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Thread: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

  1. #21
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    Too many dreamers here,

    I am out
    Tin Can

  2. #22

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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post

    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.
    I was going on the assumption that however I processed the large paper it would require a large amount of chemistry, but your drum thought has intrigued me. Are they just wide diameter pvc tubes?

  3. #23
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    No. All but the small test drums are made of Noryl, a very expensive thermoformable plastic known for excellent temp retention or insulating properties even thin-walled. For anything mid-sized and affordable, I'd simply use ordinary thick-walled black ABS DWV (drain/waste/vent) pipe. Bigger still, opaque irrigation pipe, hard to find in urban areas, but commonly used for irrigation. My former office had a big plastic pipe specialist diagonally right across the street - everything from tiny micro-pipette medical tubing to a huge selection of industrial chemical piping up to seven feet in diameter; and valves, oh my ... if a local refinery needed a $5000 pure teflon valve, they had it in stock. It's amazing what's out there; but affordable is a slightly different topic, so I'd look to more ordinary sources like agricultural irrigation.

  4. #24

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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    I wonder if galvanized steel would work for tubes? I'll probably just buy some to test with. a 12" wide duct sealed with some epoxy and a cap on either end should work I think, as long as the material doesn't affect the chemistry

  5. #25

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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    Consider T-slot aluminum extrusion, very common for mechanical industrial low volume devices. Here is just one example:
    https://www.alufabinc.com/


    Bernice


    Quote Originally Posted by Ethan View Post
    I wonder if galvanized steel would work for tubes? I'll probably just buy some to test with. a 12" wide duct sealed with some epoxy and a cap on either end should work I think, as long as the material doesn't affect the chemistry

  6. #26
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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    Bernice jogged my memory

    I have used the older company, one is in Ohio and the other Indiana

    In factory we used https://8020.net/history as soon as it came out for prototypal assembly line and test fixtures

    I have a Dreamer 14X17" camera on hold, started 6 years ago, using 8020 with sliding bearings

    I will get it out of deep storage and post pictures, perhaps today

    I already posted it 5 years ago in DIY, but may have deleted the images

    ULF film holders are expensive, I also made several DIY ULF conversions, those pictures are in DIY, search for Levy Process camera under Randy Moe

    Quote Originally Posted by Bernice Loui View Post
    Consider T-slot aluminum extrusion, very common for mechanical industrial low volume devices. Here is just one example:
    https://www.alufabinc.com/


    Bernice
    Tin Can

  7. #27

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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    Quote Originally Posted by Bernice Loui View Post
    Consider T-slot aluminum extrusion, very common for mechanical industrial low volume devices. Here is just one example:
    https://www.alufabinc.com/


    Bernice
    I am planning on using t slot extrusion for the chassis. The thought on galvanized steel ducts was about processing tubes for large prints

  8. #28
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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    Here is my base sled, I will be restarting a DIY thread about it, so as to NOT step on your toes

    You have re-inspired me

    Thank you

    14X17b by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

    14X17a by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
    Tin Can

  9. #29

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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    Quote Originally Posted by Tin Can View Post
    Here is my base sled, I will be restarting a DIY thread about it, so as to NOT step on your toes

    You have re-inspired me

    Thank you

    14X17b by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

    14X17a by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
    Looks good! The black anodized aluminum definitely looks nicer than the plain, if it wasn't more expensive I would definitely use it for my enlarger design.

    How are you planning on controlling focus? A few months ago I toyed around with the idea of building a lightweight 8x10, which had a belt driven focusing system. Even though gear slop really isn't an issue for large format cameras, my thought was that a belt system would be even smoother. I abandoned the project since the carbon fiber needed to make it started pushing it into the price range of already available carbon fiber 8x10s, but it was a fun thought experiment.

  10. #30
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    Re: DIY 8x10 (or larger) Enlarger Chassis

    I don't do thought experiments

    I wake up with a plan for reality

    I have started my own thread, where I will try to show and tell

    Quote Originally Posted by Ethan View Post
    Looks good! The black anodized aluminum definitely looks nicer than the plain, if it wasn't more expensive I would definitely use it for my enlarger design.

    How are you planning on controlling focus? A few months ago I toyed around with the idea of building a lightweight 8x10, which had a belt driven focusing system. Even though gear slop really isn't an issue for large format cameras, my thought was that a belt system would be even smoother. I abandoned the project since the carbon fiber needed to make it started pushing it into the price range of already available carbon fiber 8x10s, but it was a fun thought experiment.
    Tin Can

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