Contact Sheet Glass

[CMoore]

If you simply use....Paper - Negs - Glass....to make your contact sheets.
Where did you buy your glass and how thick did you Make/Buy the glass.?
Thank You

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

There are plenty of used contact printers on Ebay. But contact printers of a piece of glass, the glass should be thick and heavy so the weight helps to flatten the negative against the printing paper.

 

[CMoore]

Yeah, i am just wondering where you guys bought the glass, and how thick it was.....3/8...1/4.?
Thanks

 

[faberryman]

Home Depot - window pane glass.

 

[CMoore]

Home Depot - window pane glass.

So it is nothing special.....10-4.
Thank You

 

[bdial]

Window glass is a little thin to hold the negatives flat, plus it's fragile.
Without measuring one of my contact printers I'd guess it's generally 1/4 in + or -
The easiest place I've seen to get it is in a contact printer, they are plentiful and cheap, but otherwise a good glass shop should be able to fix you up.

 

[NedL]

I just use a thin piece of glass from a dollar store 8.5 x 11 inch frame. Put the negs in printfile sleeves, put it on a sheet of photo paper, put the glass on top, and expose to light. They'd probably be better with a thicker sheet of glass and w/o sleeving them first, but it's just a contact sheet and they serve my purpose just fine. But it's true the glass is fragile and I have broken one ( it got bumped where I was storing it, not while I was using it! ). A thicker piece with smoothed edges would be better.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Why not do it right? Get an edged piece of 4mm or 5mm thick anti-Newton glass from Focal Point. Costs less than a box of paper, esp after you throw out half the prints due to ring patterns. Just depends. Some sheet films these days are rather slick and prone to rings. Go to Cheapo Depot when you're building a doghouse instead. If you gotta go cheap, you could try textured non-glare acrylic sheet. Nonglare glass is fragile and just too frosted, but quite cheap.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I was referring to quality contact printing, not proofing. Hope I understood the question correctly.

 

[CMoore]

I was referring to quality contact printing, not proofing. Hope I understood the question correctly.

Yeah...Sorry...maybe my OP was too vague.
A "Contact Sheet".
You have a bunch of Negs, but it is hard to see what is what...so you stuff them in those plastic Neg Sleeves...go to your darkroom...put down a piece of paper...put the Neg Sleeve on top of That...put the glass on top of That...turn on some kind of a light...and now you have a bunch of 35mm pictures that makes it much easier to see What/If you have anything worth printing.
Is "Normal" glass OK for that.?

 

[DREW WILEY]

Yeah.

 

[CMoore]

I was kind of surprised. I just got back from Home Depot, and they Do Not sell any kind of Glass/Window Glass. We have a local glass shop, i will just go to them .
Thanks Guys

 

[winger]

I took a piece of glass from a decent frame (so it's a little thicker than the really cheap ones) and put tape on all the edges. It's 11x14, so is bigger than the contact sheets and I can push it down a little while exposing (I push it down and hit the timer button with a pinkie - long practiced, works well). Ordinary glass - not UV protective or anti-Newton or anything fancy. I have a marked height and settings I use so all contact sheets can be compared.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

If you are only talking about doing contact sheets, get a Print File Custom Proofer. Hinged glass top with foam. Perfect for what you need it for and you won't have to worry about breaking any glass. Looks like they are only $35 at B&H.

 

[CMoore]

If you are only talking about doing contact sheets, get a Print File Custom Proofer. Hinged glass top with foam. Perfect for what you need it for and you won't have to worry about breaking any glass. Looks like they are only $35 at B&H.

I HAVE something very similar to that.
I will check again, but it looked like it was going to be a PITA to get the glass off.
After i get it set up, the swing of the device is well within the confines of my enlarger, so i can only open it about 45 degrees.
A simple piece of glass would just make life easier.
The glass will probably be as much or more than that whole unit......but it will still be around when i die. So no big deal.....unless i break it.

 

[MattKing]

If your enlarger head is too low, just raise it and de-focus it. You don't even want the enlarger to be focused when you make contact proof sheets.

 

[CMoore]

Matt. I don't need some, Lousy Canadian telling me how to.......
Yeah...i hear you.
It is not actually the head. It is the "Rail".?.....for Moving/Focusing the bellows. No matter ho high you have the head, that piece is always right there.
It is not the end of The World, but a single piece of glass would take care of that problem.
Thanks

 

[Hilo]

Thicker than normal thin glass ! I think 3 or 4mm. I have sanded the edges and put very thin isolation tape around all four edges. Before exposing I put a large coin on the glass, top right corner . . . for the neg number

 

[AgX]

Window pane glass has a greenish tint.
Some people prefer colourless glass panes (at greater expense). But that may be overkill.

 

[CMoore]

Thicker than normal thin glass ! I think 3 or 4mm. I have sanded the edges and put very thin isolation tape around all four edges. Before exposing I put a large coin on the glass, top right corner . . . for the neg number

That is clever.
Contact sheets is ONE Reason i bought a White Pen.....

 

[CMoore]

Window pane glass has a greenish tint.
Some people prefer colourless glass panes (at greater expense). But that may be overkill.

I will ask the Glass Guys. It might not be that much more, and if i handle this properly, it will be the only one i buy.

 

[Nige]

I think mine was a lid to a fish tank once-upon-a-time. I have a 35mm proof printer but the sheet of glass is much faster to use and does other size negs too.

 

[DREW WILEY]

If you are going to a real glass shop spend a few more bucks to have them ease the edges, and get double pane thickness. Darkrooms need not look like a red-spattered crime scene.

 

[MattKing]

It is not actually the head. It is the "Rail".?.....for Moving/Focusing the bellows. No matter ho high you have the head, that piece is always right there.

Which enlarger is it? I'm having trouble visualizing the issue..
Unless the problem is that your baseboard is too small.
I'm asking and suggesting, because those Contact Proof Printers work really well.

 

[faberryman]

If you are going to a real glass shop spend a few more bucks to have them ease the edges, and get double pane thickness. Darkrooms need not look like a red-spattered crime scene.

I just put masking tape around the edges and haven't figured out a way to cut myself yet.