Hello,
I teach analog photography at Keystone College in LaPlume, PA.
When I started teaching here around 2016, I noticed that there was a Zone VI 8X10 VC enlarger still in the box in our storeroom. This was never set up, or even opened from when it was ordered from Zone VI in January of 2001.
I decided to set the enlarger up, as I have a 5x7 Type 1 that I use and love it. This one is a Type 2 chassis.
The setup and everything went fine but when I plug everything in, I am running into issues. When I turn on the power switch on the head, the green lamp is on all the time. If I switch the contrast control box to focus, it goes to white light. Otherwise, it's always on green. Turning the contrast control knobs does not affect the light output at all. Neither does the Brightness dial on the Variable Contrast Control box. This is the case whether or not the switch on the timer is set to focus or not. The head is always on. The directions stated that the head has a safety switch that will cut power after the lamp is on for more than 3 or 5 minutes. I left it on for over 10 to check and the power never went out.
I verified that the power cord on the head is plugged into my power strip and the other "power" cord is plugged into the timer.
Based on the invoice that was attached to the boxes, this was purchased in January of 2002 and sat in the boxes for the next 15+ years.
The timer is the Zone VI Compensating Timer. I am leaving the Print/Focus switch on the timer on Print and I have the light intensity on the timer on Max.
I did reach out to Richard Ritter and he states:
"I was not at Zone VI when the Type 2 was designed. It has custom built parts that are not available any more. Most who have this enlarger have taken the guts out of the head and put in LED lights."
I opened up the head because I figure I can't break it any more than it is and I did not see any damaged parts or wires or anything out of the ordinary on the circuit board.
Anyone have any ideas? I did take the diffusion plate off to see the actual tubes and when it's set to "Focus" and appears to be all white light, that is the only time both tubes are lit. So I know there is power to the second tube.
The images show the inside of the head. The black thing on the left seems to control the blue tube while the one on the right controls the green. I know can tell this as the wires coming from the bottom go to the two ends of each tube.
The one photo shows both tube ends. When its just on power and should not have any light on at all, the green is always on (second photo). When I turn the contrast control box to focus, the blue tube lights up. Both are now on at full power (third photo). The only time that the lights are off is when I shut the power completely off at the head.
Any ideas on what I can do? I hate to have a giant paperweight.
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