Enlarger supplies

[Kitten]

Hello, i just picked up a beseler dichro 35s enlarger and I'm wondering what cost effective f-stop timers are on the market. I'd hate to resort to building my own but i just can't afford to spend the kind of money that the stop-watch ones cost. So any ideas on inexpensive timers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ic-racer]

i just can't afford to spend the kind of money that the stop-watch ones cost. .

Use a standard timer and a calculator.

multiply 1.4 for half stop more and divide by 1.4 for half-stop less

1.185 = 1/4 stop
2 = 1 stop
1.26 = 1/3 stop etc...

 

[Jerevan]

Good ole Ralphie has some charts and things that may be useful: Dead Link Removed

I think the clock chart can be used with a Gralab timer.

 

[Kitten]

That's what i do at school, but as i just got an enlarger for home i kinda need to get all the things required for the enlarger side of a home darkroom. Both great ideas if i actually had a timer, but i don't have one yet and if i get one it kind of needs to have a foot switch capability. Looking at prices for a new enlarger timer at freestyle it seems i can get a bare bones GR-90 like we use at school for 100 dollars, a nicer electronic one costs ~200, and i've found f-stop timers on the internet for about 300. therein lies the dilemma, do i spend a week making a diy timer in my free time, try to find a used electronic timer when i have some money to subscribe to apug and post a classified, or do i save up for a year or so and mothball the enlarger till i can afford one of the nice f-stop timers which would simplify work flow.

it's not like i'm in any sort of rush anyhow, i still need to make a cart for the enlarger, get my hands on a fine grain focuser, and get processing trays as well as a print washer i can use in one of my tiny sinks.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I have added pdf files for making a volvelle [a calculating wheel akin to a circular slide rule] for f-stop printing to the support files section of the Darkroom Automation web site.

Scroll down to almost the bottom of the support page page. If you use a seconds timer then the outer seconds and inner wheels are the only ones you will need.

Along with converting stops <-> seconds the wheel can be used for directly adding and subtracting stops to a given printing time.

 

[kb3lms]

This is very interesting. My question, how do you set the lens on the enlarger? Is there a recommended stop, or wide open or do you pick one and stay with it? If you could point me to a document / link that explains this, that would be really great!

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

how do you set the lens on the enlarger? Is there a recommended stop, or wide open or do you pick one and stay with it?

For B&W you focus wide open and then stop down 2 stops to print. You can stop down more if times are much too short for dodging and burning.

 

[John Koehrer]

Kitten,
You may be able to find something like a micro wave cart at a resale/thrift store for $5-10. Probably cheaper than building one from scratch.
Many, many people have just counted time for exposure. Granted its not sophisticated but works.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Kitten, see my PM.

Steve