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Extend the life of enlarger bulbs

I have a couple of dimmers in my house that are designed to turn on the lights with a short but noticeable gradual increase instead of instant full on. It seems a good idea to me, given that the resistance of the incandescent globe is much less when cold that when at operating temperature.

I understand that an inductor in series with a globe can cause a surge: maybe a snubber circuit at the timer would alieviate the problem.
 
Good voltage regulation is important, and proper burn position and ventilation. But the number one factor in bulb longevity, in my experience,
is to buy good bulbs in the first place. You get what you pay for. Those cheapo bargain bulbs made in China are horrible for longevity.
 
I really got a kick out of this post... Increase the life of a bulb that normally lasts a good 15 years anyway is rediculous.

Me 4x5 beseler has been burning bright for the past 30 years and i do use it for at least 25 hours per week. I do have 3 extra bulbs as back up i bought several years ago thinking these bulbs will become a problem to find once digital gets a foot hold.... Wrong!

So perhaps a better solution might be purchasing extras while they are available n cheap.... Base your needs on your average life of the bulb and your expected life span.

Hahahahaha.... Oh btw kids... LEDs will make a good substitute if not a better solution as well as upgrading your enlarger with a technology with a much better longevity track record.

Oh i also bought 2 extra cold lamp bulbs n a spare head i will ever use in my life time... Yeah my garage is full of spares... I wish i could find a spare heart, kidneys, liver, knees... Etc instead of all this crap my kids will toss in the garbage when i'm dead.
 

That's a great plan if bulbs are still available for your enlarger. But there is at least one system, the Durst 138S that I have, where the bulbs are no longer available. It was in this context that I posted the idea to extend the life of the few existing bulbs. Given that new bulbs go for over a $100 it makes sense to me to save the few that you can find. I never intended people to buy a variac to save a bulb that you can still but for $5.

For the Durst you have a few options. Durst Pro sells a replacement lamp system for over $1000. You can scour ebay and try to buy the official bulbs if they show up (about two a year it seems). You can use the PH303 bulbs that work pretty well. No idea how long they will be available, so buy a few spares. They are also 500 watts, so the variac can help reduce the brightness. You can buy a kit from Glenview that repurposes an existing bulb. One came with my latest enlarger, and I can confirm it works fairly well. Or you can do what I finally did and build an LED system.

So as a couple of you have pointed out it's a bit silly to worry about for most cases, but I'm sure some people will find the ability to extend the life of rare bulb to be valuable. Even if you don't intend to implement the idea, I still think it's interesting how a small change in voltage can change the expected life of a lamp.
 
And no matter how much you extend the life of an already old extinct bulb, it will inevetably die and an alternative will have to be saught.... Or perhaps you will be dead by then and your kids will nurry you and your anciant equipment in the same box.

So a better solution is to adapt now before it becomes a problem n tjis will save more brain cells in the long term.

Sill a helarious thread... Oh btw my front door light has a 220V bulb running on 110V... I put it in 38 years ago n i have it on every night from dusk to dawn... So yeah your technique works fir some things but still very impractical for this application where color temp n other variables only complicate an already complicated system...

Adapt or dump the extinct for a new old enlarger... They are dirt cheap these days n even found by the curb on trash night.

A varey entertaining thread for sure.
 
paul ron said:
Adapt or dump the extinct for a new old enlarger...
Click to expand...

Your post makes no sense whatsoever.

Why should someone who has invested time, effort and money in an expensive existing enlarger system setup throw it all away because of a now-obsolete bulb if a simple way can be found to extend that bulb's life?

I have a wall-mounted enlarger system. And 13 negative carriers, including 5 glass ones. And a 4-bladed masking attachment. And a micro-focusing attachment. And 7 enlarging lenses. And two 3-lens rotating turrets, one for modern Schneider optics and the other for period Kodak Ektar optics. The enlarger is directly mounted to a pair of 4x4 posts intentionally built into the wall and bolted to a concrete floor. The system has been custom modified and critically aligned to project onto a large polished birchwood workspace that was designed to accommodate a 16x20 Saunders easel as well as a 16x20 vacuum contact easel.

I'm supposed to throw all of that away and replace it with someone else's curb trash just because someone thinks I shouldn't even try to extend the life of a bulb?

Really?



Ken
 
My Omega B-8 uses the still-made, but somewhat uncommon PH 111A bulb. I'm still using the same bulb that came with the enlarger when I bought it used in 2006. I have about a dozen spares. I also got two extra Omega B lamphouses so that I'd have spares of the discontinued bayonet socket this bulb uses. I'll be 69 years old in a couple of weeks. I don't think I'll have to worry about running out of enlarging bulbs; I wouldn't even have to worry if I were forty years younger
 
Ken, of course what i posted makes no sense... You have no foresight!

if you have so much invested in your set up n can't find a new bulb or adapt something else... It'll still become a piece of junk in few years despite your best efforts to extend the life of an already old almost dead bulb. All you are doing is prolonging the inevatable...

So my point Ken, was to start figuring a way to adapt before it dies... That perhaps is a better solution Ken. How about wiring in a similar more availabe bulb? There is absolutely nothing else in the entire word to remedy this?.... Stupid!

Yeah very entertaining how close minded this concept really is.... Changing seats on the Titanic.... The ship is sinking Ken!

Oh btw when your bulb dies.. That beautiful system will be as worthless as all the other trash finds by the curbside.
 
paul ron said:
Yeah very entertaining how close minded this concept really is.... Changing seats on the Titanic.... The ship is sinking Ken!
Click to expand...

You're making a fool of yourself in public...

Ken
 
Hahaha thats just your opinion Ken.
 
I'm with Ken on this. I have just invested in (expensive) new tubes for my VCL4500. Why? Because the system I have works superbly. Seems simple to me.
 
Thanks John. As you already know I also have a new set of those same VCL4500 tubes.

I spent almost two years working intensely together with Louise at LCD to get all of those discontinued Aristo replacement lamp grids back into production, just so I could buy a set for myself. (At the undiscounted full price, I might add.)

Now they are available for anyone who wants to keep their expensive Aristo standard and VC heads working like new. Or wants to by a used unit knowing they can likely refurbish it to like-new light output condition.

I'm stupid? I have no foresight? I need to find a way to adapt? Deck chairs on the Titanic?

He's clueless...

Ken
 
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