Building an Enlarger.

seanE · Oct 2, 2015

High, I'm new. I'm not familiar with the site layout so excuse me if I'm posting in the wrong catagory, So building an enlarger, mad well thats a matter of perception, but I'm just getting into film photography and don't want to spend too much, I've just ordered a canon pro 100 for my digital camera, and printing any colour film i might develop, so i am juggling between film and digital. I was looking at a Russian 35mm enlarger 25 euros, and to get one posted to me in Ireland, from England, would cost 60 to 70 euros, I check this with quite a few sellers and it seems there no way out, i could and might just buy it, but i hate paying close to a 100 for a 25 euro item. So, that got me thinking, I do some wood work and quite enjoy making things so thought it could be a fun project, so the question is, condensor or diffuser. I think i can buy condenser lenses on eBay, if i want ultimate quality il scan and print digitally, So I'm not to concerned about that end of things. I've herd during the war lots of people done it. Plus i have this lovely seasoned yew wood i have me eye on.

gone · Oct 2, 2015

I don't even know where to begin on this one. Anyone else want to give it a shot?

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 2, 2015

Before you start building one, have you used one before. You should know how to drive before you plan to build your car. An enlarger is a simple concept. It's basically a camera. To me, I wouldn't buy one because you probably can get one at little cost or ever free. I saw a Beseler 23C at a thrift store for $20. 50mm enlarger lenses are also cheap.

bdial · Oct 2, 2015

Many of us here would quibble at the notion that scan and print would give you the "ultimate quality". But I take your meaning.
However, there is no particular reason that an inexpensive enlarger, even a home built one would necessarily give you inferior results. For many years Ansel Adams printed his work from his 8x10 negatives on a home-built enlarger.

As Maincoonmaniac said, enlargers are fundamentally simple. The hardest part would probably making or fitting a bellows for focusing, and you could work around that if you wanted.

It is also possible to use your camera as an enlarger, or you could possibly adapt a camera like a medium format folder or a 9x12 (cm) plate camera. Additionally in various "Do It Yourself" magazines published in the 1930's-1950's and even beyond you can find plans for various sorts of home built enlargers.
A diffusion light source would be the easiest to build, and if you are working with 35mm especially, would likely give you the best quality prints.

If you don't want to research old publications, a good way to start with contemporary information would be to search for plans for simple home-built view cameras then adapt from there. There is lots of information around for home-built view cameras.

Fundamentally, you need a way to hold the negative flat and parallel with the lens and paper. You need a way to illuminate the negative without leaking light all over the room and a switch to turn the light on and off. At the other end you need a way to hold a lens so that the image can be focused onto the paper and a light proof enclosure between the lens and negative (usually a bellows), then finally a surface that is parallel with the rest to hold the paper. Everything beyond that is elaboration for convenience.

It would be an interesting project, and many here would be interested in your progress and results.
And, welcome to APUG.

Jeff L · Oct 2, 2015

I saw in a museum in Calgary that a local photographer (about a hundred years ago) made an enlarger with a non functioning medium format bellows camera, a lard pale for the lamp house, a headlight from an old truck provided the light and the rest was made up of scrap wood. I don't know what power source. Nice work was produced with the set up. It can be done.

SMBooth · Oct 3, 2015

You cannot be looking hard enough, there are enlargers getting given away everywhere.

ozphoto · Oct 3, 2015

If you're really looking to build your own, old editions of Popular Mechanics etc used to have instructions for these types of projects. A few links for you:

http://tinyurl.com/Boys-Life-Aug-1948

http://tinyurl.com/Popular-Mechanics-Oct-1946

http://tinyurl.com/Popular-Science-Mar-1938

http://tinyurl.com/Popular-Mechanics-Oct-1949

http://tinyurl.com/Popular-Mechanics-May-1942

https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/25916/ClubSeries C3.pdf?sequence=1

And a link to Google Search: http://tinyurl.com/nmfr4a4

Maybe you can adapt to suit your requirements.

As others have said, enlargers do come about, but I respectfully have to disagree that "enlargers are being given away everywhere", as in my experience it doesn't seem to be the case in AU nor my current home in TH. (I envy the US members who seem to have access to a lot of free gear - they certainly seem to have a larger pool of it on offer.)

Keep your eyes open - something may pop up , but in the meantime, happy reading!!

seanE · Oct 3, 2015

Thanks every one. And thanks Ozphoto, Thats exactly what i was looking for, I thought all those old mags were lost,
Just a bit of background. I live in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, So basically there ant many places to haggle a guy down to a few bucks, eBay is all i can think of, And as i said, i find it hard paying 100 for a 20 pound enlarger, especially if i might be getting a better one in the near future.
At the moment I'm thinking, Id need perl glass, a light source, did some one say a car bulb, I thought it had to be some full spectrum bulb thingy, and a lens, I have two slr 50mm ones that id imagine would work. I also have an enlarger lenses i picked up a while back, But its a 75mm, Am i right in saying that is probably for medium format,"sorry if that sounds newbie but a can't help it"

SanMiguel · Oct 3, 2015

SeanE have you looked at adverts.ie? There are a few on there for Euro50 or less (Waterford, Cork so postage shouldnt be too bad). Might get you up and running while you work on your homebrew project.
Michael

Chan Tran · Oct 3, 2015

I agree with the notion that you should learn how to drive before building a car especially if the car is cheap like enlargers nowaday. Buy one and learn how to use it then design one that best suited for you. Really if you can't build an enlarger that is better for you than one you can buy then it's not worth your while.

analoguey · Oct 4, 2015

Get an enlarger first. See how things work, instead of reinventing the wheel. Then you can devise your own.
Otherwise you might be solving problems that others have already encountered, solved -even turned into features.

sent from tapatalk

seanE · Oct 5, 2015

Hi, guys, Been kind of busy as of late, so couldn't get back to the forurm, or enlarger. As true as the car comparison, and some other comments probably are, I think I can handle the giving up part my self. I feel I've been thinking about making one for so long and never actually doing it, its time for me to at least try and fail. Thats just me. So, I've done a really rough pattern, nothing is measured exactly, but any input would be great, its just a concept, I'm aware that things always seem simple when you don't know how they work. but if i can get away with minor modification to this design il go for it. id imagine the light will leak them the film holder, so il have a thing about that. I see a lot of people are using folding cameras, but why, ''for now I'm just planing on enlarging 35mm'' I'm only planing on enlarging i few rows with it, until i find a good one in Ireland, or i have to cough up for an english one.

pschwart · Oct 5, 2015

seanE said:
Hi, guys, Been kind of busy as of late, so couldn't get back to the forurm, or enlarger. As true as the car comparison, and some other comments probably are, I think I can handle the giving up part my self. I feel I've been thinking about making one for so long and never actually doing it, its time for me to at least try and fail. Thats just me. So, I've done a really rough pattern, nothing is measured exactly, but any input would be great, its just a concept, I'm aware that things always seem simple when you don't know how they work. but if i can get away with minor modification to this design il go for it. id imagine the light will leak them the film holder, so il have a thing about that. I see a lot of people are using folding cameras, but why, ''for now I'm just planing on enlarging 35mm'' I'm only planing on enlarging i few rows with it, until i find a good one in Ireland, or i have to cough up for an english one.

I also think you will be much better off using a real enlarger to learn the basics, but if you feel compelled to do this:
- how are you going to mount the enlarger head?
- how are you going to ensure the negative stage is plumb and the entire enlarger is rigid?
- how are you going to focus??
- where is the condenser?
- why not design to use a standard enlarger bulb like a PH211?

tip: using a 50mm camera lens is not a good choice -- you need a lens that is optimized for flat field. A decent enlarging lens is not much money.

DREW WILEY · Oct 5, 2015

You could probably just buy a used enlarger for the cost of a piece of real opal glass. Or get one downright free. But if that design you have in
mind doesn't work quite right, it might be suitable for a moonshine still.

RalphLambrecht · Oct 6, 2015

seanE said:
High, I'm new. I'm not familiar with the site layout so excuse me if I'm posting in the wrong catagory, So building an enlarger, mad well thats a matter of perception, but I'm just getting into film photography and don't want to spend too much, I've just ordered a canon pro 100 for my digital camera, and printing any colour film i might develop, so i am juggling between film and digital. I was looking at a Russian 35mm enlarger 25 euros, and to get one posted to me in Ireland, from England, would cost 60 to 70 euros, I check this with quite a few sellers and it seems there no way out, i could and might just buy it, but i hate paying close to a 100 for a 25 euro item. So, that got me thinking, I do some wood work and quite enjoy making things so thought it could be a fun project, so the question is, condensor or diffuser. I think i can buy condenser lenses on eBay, if i want ultimate quality il scan and print digitally, So I'm not to concerned about that end of things. I've herd during the war lots of people done it. Plus i have this lovely seasoned yew wood i have me eye on.

There is really no need to do this.You can get a used enlarger of good quality for next to nothing these days

wombat2go · Oct 6, 2015

I just googled "used enlarger ireland"
What about this?
http://www.adverts.ie/other-photography/darkroom-enlarger-black-and-white/8881178

I have refurbished my vintage Federal condensor enlarger here.
In the head are measures- graduated diffuser shaped reflector etc to encourage the illumination across the sheet to be even within about 1/2 stop.
I think it would be a challenge to develop that from scratch., and probably the parts cost would be high anyway.

Also the heads get hot while you are playing around before the taking, and I think most are metal for safety, with high temperature wiring (?)

If you could just get a basic head, you could apply your woodworking to the base and easel etc.

Edit: Also in case you are not aware of Harman Local Darkroom, I see some in Ireland
http://www.localdarkroom.com/countries/index.php

Nokton48 · Oct 6, 2015

seanE said:
Thanks every one. And thanks Ozphoto, Thats exactly what i was looking for, I thought all those old mags were lost,
Just a bit of background. I live in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, So basically there ant many places to haggle a guy down to a few bucks, eBay is all i can think of, And as i said, i find it hard paying 100 for a 20 pound enlarger, especially if i might be getting a better one in the near future.
At the moment I'm thinking, Id need perl glass, a light source, did some one say a car bulb, I thought it had to be some full spectrum bulb thingy, and a lens, I have two slr 50mm ones that id imagine would work. I also have an enlarger lenses i picked up a while back, But its a 75mm, Am i right in saying that is probably for medium format,"sorry if that sounds newbie but a can't help it"

It sounds like fun to build something like this. When I was a teenager there were all kinds of old magazine articles (and books at the local library) about how to do this sort of thing. If you enjoy building it then it will even better using it.

I would look at some designs online and figure out what you want to build that way.

John Koehrer · Oct 8, 2015

Find some drawings of the Durst enlargers(606?) They would be pretty simple design for a knockoff and you may consider a horizontal bed rather than vertical column for simplicity.

OzJohn · Oct 9, 2015

ozphoto said:
As others have said, enlargers do come about, but I respectfully have to disagree that "enlargers are being given away everywhere", as in my experience it doesn't seem to be the case in AU nor my current home in TH. (I envy the US members who seem to have access to a lot of free gear - they certainly seem to have a larger pool of it on offer.)

Keep your eyes open - something may pop up , but in the meantime, happy reading!!

Well if anybody in Australia wants to drive about 250km west of Brisbane I'll be happy to give them a perfectly good Magnafax 3 enlarger and a decent lens. I might even be able to find the colour head that goes with it. This enlarger takes negs to 6x9cm and you can do a 16x20 print on the baseboard. I found the colour head pretty ordinary for colour work because it seemed to lack precision in the filters and is not voltage stabilized but it's great for VC paper except at the really high contrast end. Sorry but I'm just not interested in packing and shipping this beast. PM me for details of location etc. OzJohn

Luis-F-S · Oct 9, 2015

DREW WILEY said:
But if that design you have in
mind doesn't work quite right, it might be suitable for a moonshine still.

+1

RalphLambrecht · Oct 12, 2015

Life is too short for stuff ike this;get a used one and start printing.That will make you enough of an oddball these days.Building your own will make you just plain weird.

seanE · Nov 20, 2015

Lifes to short for these types of things lol, Sure what else would you be doing, However i did do a quicky/crap job on it, but if i can get a print put of it il show yous all how to make an enlarger like a HillBilly, I refuse to be dragged into the 22 century

ozphoto · Nov 20, 2015

seanE said:
Lifes to short for these types of things lol, Sure what else would you be doing, However i did do a quicky/crap job on it, but if i can get a print put of it il show yous all how to make an enlarger like a HillBilly, I refuse to be dragged into the 22 century

Look forward to seeing the "HillBilly"; show us even if you don't get a chance to print yet.
If it goes well, maybe you can TM the name: HillyBilly Enlarger!

DREW WILEY · Nov 20, 2015

I totally built an enlarger once from the ground up. It cost me $15,000 in materials and three years of off n' on shop work. But that was about the only way I could afford a rig of that kind of precision and size and make it earthquake-proof at the same time. Right now I'm cleaning and refurbishing an older Durst 8x10 enlarger. By the time I get done in a month or so I might have spent about $600 in odds n' ends, but given the fact the this machine cost around $19,000 new, decades ago, and that it will look and function like new when I'm done, and that I got it for free, that ain't so bad. But most people don't need anything that big, and fully working smaller enlargers show up all the time for free.

seanE · Nov 21, 2015

I booted it up for the first time today, And the car indicator bulb isn't bright enough to focus properly,
You can see the image, just not clearly enough with the naked eye.
Tomorrow il try a head light, If that blows my transformer i might use a car battery or switch to mains.

Just a summary of what I've don so far if any one else wants to make a ''Hillbilly enlarger©''Ply wood box then cut in half, and some wood taken out to fit the film, Then glued back together, An old paint tin that i covered the inside with tin foil,
A hole drilled in the bottom of the tin, And the top of a plastic bottle glue in the whole, I then drilled the cap of the plastic bottle, And shoved the wire for the bulb thru,
I used a pice of opaque plastic from a ice cream container as a diffuser ''who needs opal glass any way'' and thats a zouki? 50mm 1.8 mounted on it. So the whole thing cost ''me'' $0.000
Seeing that it was made of scrap, And bits of stuff lying around, I still have to get a print out of it tho, So I'm not out of the woods yet.

Building an Enlarger.

seanE

gone

Mainecoonmaniac

bdial

Jeff L

SMBooth

ozphoto

seanE

SanMiguel

Chan Tran

analoguey

seanE

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pschwart

DREW WILEY

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wombat2go

Nokton48

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OzJohn

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ozphoto

DREW WILEY

seanE

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