Enlarger station

[Walter Foscari]

I want to build an enlarger station with sliding shelves to allow for large size prints. Anyone can point me to plans/pictures of these things so that I can get some ideas?

Thanks all.

[Louie Powell]

There is a book titled "Build Your Own Home Darkroom" by Duran and McDonald that shows plans for an enlarging station. Don't know if its still in print, but your public library may have it. Also, if you could find copies of Fred Picker's newsletters, one of the earlier numbers showed pictures of the adjustable station in his darkroom.

I had a station like that in my former darkroom. It was designed around a Durst F60 elarger that I mounted to a shelf attached to the wall studs using carriage bolts. Naturally, I had to make sure that the shelf was absolutely level side to side and front to back so that the enlarger post would be absolutely plumb.

I then build counters on either side of the enlarging station. These were made using 1x2" framing, with particle board counter tops. At the ends of the counters adjacent to the enlarging station, I built walls from 5/8" plywood. I then attached 1x2" cleats on these walls, being careful to make them level front to back, and spaced exactly the same on both sides. The top cleats were exactly 3/4" below the level of the top of the counter, so that when I then placed a 3/4" plywood shelf on the cleats, the counter would be level across the enlarging station. The lower cleats were spaced evenly below that top cleats - there were two lower cleats on each side, and I think they were at 8" intervals (I don't live in that house any more so I can run downstairs to measure them!).

To make larger prints, all I had to do was drop the shelf to a lower pair of cleats. I used the top cleats for prints up through 8x10", and dropped the shelf one level for 11x14 prints.

Eventually, I moved up to an Omega DII enlarger, and had to rebuild the enlarging station around the bigger machine. Because I had a low ceiling, I had to drop the shelf that the enlarger was bolted to down to the level of the middle cleats (and even then, I could not use the entire height of the enlarger). So the middle position became the normal position for both 8x10 and 11x14 prints, and I only used the upper position when I wanted to make smaller than normal prints.

Earlier this year, I built a new darkroom in our new home. This time, I opted for a fixed position rather than adjustable shelves. I concluded that with the bigger enlarger, I really didn't need the drop shelf feature. However, I did take pains to make sure that there was enough headroom over the enlarger to be able to extend the head all the way to the top of the column. And I installed a brace from the top of the enlarger column to the wall to eliminate any column vibration.

[wfwhitaker]

When I built my darkroom I made extensive use of pre-fabricated kitchen cabinets. The ones I used are finished in white melamine and are made by Mills Pride, available from your local Home Depot. The cabinets go together very easily with simple tools. You have several options of drawers/doors.

Although I already had a table I wanted to use for my enlarger, it occurred to me that a very nice and sturdy enlarging station could easily be made by using two base cabinets. An adjustable shelf could be installed between the cabinets simply by mounting cleats on the inside faces. (It would be advisable to paint those inside faces black, however.) The base cabinets are a standard 34 1/2" high, so if you're tall, you may need to build up the top a bit to make it easier on your back for most printing jobs.

The obvious advantage to this is that you can have a fairly substantial custom-made enlarging station without getting into major cabinet construction. (More time for photography!) Depending on the width of the cabinets, at last check they were priced between $60 & $100 apiece. The whole project should be able to be done for around $200, give or take.

Good luck!

[wfwhitaker]

My idea above envisioned a wall-mounted enlarger. It would really depend upon what you're using for an enlarger as to the final configuration.

Cheers,

[Witold Grabiec]

Walter,

Could you clarify your idea a bit?

There is a difference between having your enlarger mounted to the station and have removable shelving underneath it, and a wall-mounted one. This difference comes from the fact that for a stand-alone enlarger table, it will need a rigid u-shaped structure which almost certainly you will need to built of steel (where vibration dampening may be required).

If you go with a wall-mount approach it may be easier to start, but in either case enlarger alignment will be an issue. I'm not saying it cannot be done, but the shelving will need to drop perfectly at every level and not move. You can realign every time you go from one set-up to the next. If you don't intend to make these changes frequently then it might work.

I think I would suggest (you may have this in mind already) a fixed two-level approach, where one would stay at your normal height (as if it were enlarger's baseboard) and a second well below in a fixed position to accomodate largest prints you may be considering. The space in between could still be used for storage (like on removable shelves or drawers) and pulled out of the way when going large.

[Walter Foscari]

Thanks for all your answer so far. Yes I intend to wall mount the enlarger (D2 Chromega). I have concrete walls, so should be able to get solid connections. And yes I agree that alignment will be the major issue here. Still after your suggestions I think it should be still possible to have 2 level positons for the table top. The higher one for standard work and smaller prints and the lower one for larger ones. Following Louie's suggestion of a center drop shelf between 2 fixed side cabinets with small side brakets upon which the tabletop would rest. There would be only two sets of brakets: the top and the lower. The only tricky part will be to keep the two planes perfectly parallel on all direction. Still feasible I think.

[Witold Grabiec]

I would not doubt that it is feasible. If you go with between-cabinets idea, ensure that they're actually standing still. If you build the whole from scratch then it will make things easier. At least you will now how's been put together. I must say, that if cabinets are not bolted to the wall, you may end up throwing it off and not knowing until it shows up in the prints. But I think as long as you remember, that you're looking at a two-piece set-up (wall-mounted enlarger and projection plane not rigidly connected to it) you will be just fine.

[Louie Powell]

Walter -

William mentioned the use of inexpensive kitchen cabinets. Great idea - when I built my new darkroom earlier this year, I used the Lowes equivalent of the Mill's Pride cabinets sold by Home Depot. I really don't think they were that much more expensive than totally home built counters, and they look far neater. And to Witold's point, they really have to be leveled (front to back, side to side) and shimmed, and then attached to the studs in the walls.

In my case, I mounted the enlarger in a corner with a cabinet on the two adjacent walls. So the enlarger station is therefore a modified pentagon shape - two sides supported on 2x4 cleats attached to the adjacent walls, two sides supported on 1x2 cleats attached to the cabinets, and the front side open. I also ran a 1x2 from corner to corner across the middle to provide additional support to the area where the enlarger attaches. The result is pretty strong - I had to climb on top of it to install the wall brace, so I know it can hold the enlarger plus my 190 pounds.

As a consequence of the shape, I have lots of surface area around the enlarger for the easel, dodging and burning tools, negative brush, VC filter box, etc. I used particle board for the enlarging station - five coats of polyurethane, sanding between coats, results in a very smooth, hard surface with a warm wood tone. I used a roll-formed formica countertop from a nearby surplus store on the adjacent cabinets. I also put some wall cabinets on either side of the enlarger - same Lowes line. The result is ample storage for all the clutter that gathers in a darkroom.

The effect is more of an enlarging nook than an enlarging station. Painted the walls behind the enlarger flat black to control stray light, and mounted a small (5x7) safelight to point up toward the white ceiling so that I have even illumination over the working area.

Another thought - if you wall mount the enlarger (you will need a shelf for the base of your Omega D2), you could also make the enlarging shelf stationary, but at a lower elevation than the base shelf, and then construct a box that you sit on top of the stationary shelf for normal/smaller print work. Making a box in which the top is perfectly parallel to the bottom might be easier than trying to make adjustable shelf brackets that are parallel.

[ronald lamarsh]

I actually built the design in the book "Build you own home Darkroom" an dit served me well for a number of years. The problem in my darkroom has always been one of ceiling height. My latest design ,used to include a second 5x7 enlarger fixed to the wall, uses a surplus peice of x-ray gear a counterbalanced table that moves vertiaclly. I simply attached a table assembly to what was once a vert chest unit then recounterbalanced it. I fix x-ray equip as a day job so coming up with the stand was easy. Also the 5x7 was fixed to the wall so I could toss the baseboard and vert member thereby saving mucho space in my limited area.