DeVere 504 Dichromat heads

tomalophicon

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Hi all,
I'm wondering: does anyone here know whether or not the various Dichromat heads are easily interchangeable on the 504 benchtop chassis?

And also if the diffusion chambers are interchangeable too.

Thanks,
Tom McDonald.
 

mick8585

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As far as I know they are.
But contact B&H Ontario ,Canada just in case, they were a great help to me.
 

marcos

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I have 4 different De Vere Heads for a 504:
The dichromat III, with only one lamp and black diffusion boxes inside.
Another color head with 2 lamps (dichromat 4 or 5?) and white diffusion boxes This one uses diffusion boxes similar to the ones in the dichromat III, but they are not directly interchangeable.
The varicontrast head has one lamp and fixed grades for multigrade and polycontrast papers and uses white diffusion chambers different from the others. They are not interchangeable.
The varicon head is a double condenser type, with no diffusion chambers.

All of them are easily mounted on the bench enlarger with no complicated operation. They have the same mounting system. The power supplies are easily interchangeable, although you need to check the output that matches the lamps voltage.

On the other hand, the ilford MG500 head, which has different diffusion boxes for different film formats (not interchangeable with other heads), needs an specific adaptor to fit the enlarger and is not as easy to install.

I hope this helps, Marcos.
 
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OP

tomalophicon

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Marcos, if you saw a picture of the heads, would you be able to tell me which one was which?

Thanks for your reply.
 

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marcos

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Tom,
The first one is newer version. I can't really tell from the picture (too small), but I think it is a DE VERE 504 DICHROMAT MKIV BENCH ENLARGER, that uses only one lamp. It needs the same light mixing boxes as the varicontrast that I have (for multigrade paper). In these models the lamp is in the front of the head, not in one side.
The second one is an older model (it could be a dichromat II or I). I have never seen this before in person. It looks like the dichromat III in the way that they have a filtering system in one side, instead of in the front of the head. The ones I own have only one lamp and the blower in the head, so they don´t need that cooling tube connected to the power supply.

If you like, and it is of any help to you, I could try to send you some pictures of my De Vere heads with their light boxes, so that you can see the differences. That could be later today.
Marcos.
 
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tomalophicon

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Marcos, thanks for the help. Some pictures would be great.
The older one is the one I own and has 2 lamps in the side of the head. I bought the newer head for 15 British pounds and was just wondering if the mixing boxes were interchangeable, as it does not have one. It sounds as though they may not match.
Thanks again.
Tom.
 

marcos

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If you are looking for someone to make a mixing chamber for your enlarger I suggest you contact Lightwave (Dead Link Removed). In 2007 they made a MG500 enlarger head adaptor to De Vere for me. I have no other relation with them.
They did a great job and offered me mixing chambers for the ilford head. They are very similar to the ones you might need.
Marcos.
 
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