de Vere 5108 enlarger 'control box' and neg holder

[Tim V]

Kia ora all,

Recently I came into the care of a de Vere 5180. It has seen better days as has been in storage, but things look good overall and after spending time calibrating it I reckon it'll be perfect.

However...

It's missing two crucial parts, and living in New Zealand it may prove difficult to get over this hurdle.

Firstly, the negative holder is broken and more crucially, it's missing the power control box – the former is small enough to perhaps source internationally, but the latter I understand as being rather massive and heavy – not to mention voltage differences.

I'm wondering if anyone out there could give me some advise as to where to look for these parts, or offer any kind of workaround for the control box or even schematics as to how to build one – I'm lucky to work in a university with an electrical engineering department that might be able to help for minimal $$$.

Basically, any advise would be awesome. It's tough in New Zealand, as this kind of equipment is super rare. What is left here, people hang on to and use. Or, worse case, people have long thrown out due to lack of people knowing the real world value of what they have.

Thanks in advance for any help people can offer!

Tim

[MartyNL]

This is the place.
http://odyssey-sales.co.uk/

[Mick Fagan]

When you say the negative holder is broken; what exactly is broken?

Any chance of a picture?

[ic-racer]

I believe the 5108 is a fully mechanical enlarger that requires no electronic supply or control box.
If the light source mounted on the enlarger is non-function due to lack of parts, you might consider getting a new, fully functional light source.

[Phil Hudson]

You should try Paul Petterson at SDS Darkroom for the Devere 240v control unit. He has sold these in the past. I assume you can use this control unit on a 230v supply but might be wrong. As far as I know you don't have to use the huge 1.5kw voltage stabiliser which regulates the line voltage, but there are some advantages in doing so.

[Tim V]

Kia ora everyone, apologies for the delay in my reply – things have been crazy here!
Thanks for all of the replies.

@Mick – the holder is missing the glass and I believe the clips to keep the glass in are broken? The holder is currently stored at a friend's studio so I don't have a photograph unfortunately. It seems straight enough, just not sure if it's worth making or buying a complete replacement unit.

@ic-racer – I think that's where I'm going to have to go with this... A friend has suggested I make an LED head as he's done and will send me some plans. Seems a lot of work to get it done, but also sounds like the best long term option. However, I'd love to get the original unit working to allow the possibility of printing c-types at some point. Hard to get replacement parts in New Zealand, especially considering the cost of shipping these days.

@MartyNL and Phil Hudson – Thanks for the links and recommendations! I'll investigate!

[ic-racer]

Can you post a picture of the light head currently on the enlarger. That would help figuring what is missing.

[Tim V]

Not pictured is the massive power supply (not the control box, which is missing) and the neg holder. Found this while digging through my iPhone images.

[interneg]

Sounds like you have the stabiliser, not the interface/ control box - which is mercifully very lightweight. I'd speak with John Boyce at Odyssey (who are the De Vere successor) regarding sourcing one - and he can supply new carrier glasses (AN or plain) - and most of the small hardware too.

The head wiring is simple, everything runs on 230/240v - the 4x ELH's are paralleled pairs run in series & the fans are on a separate circuit (always on, as soon as you turn on the mains switch). Plugs are standard Bulgin, everything else is essentially standard industrial electrical parts.

[ic-racer]

Thanks for the picture. Sorry for being so stupid, the power supply for that head indeed indicates "Control Box" on the front.
Probably not hard to reproduce with generic components as interneg points out. Certainly easier than reproducing a Durst power supply (which has been done) as the Durst has a lamp pre-heat circuit, 24V shutter timing mechanism, temperature feedback controlled 24V blower power, automatic easel motor control, and of course a regulated 240V lamp supply.