$20 LASER Enlarger Alignment Tool

[Tin Can]

Straight edge and surface block calibration.

I never dealt with surface block maintenance but was only allowed to use them with up to date calibration.

The big blocks are very expensive.

I did use a stack of calibrated straight edges daily where we were required to check each straightedge before and after every use on the above surface blocks,
We checked straightedges up to 36" with new 0.001" feeler gauges. The feeler gauges are rather fragile.

If any straightedge deviation was found, we noted that and removed it from usage. Every measuring device was sent out for recertification yearly, except...

Soon we discovered it was cheaper to buy new certified straightedges and discard the old ones than get them fixed and recertified.

So the whole department was allowed to take them home if permission was granted. A note from a superior...and the device record was closed.

I have a full set 6" to 36". They are plenty straight and serve me well.

Old Starrett was also discarded, The factory scrapped an amazing amount of gear every week.

Then we checked surface finish, and ultrasonic bolt stretch.

[LabRat]

The best upgrade for an enlarger is a new/better baseboard... There is usually a warp or wave in most baseboards and these will affect easel seating... And the column is usually slightly dug in the baseboard, which will cantilever major negative stage errors (an at least .250"aluminium plate at the base helps spread out this pressure point over a larger area preventing future forward sag)...

Alignment will help the most with fast, narrow latitude materials (such as type C or R color, B/W RC materials, high contrast or line processes where an even Dmax is expected, etc)... There is a major improvement for 35mm printing...

A decent thick at least 18" straight edge will help much here and when checking camera rails, backs, standards, holders, etc, and the machinist ' square end is very useful (try to be not tempted to use this to cut mat board etc with a razor damaging it)... Good investment for LF camera checking too!!!

Steve K

[Pere Casals]

Since one main objective of leveling enlarger components is to make all four corners of the image on the easel come into sharp focus at one position of the focusing adjustment, I adjust or shim the appropriate components until this happens. It's that simple, folks: no lasers, no front surface mirrors, and no precision tools beyond a good focusing magnifier and an appropriate test negative. For a test negative in a condenser enlarger, lightly sand a piece of film with coarse and fine sandpaper. This hillbilly approach may well offend engineers, but it works better than trying to emulate the sophisticated techniques that are essential in some other applications.

IMHO this is the straight way to align an enlarger, it accounts for all factors, including lens alignment. The laser only simplifies the task, but I guess that even if using the laser one has to check sometimes the alignment in this way, to be sure.

I'd add that beyond using the sanded negative, it would also be interesting to project a USAF 1951 glass slide, so we can compare performance by checking different lenses, apertures and corner/center positions, this is also quite straight, not necessary, of course, but it would deliver nice information.

[Bob Salomon]

IMHO this is the straight way to align an enlarger, it accounts for all factors, including lens alignment. The laser only simplifies the task, but I guess that even if using the laser one has to check sometimes the alignment in this way, to be sure.

I'd add that beyond using the sanded negative, it would also be interesting to project a USAF 1951 glass slide, so we can compare performance by checking different lenses, apertures and corner/center positions, this is also quite straight, not necessary, of course, but it would deliver nice information.

A system like a Zig A Line is much better as it is accurate to 1/5000” and besides working to align enlargers it also does what it was originally designed for, it aligns view cameras which can change alignment just by the action of focusing one. It is so accurate that it indicates misalignment beyond the factory specs of view camera manufacturers!

[LabRat]

Another issue that will throw off laser and mirror systems is there are usually errors where the true lens axis is located, due the lensboards themselves, or where the lower standard locates the boards... (This can produce false positives/negatives...)

I've aligned hundreds of enlargers, and have had to work out not only the issues affecting the unit, but also how to isolate where exactly is causing the issue...

If every stage is perpendicular (by the numbers and measurment) it will be in alignment...

Steve K

[Pere Casals]

A system like a Zig A Line is much better as it is accurate to 1/5000” and besides working to align enlargers it also does what it was originally designed for, it aligns view cameras which can change alignment just by the action of focusing one. It is so accurate that it indicates misalignment beyond the factory specs of view camera manufacturers!

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...rror-lensboard

Interesting system...

[Pere Casals]

Another issue that will throw off laser and mirror systems is there are usually errors where the true lens axis is located, due the lensboards themselves, or where the lower standard locates the boards... (This can produce false positives/negatives...)

Steve, IMHO Jim Jones explained well how to check actual aligment including all variables: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...=1#post1450198


In fact even we can calculate the shimming nedded in the easel with a single test.

1) Divide the head vertical travel by the number of tours of the head elevation knob.

2) Set optimal focus for the center.

3) From that focus position, see the angle it has to rotate the head elevation know to get perfect focus in each easel corner.

4) Use the factor found in step 1 to know the shimming in each easel corner.

Any laser aid would make the alignment procedure more convenient, but the method explained by Jim delivers perfect results and includes all variables, even it corrects any lensboard tilt with an scheimflug correction. Of course we can also check the lensboard vs film holder alignment, but if there is a minor missmatch in that... then Jim's method also corrects it !!

[HMG]

Steve, IMHO Jim Jones explained well how to check actual aligment including all variables: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...=1#post1450198


In fact even we can calculate the shimming nedded in the easel with a single test.

1) Divide the head vertical travel by the number of tours of the head elevation knob.

2) Set optimal focus for the center.

3) From that focus position, see the angle it has to rotate the head elevation know to get perfect focus in each easel corner.

4) Use the factor found in step 1 to know the shimming in each easel corner.

Any laser aid would make the alignment procedure more convenient, but the method explained by Jim delivers perfect results and includes all variables, even it corrects any lensboard tilt with an scheimflug correction. Of course we can also check the lensboard vs film holder alignment, but if there is a minor missmatch in that... then Jim's method also corrects it !!

Which is good. This thread was getting more depressing than the film cost thread. I was beginning to wonder how anyone, lacking access to sophisticated tooling and gauges costing thousands of dollars, could ever create a good print. Yet I've seen them; I thought, perhaps, it was my imagination.

[LabRat]

Which is good. This thread was getting more depressing than the film cost thread. I was beginning to wonder how anyone, lacking access to sophisticated tooling and gauges costing thousands of dollars, could ever create a good print. Yet I've seen them; I thought, perhaps, it was my imagination.

Naw, not too expensive used... A tall machinist ' height gauge can be had for well under 50 bucks for an old style non digital 18" to 24" vernier and a 6" to 10" extension feeler is just a little metal bar with a decent flat edge... And a 18" straight edge for a machinist ' square + square end is under $35 new or used... (You will find many other uses for this!!!) Much cheaper than a new laser or mirror system... And these are totally useful for camera service and setup support for tabletop, copy, macro, etc shooting...

Ask about how to use...

Steve K

[Drew Wiley]

The laser dot gets bounced back and forth from the respective planes using semi-silvered mirrors. This effectively increases the beam distance and makes any error quite apparent. It is an optical bench concept that has been around a long time. For awhile Salthill marketed a convenient mirror set which did
not even necessarily need a laser. You could just put a little pinhole into a black sheet held flat in the neg carrier if you wanted. Neg stage, lens stage, and
easel could all be not only leveled this way, but also centered relative to one another. But if you want to go cheap cheap just get a good straightedge to be
sure the easel isn't warped, a good mid-sized level with one MACHINED edge from a reputable mfg like Stabila (about 35 bucks for a 6" one - never ever buy
anything from Stanley, Empire, etc for this kind of application - utter trash). Mark a dead-center X in the neg carrier position, remove the glass, and hang a
small plumb bob from a center hole to find center of your lower planes, provided you've leveled them first. Incidentally, if you don't use glass in your carrier,
a lot of this is simply waste of time; nothing will be in ideal focus. But one item to never scrimp price on is a good grain magnifier. They're not all created
equal. Lacking that - a strong pair of reading glasses and a disposable negative with X's scratched in each corner using a pin or sharp awl. I've done it all -
low tech, nearly no bucks involved, to fancier things than I've even described so far. So no, you don't necessarily need expensive gear at all; but for those of us who do enjoy refurbishing fine darkroom gear instead of classic cars and motorcycles, there can be a distinct sense of satisfaction pulling precision tools out of the drawer to do it.