Aristo - New Replacement Lamps Available in Jan 2011

Some fresh good news here...

This morning I received a new email from Louise Kessler at Voltarc (LCD Lighting). She asked that I post the following new information for users of the former Aristo Grid Lamp products:


For those users of the above Aristo VCL light sources, this is a new chance to order either replacement or backup grid lamps for these units. Personally I intend to do both for my VCL4500. Louise was understandably very excited to be able to offer these newly reengineered products to the analog market.

She also expressed gratitude to those who have previously purchased new replacement grid lamps for the Aristo D2 units. Apparently the response to this initial reengineering project was very good.

Louise has put in an enormous amount of effort to get this production restarted. I know for a fact that her superiors were not at all convinced that there existed any residual market for these products. If these products benefit you at all, a small word of thanks to her wouldn't hurt.

Louise's final line in her email was:


For those of you active on other forums and websites where this announcement may be of interest, please feel free to cross-post this information to those locations. The greater the market response, the better the chances that additional replacement lamp products will be offered in the future.

Finally, don't forget to check out the new Aristo product line website referenced above. It's brand new. And as such is yet another commitment to an ongoing analog equipment market.

Ken

Thanks for the update Ken. I am on her list for the VCL 8100. Curious about the cost though!

jeroldharter said:

Thanks for the update Ken. I am on her list for the VCL 8100. Curious about the cost though!

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As am I. But given that the price point of the re-engineered D2-HI lamp came in at only $165.00 - pretty close to the original replacement lamp price, IIRC - I'm hopeful and keeping my fingers crossed.

Just having a chance to replace these lamp grids at all these days is pretty amazing. They would have to be grossly overpriced for me to pass on that opportunity.

Ken

Louise has put in an enormous amount of effort to get this production restarted.

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Louise is a champion!

jmcd said:

Louise is a champion!

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Agreed.

Visibility bump for those who might be interested in these replacement lamps...

Ken

I guess this is a good post for the new Industrial News forum, Ken.

Jerevan said:

I guess this is a good post for the new Industrial News forum, Ken.

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I hadn't thought of that. I just posted a message to Sean in that forum, so I guess we'll find out.

Thanks.

Ken

I purchased a Aristo D2 from Louise. Delivery was faster than her estimate of three weeks. It was extremely well packed also.

A further note from Louise regarding possible pricing for the VCL4500 and VCL8100 replacement lamps:


Ken

This is good news. I will definitely be a customer for a spare pair of tubes, although my current ones seem fine. Has anyone had to replace tubes in their VCL4500?

If a complete head could only be made; say a universal 8x10, or 5x7, that would be great. It seems that making the bulb is/was the bump in the road, transformers, switches, metal boxes plastic diffusers and wiring exist and can be spec'd.

john_s said:

Has anyone had to replace tubes in their VCL4500?

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I know I've mentioned this before, but I do need to replace mine. My unit came to me used with aged tubes. I was told that lamps normally lasted about five years in commercial lab environments - proportionately longer in home use. And as they age the lamps grow dimmer. My exposures are now very long. But the precision and repeatability of absolutely correct, evenly spaced contrast grades makes that more than worthwhile. New tubes will, for me, be a blessing.

Everyone needs to run the numbers for themselves. But given the unpredictability of everything analog these days, I plan to replace my existing lamp grids, then purchase a second backup set as insurance against accident or premature failure. I may or may not get another chance. YMMV...

Ken

Curt said:

If a complete head could only be made; say a universal 8x10, or 5x7, that would be great. It seems that making the bulb is/was the bump in the road, transformers, switches, metal boxes plastic diffusers and wiring exist and can be spec'd.

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I've had the same thought. When asked about the possibility of a reintroduction of the complete cold light head assemblies, Louise has said that Voltarc is a specialist fluorescent lighting company that has no interest or expertise in manufacturing the physical housings or full electronic control units. Thus, their willingness to reengineer and reintroduce only replacement tubes for existing heads. It's what they do.

But the thought has crossed my mind that if a different manufacturer - or individual - could be found who was willing to create the housings and spec/source the required electronic components, then use Voltarc merely as the lamp grid supplier...

Ken

With Voltarc as a supplier of lamps there would be a great opportunity for someone or some individuals to form a company and make a product. It is a product that's needed and given that it's fluorescent it's an energy saver. An electrical engineer could design the components for a small company to assemble. It would be fairly green and would create jobs and revenue, all are pluses and we the consumer could get back to our business of making prints.

When I opened up the controller unit and head I found they contained a rather smallish number of old-school, discreet electrical components. You know... single resistors and capacitors, a pair of large iron-core transformers (where the 10-pound weight comes from), relay switches, wires, connectors. Stuff like that.

I think there was a single early IC chip in mine mounted on a primitive circuit board. Looked almost like an old Heathkit contraption. My assumption was that the IC probably drove the simple digital display.

These Aristo units were designed and manufactured a long time ago. And before the era of planned obsolescence. For someone who knows discreet components it probably would not be a difficult task at all to functionally replicate the specs. Unfortunately, I'm not that person or I'd try it myself.

And who knows? Perhaps Louise would have access to a bit of residual documentation. After all, if Voltarc had no further interest in it...

Ken

The Aristo web site used to have a downloadable instruction manual for the VCL4500 and in that there was a circuit diagram for the controller. Not all voltages were specified, but it would not be difficult to reverse engineer. The only tricky part for me would be the section that produces the digital readout, but that could even be dispensed with, and just rely on the knob position for grades.

I have checked and found that the doc is still at the aristo web site mentioned above. There are other docs, including the one for mounting a light sensor* for compensating timers. These exist because cold light heads change their output as they warm up. However the VCL4500 tubes are much better in this regard than the old graded paper single tube models of years ago.

* This is still labeled erroneously as "temperature probe installation". This is the sensor used for Zone VI compensating timers and also the marvelous RH Designs Stop Clock Vario. For do it yourself types, the sensor is
EG+G Vactec VTB8440BH photodiode with IR filtering.

More info at
http://uk.farnell.com/eg-g-vactec/vtb8440bh/photodiode-ir-filtered/dp/1182340?Ntt=118-2340

Wire it so that the pin with the polarity dot goes to the outer pole of the jack plug (for RH Designs fitting).

For the Zone VI fitting, I can look it up if anyone is interested.

john_s said:

The only tricky part for me would be the section that produces the digital readout, but that could even be dispensed with, and just rely on the knob position for grades.

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This was the Dr. Horowitz/Zone VI design approach. Cleaner, simpler, more reliable, less things to go wrong. I've used a Zone VI Compensating Enlarging Timer with just click stops and loved it.

john_s said:

This is the sensor used for Zone VI compensating timers and also the marvelous RH Designs Stop Clock Vario. For do it yourself types, the sensor is EG+G Vactec VTB8440BH photodiode with IR filtering.

More info at
http://uk.farnell.com/eg-g-vactec/vtb8440bh/photodiode-ir-filtered/dp/1182340?Ntt=118-2340

Wire it so that the pin with the polarity dot goes to the outer pole of the jack plug (for RH Designs fitting).

For the Zone VI fitting, I can look it up if anyone is interested.

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This is a really good piece of information. I kept a spare one of these in a baggie for many years until installing it into my used VCL4500. I've always worried what would happen if it, or the one in my Zone VI single-lamp head, ever failed. I had no idea where to look for a replacement. Now I know. And so does the APUG Archives. Thanks so much, John.

Ken

Interestingly enough I opened a 5x7, well actually the diffuser frame comes right off, now the bulb is dimmer than it should be but there is no heater circuit and it's a single cord plug-in box. It does have a toggle switch. It's old and really simple. My 2 1/4 head, 4X5 square head, round Beseler head all have heater circuits. I do have a 10X12 unit with a separate control box with a dimmer knob on it. It functions very well and was probably some kind of a light box. Aristo couldn't tell me what it was for even with supplied serial numbers. I never knew if it would work on an enlarger so it sits in a box. I should make a viewer out of it I suppose.

I've blown more than my share of money on Aristo heads. I finally switched to a Beseler color head rewired for new 120 volt lamps in the same color temperature as the 82 volt ones. I wanted to get a duel bulb Aristo for my 5X7 Durst but now I'm going to have to make a diffusion head for variable contrast BW paper.

The older I get the less I hope and the more I act.

Curt

John_s,if you do have the ref. or Id number for the zone x1 light probe I would like it . Thankyou

Mike

The Zone VI cold light head probe was supplied wired to a three-pin DIN socket, as used in old audio equipment. The socket was mounted on the surface of the head. The Zone VI compensating timer and the older stabilizer had captive cable with DIN plugs if I remember correctly. The wiring of the sensor is as follows, using two core (black and red) with shielding:

Photodiode end: black wire to the cathode, which is identified by a small reference hole through the base- see the pdf spec sheet, and
red wire to the other pin. The shield is not connected.

DIN socket end: Black wire to pin 1, red wire to pin 2, shield to pin 3 and linked to the metal case of the socket.

Thanks john-s.
Mike

Additional Background Product Information

A recent discussion with Louise at Voltarc/LCD has shed some additional light on the subject of the new replacement lamp grids for the Aristo VCL4500 and VCL8100 cold light heads. I thought I'd share some of her responses to a few of my questions for those who might find them useful.

On the subject of how the original Aristo VCL lamp grids age with use:


On some of the design trade-offs in the original VCL units:


On possible design improvements in the upcoming new replacement VCL lamps:


On the history behind the green-dimmable VCL units originally offered by Aristo. In their standard configuration VCL heads modify the color of light by varying only the blue tube output. The green tube remains constant. The later green dimmable models also allowed the green tube ouput to be varied as well:


I thought these responses by Louise to my questions valuable enough to get them into the APUG archives for future reference.

Ken

Thats good ,at least this shows some interest and promise.

Mike

Since today is the last day of January, 2011 I thought a progress update might be in order. Here's the latest information I have.

From a January 25 email from Louise Kessler, in response to my question regarding progress on the new manufacturing run of Aristo VCL4500 and VCL8100 replacement lamps:


And from January 31 (this afternoon), this:


So things do appear to continue moving in a positive direction, albeit just a little bit slower than anticipated. If you have any specific questions regarding these new lamps, or anything else Aristo product-related, Louise asks that you contact her at:


or alternatively, at:


She may also be reached directly by telephone at:


Ken