Enlarger Mounting Surface??

[Bighead]

Okay, I do not have a base board for my Bessler 23CII... I don't think I want one either.... I have this large, craft table, work bench thing. Wooden, about 4ft square. Needs to be cleaned and painted white (on top)..

Is there anything wrong with using something like this?? Just need to make sure that the surface is level, correct?

 

[josephaustin]

No, My DII is mounted to a plywood top that is fastened to a support, which is attached to both the wall and the floor and was shimmed to be completely level, so if the enlarger is level than it is. One thing I did not do because I never make giant enlargements was mount it in a way that the paper could be placed on the floor, so you may or may not take that into consideration. My b-22 is still on its baseboard since I use it for 35mm, and ocasionally take it off the table to allow for more room for the dII. Cheap easy to build support, all in all probably less then 30 dollars.

 

[glbeas]

Its a good way to go because you are very much less limited in where you place your easel. You may want to think of a less reflective color than white, you really don't want any more non image light bouncing around the darkroom than necessary if you are doing any severe cropping. If all you do is B&W a dark yellow or orange may be right. If you really need to see the image projected throw a sheet of paper down, like the back of a goofed up print.

 

[BWGirl]

This is a fine idea if you do not plan on moving it once you get it set up. I know that the head on my Beseler tilts back to project onto the wall for poster-sized prints. If yours does, you will want to be sure you have the room to tilt the head back.

I personally like it that mine is mounted on a separate board. I think it gives me a lot more freedom especially for leveling or projecting.

 

[Monophoto]

Mounting the enlarger to a counter is very common. Attached is a shot of my (current) darkroom that shows my DII mounted to a corner-counter.

DII's require a lot of head room - in my current darkroom I took care of that by building a recess in the ceiling above the enlarge to allow the head to move all the way to the top of the column.

In my previous darkroom I had to deal with a low ceiling. The solution in that case was to mount the enlarger on a shelf attached to the wall, and then made the counter top below the enlarge adjustable so that I could lower the easle to increase enlargement after raising the head as far as it would go.

Prior to using the DII, I used a Durst F60. That was also mounted on the wall shelf. The only time when it makes sense to have a baseboard that is a distinct part of the enlarger is when the setup must be portable.

 

[Deckled Edge]

It is much more likely that the most stable, least vibration-sensitive thing in your darkroom are the studs in the walls. Don't fasten your DII to the baseboard/work table, as you are certain to jostle the board during exposure/burning/dodging and blur the image. I fastened a shelf made of 2x6 to the studs, shimming as necessary to level planes X and Y. I mounted the DII to this shelf. As noted, give yourself headroom for full travel.
I agree with Monophoto in everything except the color of the counter under the easel. I painted everything for 4 feet around the enlarger flat black

 

[Earl Dunbar]

I also recommend attaching to a solid wall and, if necessary, making the easel surface adjustable. This is the way I mounted my Beseler 4x5. In my basement w/ concrete block walls, I just made sure everything was level.

Earl

 

[photobackpacker]

Making sure the table is level is a starting point. To be fully aligned, you need to make sure the negative carrier is level with the projection surface (the table with easel in place) and the lens level with all the rest.

Putsy? Absolutely. Worth it to know you aren't burning through paper with no possiblity of achieving your optimum print - You betcha!

 

[kwmullet]

I'm (slowly) building a darkroom in my garage. The garage floor is a slab on top of which I'll build a subfloor. The house itself is pier and beam. My thinking is that the best vibration-free place to put my enlarger would be to build a very heavy "island" and put huge (8-inch? 12-inch?) industrial casters on the bottom and put a layer of bricks or cinder blocks in the bottom to weigh it down. I would think a well-build subfloor on a slab would be MUCH more vibration free than the wall of a house where Alec-the-precocious three-year old is frequently jumping up and down and running. Also, the wheels would let me swing the enlarger head forward for wall projection and move it to and fro to get just the right size for huge enlargements.

-KwM-