D5XL Negative stage . . .the Holy Grail

Mine is bent, and has been bent since I bought the enlarger some years ago. Through shimmying and jimmying, I got it acceptably flat to accept the neg carrier . . .on and off over the years I have searched for a new part. I've been to every boneyard on the web. This is not a common R&R part. I cannot imagine what circumstances were involved in bending what seems to be a pretty sturdy piece of metal, with no apparent damage to the rest of the enlarger.

Anyway, soon I will be building a new darkroom in a dedicated room in a new house, and I don't want anything to be mickey-mouse about it. A warped negative stage is definitely mickey-mouse.

Any ideas on options? Sheet metal shop, maybe replicate it? Machine shop, try to hammer it back to level? Forget about the whole deal and switch to photograms? Happy to hear any ideas that don't involve tape or silicon putty.

The D5-XL shares the same negative stage with the D5 and the Super D6 Prolab, so it may pay to look for used versions of those enlargers as well.

Does KHB have any suggestions: http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/

How about going to adorama and getting a new one, a negative stage not enlarger
Dead Link Removed ; you might also find some on ebay. The hammer won't work a machine shop might

Good luck

I think your best bet is to be patient and look for a used one that may not even be complete, but has a good negative stage. Combine the best parts of the two into one good machine.

I've been looking on and off since 2003. I'm going to take it off and show it to the sheet metal guys who did some SS countertops, can't imagine they couldn't duplicate this.

Goes without saying, as soon as I have one made by hand, next day my neighbor will have a garage sale and it will turn out he has a D5 buried under all the garbage.

Ebay is no good, everybody either refuses to ship or refuses to part out. A D5XL came up for sale locally, first one I have ever seen, but they want $500. All I need is that square piece of metal.

Without pictures it is hard to know, but why can't it be bent back to correct shape? Also, stuff like this in the picture shows up on ebay all the time. Is the part you need in these parts?

You could get Alistair Inglis's (Dead Link Removed) Omega carrier to enlarger registration plate. This has pins installed to allow the negative holders to be removed and installed in the same place. It's very useful for masking work. It also mounts above the existing plate, so if it's a little bent it won't matter.

I have one that I am going to be selling. If you want it I'll part with it for $75. If you are local I can sell you a whole D5XL for not much money. I'm in NH. Where are you located?

I've also heard of a product called neg-align that might be useful:
http://www.zig-align.com/zig-align/neg-align.html

Jon

Rich Ullsmith said:

I've been looking on and off since 2003. ...

Goes without saying, as soon as I have one made by hand, next day my neighbor will have a garage sale and it will turn out he has a D5 buried under all the garbage.

A D5XL came up for sale locally, first one I have ever seen, but they want $500.

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Where are you? I have a D5XL with a dicro II head, a turret, and all the neg carriers (eleven of them) and lens mounts one would ever need and I cannot hardly give the thing away in a metro area of six million people.

Seriously, I am not saying you need to buy mine, but in ten years, I could have found you 15-20 for anywhere from $50 to free. And, yes, some people want $500 for them, but they don't sell. You are going to go to a lot of trouble, and just as much expense to try and repair the thing as just getting another chassis - if not a whole enlarger. Just my opinion ...

That ebay basket case is $300 plus shipping. I'm in NW WA. Yes, there is a perfectly good D5XL for sale nearby, and has been for sale for $450.

Mr. Gebhart, I am not sure what device you have there, but how am I to properly align the whole enlarger with a bent negative stage?

In any event, I'm probably a year away from building out the room so there is some time for something to fall in my lap.

Rich Ullsmith said:

Mr. Gebhart, I am not sure what device you have there, but how am I to properly align the whole enlarger with a bent negative stage?

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It sits on the negative stage, but if it's slightly bent it won't matter. It will give you a smooth surface for the negative carrier to sit. The screws on the side provide a pressure fit against the frame of the enlarger.

Thanks for the offer . . .I did go to that site and that stuff is expensive. I got a PM about a part. Thanks again.

You can have any machine shop with a decent milling machine, or in this day and age, more likely a CNC rig, fabricate you something precise out of thick aluminum plate. If you only have a woodworking drill press etc in your own shop, it is easier to use highly reinforced types of phenolic like Garolite. But it's pretty damn easy to improve upon the original Omega platforms. Durst is a harder act to follow.

David Brown said:

Where are you? I have a D5XL with a dicro II head, a turret, and all the neg carriers (eleven of them) and lens mounts one would ever need and I cannot hardly give the thing away in a metro area of six million people.

Seriously, I am not saying you need to buy mine, but in ten years, I could have found you 15-20 for anywhere from $50 to free. And, yes, some people want $500 for them, but they don't sell. You are going to go to a lot of trouble, and just as much expense to try and repair the thing as just getting another chassis - if not a whole enlarger. Just my opinion ...

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Gotta agree with David here. There was a guy in greenville who had four of these he had pulled out of a lab, put them on craigslist and couldn't get rid of them. They even had Ilford 500 MG heads. I thought about driving to greenville just to grab the heads. I think he finally junked them. I probably see at least one if these every two months popping up locally. I cant believe you cant find one. Its so sad that no one wants this stuff anymore.