Beseler 45 MXT motor question

[Hans Mulders]

I'm interested in buying a Beseler 45 MXT.
The heigth movement is done by a motor.
Has someone experience with this? How aqurate does it work, stops the motor immediatly when releasing the button?
Thank you for replies

 

[David Brown]

It works very well. There is also a manual fine adjustment if one is that critical. There are 1000s of these out there.

 

[Hans Mulders]

Thank you David,

One of the next days I will drive over and have a look at one.
I just wanted to be sure how it works. If it stops almost immediately and a fine tuning is possible then it should be just fine then.

 

[CropDusterMan]

Yes, I will also chime in and say they work very accurately...only thing, they stink a bit...kinda smell
like an old Lionel train. lol

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Hans,

I've been using mine since 1974 and have had no problems.

Konical

 

[Hans Mulders]

Thank you all!
I feel confident now and will check it out this week.
Good to know that a they might smell a little though.

 

[darkroommike]

At school we have a pair and both are getting pretty slow on the go, these are much older units. Rebuild motors are available but ye-gads, $300-400 for just the motor is crazy.

 

[Leigh B]

The enlarger frame does not move rapidly when the motor is engaged. That means it's geared down significantly.
While the armature in the motor may not stop instantly, the effect is instantaneous due to the gearing.

- Leigh

 

[mgb74]

At school we have a pair and both are getting pretty slow on the go, these are much older units. Rebuild motors are available but ye-gads, $300-400 for just the motor is crazy.

I opened one up a while ago. Based on the labeling on the motor itself and doing a quick google search at the time, it appeared the motor could be sourced directly and nowhere near $300. Unfortunately, I didn't keep the info.

 

[msage]

Yes, I will also chime in and say they work very accurately...only thing, they stink a bit...kinda smell
like an old Lionel train. lol

There is a spring in the horizontal bars that has a spring in it to help the motor raise the head. If the spring is too loose the motor has to worked harder and can cause the smell.

 

[Hans Mulders]

Ok, I picked it up today. Looks very nice. Comes with Aristo cold head only. No condensor head but I will not miss it I supose. Also 3 lenses. Apo rodagon 2.8 50mm Componon-S 5.6 80 and Componon-S 5.6 150 mm.
Carriers for 4x5 inch; 6x6 cm and 35 mm.
Dunco frame and old type novex clock wich is nice for the shelf but works surpisingly quit.
I'm happy with it.

question about the Aristo cold head: Before starting should I switch it on to let it warm up for a more constant on/off time?

 

[mgb74]

question about the Aristo cold head: Before starting should I switch it on to let it warm up for a more constant on/off time?

I do. Also, older Aristo heads used a bulb that would not give proper contrast results with multigrade paper. Ilford recommends a cc40y filter to correct, but I haven't found one large enough to mount on the head (between bulb and diffusion disk). So, based on recommendations, I used a CC30y (#4530) gel from Rosco. From my testing, it seems to work fine.

More info here.

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Hans,

I hope that you got a good price! The three lenses are high-quality types and should serve excellently; having the three carriers included is great. All that is assuming, of course, that everything is in good usable condition. Eventually adding a 90 or 105 mm lens for 6 x 7/6 x 9 would just about complete the package. With a little luck and good care, you should have a lifetime investment.

Konical