 10" tall plywood box on top. The box took a 12"X12" Aristo head and had a slot for a glass negative carrier. I also hogged out the lens stage so it could fit a 240mm 5.6 Rodagon on a standard Beseler lens board. This rig was good for 1:1 up to 20X24 on the baseboard.
Thanks Jerold and Neal. I've experimented a bit with my spacer blocks. I initially blue taped a test 8x10 neg to the aristo diffusion plex and placed that entire rig on top of two spacer blocks, one is square and around the unique configuration of the upper stage and another pyramidal to 12 x12 to accept the Beseler 810 cold light. I'll need to shorten their heights as per Neal's suggestion with his conversion. Also I'll incorporate some sort of negative carrier between the two spacer blocks. It must be best to get a little distance distance between the light source and the neg to avoid any hot spots. I'm using an 8-1/4 (210mm) Apo Red Dot Artar and all seems fine so far. I've also built a custom table for the Beseler so I'm able to remove the baseboard and project to a lower shelf. I really only need to enlarge to 16 x 20 but 20 x 24 would be great. Thanks again, everyone. I appreciate any more suggestions. It's a work in progress!
Have printed from them and can say to be aware of a fair amount of light falloff from the center of the image.
They work but finding an actual 8x10 enlarger generally works better. Downside of dedicated 8x10 enlargers is usually their size.
I want to debunk the size of 8X10, 10X10 enlargers. My Saltzman 10x10" enlarger is 1" wider and 8" deeper front to rear than a Beseler 4X5 MX. A Beseler 4X5 CB7 is 6" narrower but just as long as the Saltzman. Floor space is not the problem.
The biggest issue with 8X10 enlargers is weight and height, a few were made to fit normal homes, maybe not low ceiling basements.
A Saltzman may be shortened to fit that low ceiling. An Elwood 8X10 can be put on the floor, maybe uncomfortable to use, but I saw 2 different ones used that way in basements.
Just as many make DIY LF cameras, those same people can make an 8x10 enlarger.
A Calumet 8X10 is maybe the easiest to move, still heavy, but the parts are not. With a Super Chromega head it works in a 8ft ceiling. The Super Chromega must have been designed for low ceilings. DIY heads can be made lower.
Lens selection is important, most, besides Drew, will use 300 & 360mm lenses, 240mm for 8x10 negs works well. The shorter lens needs less enlarger height.
If murals are your thing, wall projection is the way.
Tin Can
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