Besler stopped making the conversion kit for their 45V-XL. I doubt that someone has one of these kits sitting in their basement. Is it possible to do the conversion on your own? Has anyone done this?
Besler stopped making the conversion kit for their 45V-XL. I doubt that someone has one of these kits sitting in their basement. Is it possible to do the conversion on your own? Has anyone done this?
Howard Bond made one and wrote an article about it in (I think) Photo Techniques magazine years ago. The are some archives still up on the internet. You could try searching there.
Last edited by Keith Pitman; 15-Feb-2019 at 07:01.
Keith Pitman
Yes IMHO, this is what I'm planing to do with a 138.Originally Posted by Michael Wellman
This kind of DIY today is way easier than in the past, if one have some practice with 3D CAD, and he knows what he wants to draw. Thanks to laser and waterjet cutting service we obtain the key components made cheap and nicely manufactured.
Also I found an opprtunity, this is using plastic fresnels to work as condensers. I found two sources for that, one is fresnel concentrators for solar energy, the other is spare/canibalized fresnels from overhead projectors for transparencies.
As fresnels are thin, we even may stack two fresnels to have a fresnel of shorter focal, for smaller formats.
I made tests by replacing the condensers of the the Durst 138 by fresnels and I found it's a sound solution, I've checked fall-off with a lux meter and I found illumination with fresnels has no flaw.
My guess is that for 8x10 a condenser system with a RGB LED if the most viable path, because it allows VC printing.
If anyway we prefer diffuser type we always may place a frosted glass in the light path. That glass can be more or less frosted so we may adjust the degree of "diffusion". My view is that the best all round illumination is a condenser one with some degree of diffusion. If that degree of diffusion is adjustable we have a perfect situation.
The other challenge is the negative carrier. To me this is a glass carrier, perhaps the top one would be ANR type and the bottom one of the anti-reflective type (tru vue like). It has to be glass of rated flatness, some glasses around may not be perfect.
Me, I'm going to the condenser way. In the past a 8x10 condenser enlarger required insanely large condensers, but IMHO the fresnel way makes it the design of choice for a DIY 8x10 enlarger, also requiring lower light power, and anyway we can always add the degree of diffusion we want.
I have the Howard Bond DIY conversion.
Simple yet very well done using Aristo 1212 which was also modified by him.
I have posted pics of it without provenance.
Tin Can
Pere,
Calumet made an 8X10 glassless stretch carrier.
Supposedly they expanded slightly under hot lamp heads. Making the film even tighter.
I use mine with LED, less dust gathering surfaces and convection currents.
and the neg stays flat with very careful handling.
Tin Can
Yes, I've seen yours one, IIRC. This is an interesting way...
For the moment I'm experimenting with masking with the NEGA 138, I find glasses useful to make the sandwich with the mask.
But I agree, an stretch carrier is a good choice !
Of course, a sandwich is always better when using additional Condit materials.
Tin Can
It would be possible to make an 8X10 conversion for the Beseler 45V-XL. I have the Beseler setup now, but I once converted a 45MCRX and posted details here on the forum. 45V-XL would be easier. I would make the extension box from thin plywood covered with fibreglass which would be an improvement over the heavy casting Beseler used. I would top it off with and LED head and a drawer for a glass carrier and filters. If all you wanted to do was 8X10, you could remove the entire, heavy 4X5 negative stage, lifting mechanism and upper bellows, making it even lighter and simpler. You also need to open the lens stage as has been described so that you have a better choice of enlarging lenses.
I never use my Beseler 8X10 for 4X5 and smaller formats anyway. It is too inconvenient and I have a 4X5 Beseler with a color head right beside it.
I contacted Besler about the situation. I asked if they had schematics that they'd would be willing to share. Their response was unbelievable. They threw them out! Unbelievable. Why would anyone throw out drawings of their product? Here is the email I received today.
Hi Michael-
You are correct – we no longer manufacture the 8x10 conversion kit. We have discussed bringing this item back as we have had several inquiries to such effect. In terms of prints or drawings, that is one of the obstacles that has prevented us from simply reintroducing the product. A lot of the items that were discontinued prior to our relocation to our current facility in 2008 were disposed of as well as their relevant prints.
Regards,
Victoria L. Price
Charles Beseler Company
2018 West Main Street
PO Box 431
Stroudsburg, PA 18360
Sad... But this is not an obstacle, if they were really interested they could reverse engineer the design from an old conversion kit laying around, the basic drawings may take an afternoon to a Solidworks proficient designer.
Reverse engineering is fast...
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