C23-II questions

[aloomens]

I just got a Beseler C23-II Enlarger and have a couple questions.

First, I am told it has the optional Cold Light. Well, there are two cord coming out of the top, one is the round gray cord that connects to the power supply. The other is a brown two prong AC cord. Can any one tell me what this extra AC cord might be for?

Second, can someone explain how to remove the lens so that I can clean it? I've got a copy of the manual, but it's really not clear how to remove the lens.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Mike Wilde]

condensor cleaning

By lens, I presume you mean the condensors; if it has a cold light head they usually incorporate some sort of diffusion, so the lens might be different than the one I used to have up to a couple of years ago, which just had a conventional incandescant lamp.

There is a shaft at the back of the head that the whole head pivots on. There is a cam that causes the assembly to lift around this 'pivot' shaft. The same shaft allows the head to pivot back to project horizontally.

My unit had a filter drawer that the top of a bellows terminated in. The bellows bottom was the top of the condensors. I used to clean the top of the condensor periorically with a rag on a bent section of coat hanger.

The whole haed assembly has a spring as a part of the rack and pinion gears lift mechnaism to counteract gravity, so be sure to lock off the elevation clamp before removing anything from the lamp house, or the thing wants to take off to the top of the track once the carriage is unloaded. .

The one thing to watch with this enlarger, is to remember to move the condensors to the right elevation to match the size of format being projected.

 

[aloomens]

Thanks for the info. I will check and clean the condensers also. I was referring to the lens itself though. How do you remove that? Is it a mounted on threads and just unscrews?

 

[ann]

the enlarging lens is attached to a lens board which is held by tension and a spring, just push back the lens toward the back of the enlarger and the lens board should just drop out with the lens attached.

the cords, one is for power the other for heat. the cold light needs to be warm to work properly.

 

[aloomens]

the enlarging lens is attached to a lens board which is held by tension and a spring, just push back the lens toward the back of the enlarger and the lens board should just drop out with the lens attached.

Great. That sounds simple, although not very intuitive!

the cords, one is for power the other for heat. the cold light needs to be warm to work properly.

Should the heat be on all the time, or only when the cold light is on? I'm assuming that I would connect the power cord for the cold light to my timer, but just leave the heater cord plugged in as long as I'm using the enlarger. Correct?

Does it need to be pre-heated at all?

 

[ann]

your correct, pre-heat about 30 minutes.

 

[aznative]

Cold light sources produce unstable light whereas light intensity may vary which is not good during a print exposure. They come with built in heaters to help stabilize the light and produce better consistency. Your cold light will feel warm to the touch after it's been on for awhile. If you really want consistency you might want to invest in a Zone VI cold light stabilizer. They crop up on ebay from time to time. I have one and I think it works extremely well. Nice feature is that you can dial down the light intensity. Cold light is highly actinic and you may find your print exposures extremely short unless you have very dense negatives or if you stop your enlarging lens all the way down which is not always a good idea. And yes, you keep the heater plugged in when printing and make sure it is plugged directly to a live outlet and not the enlarging timer.