Beseler 45 MCRX

[healyzh]

I picked up an old Beseler 45 MCRX yesterday. It didn't look the best, but with the help of my five year old daughter, I got it put together, and cleaned up nicely. Now I have a couple questions.

1. Can the gears and bars that the head slides left & right on be greased? If so any recommendations on what to use? The gears especially are very stiff.

2. How do I tell exactly what kind of colour head it has? Basically it's a lightbulb with a single lens.

3. Should there be some sort of tray in the filter drawer?

4. Now for a really basic question, is there some sort of standard for lensboards for enlargers? I'm curious as the lensboard from the B&J Solar I have fits on the Beseler.

Thanks,
Zane

 

[John Koehrer]

If you have the "colorhead" with condensers in it, It takes the old CP filters and colorhead is a bit of exaggeration when compared with a dichro head. The dichro heads have three dials on the front of the head.
I've never had a new one and just found some aluminum and made a filter holder to fit.
Your Beseler uses the standard 4X4 Beseler boards. Or anything that will fit.
If the gears are tight, I'd check the horizontal alignment and make sure the gears are in the same tooth on the rack. Run the head all the way up and verify this.
I've just used wax to lube the rails, furniture, auto, floor,canning what ever was on hand.
The shafts may ride in a nylon bearing and shouldn't need lube. There is a lock that may be causing some drag?

 

[Rick A]

I recommend that you polish the bars with automotive wax or polish, as for grease, a light synthetic lube should do on the gears.
I used to have a Model M(first one) no filter drawer, it didn't have a color head, I added one later.
The lensboards from a Beseler 23C series are interchangable, as to fitting other brands, there is no standard.

 

[rjmeyer314]

I also have an M model that I brought 25years ago for $50. It was ancient then. They last forever.

 

[holmburgers]

Assuming you have a basic b&w head, the filter drawer should be a frame of curved metal with a thin sheet of clear plastic to support the filters. It resembles an elongated "D".

Mine did not have one when I got it and someone here was kind enough to send me one. I think one could be cobbled together pretty easily in an evening with the right materials & tools.

 

[jillnewman]

Beseler 45 MCRX - Manual

Hi there,

Picked up and old Beseler 45 MCRX and I having some circuit issues with the device. Originally I had purchased the enlarger with a switch to control the time of exposure, however when I plug in a timer to the enlarger, it has no control over the exposure and only works by turning the actual timer on and off.
This is an older device, but I am hoping there would be some information in the manual that may help me figure out the issue. I can find a website that has it available for download. hope to hear from someone!

Thanks for your time,

Jillian