Crude 11X14 Enlarger Mockup...Success!

[John Layton]

Very exciting progress! I’ve just cobbled together an extremely crude yet effective mockup of an 11x14 horizontal enlarger and, using a large 5600K florescent “sunlamp,” have projected (through my 305 G-Claron) a 40x60 image which, upon close inspection with a focussing magnifier…looks great!

Re-inserting my “lightweight” 11x14 camera back into its original drop-bed housing, I then removed the back and replaced it with an 11x14 contact frame/negative sandwich, pressed and held in place with the sunlamp. Here’s a front view:



And a rear view with easel in the background:



Another front view with a dark cloth cowling:



And, finally, here is a (very dense negative) 40x60 projected image (not quite visible on my desktop, but sharp sharp sharp!)…slightly skewed as my iPhone was held (necessarily) a bit off-center:



Onward Ho!

[Peter De Smidt]

That's great, John!

[malexand]

Nice!
Cobbled but working is a win!

[Alan9940]

Very nice! I'm sure the B&H box base is critical to your success!

[Tin Can]

One small step for People Everywhere

I changed from 'Man Kind'

[John Layton]

Yup...that B+H box is key - the very foundation of this wonderful device! Neat how my new box of 11x14 HP5 was shipped to me in that very box!

But my latest image (apple tree in snowy field) from this new film was a bit "delicate" for the mockup test. For that one I used an old image of the side of a barn - lots of knotholes and other fine details in the entire image area...very sharp even with a strong loupe on the lightbox (used a Kern-Built 14" Trigor for that one) - so although the negative is rather dense, its great for checking center to edge sharpness in the enlarged image.

[Tim Meisburger]

If you can make a 16x20 print from 35mm, then you ought to be able to make a 220x280 print with that beast (if my math is correct). That is 18.3 feet by 23.3 feet. You are the man, brother!

[Andrew O'Neill]

Cool!

[John Layton]

Thanks folks! Now to build a working model that actually works!

[ic-racer]

In the other thread you show your custom 8x10 enlarger conversion. You think this is better than fabricating a 11x14 back for that enlarger?