Frankenlarger Questions

[ChristopherCoy]

I bought this enlarger locally from another forum member. It appears to be a frankenlarger that has been either pieced together or adapted through various previous owners. It’s a 67, with a 35 cover plate. It currently has an Aristocrat cold head on it which works, and I’ve got all the parts to make it a condenser head, minus on of the condenser glasses. (I only have one of the domes).

As long as it allows me to print I'm cool, but I noticed that it doesn’t have a filter holder. The little swing arm is missing.

My questions are:
1. What are all these pieces of translucent glass?
2. When using the poly contrast filters that are 3.5”x3.5” can I put them directly under the translucent glass, or do they go between the head and the glass?
3. What’s the difference between the aristo cover plate, and the original plate (other than the hole?) is the hole for a switch of some kind?
4. What’s this little black square thing with the two screws? Is this a filter holder since it’s lined with green felt in the middle?

 

[randyB]

I bought this enlarger locally from another forum member. It appears to be a frankenlarger that has been either pieced together or adapted through various previous owners. It’s a 67, with a 35 cover plate. It currently has an Aristocrat cold head on it which works, and I’ve got all the parts to make it a condenser head, minus on of the condenser glasses. (I only have one of the domes).

As long as it allows me to print I'm cool, but I noticed that it doesn’t have a filter holder. The little swing arm is missing.

My questions are:
1. What are all these pieces of translucent glass?
2. When using the poly contrast filters that are 3.5”x3.5” can I put them directly under the translucent glass, or do they go between the head and the glass?
3. What’s the difference between the aristo cover plate, and the original plate (other than the hole?) is the hole for a switch of some kind?
4. What’s this little black square thing with the two screws? Is this a filter holder since it’s lined with green felt in the middle?

View attachment 249387 View attachment 249388 View attachment 249389 View attachment 249390 View attachment 249391 View attachment 249392 View attachment 249393

I still own this setup for B&W. Yours does look like it was some what cobbled together.
#1 they are the diffusion glass for the light, to even out the light. The original owner might have experimented with different brightnesses of glass. This particular Aristo light is not very bright even when warmed up.
#2 When I was using my setup I used the under the lens filters (Kodak or Ilford) as it was a pain to try to use above the negative filters.
#3 On my unit the wires came out of the hole in the plate.
#4 I have no clue what this is.
I have since stopped using my 67 setup, while it was excellent for 6x6 and 6x7 negs it was just too slow for 35mm.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Thermo plug? Should that be “hot” all the time?

The light coming out of the head is really green right now.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Newer cold-light heads had cyan-colored light; more efficient and better spectrum for VC papers than the older white-light tubes.

The heater in the cold-light head should be on for the entire printing session and be plugged in a few minutes before you begin printing in order to warm up the unit. If not, the light intensity will fluctuate between prints depending on the temperature of the unit. Without the heater, if you warm it up a lot focusing and then make a print, the unit will be fairly warm and the intensity high. If you then develop that print, examine it and go back to make another print, the unit will have cooled and the intensity (and the exposure) will be lower.

When I printed with cold-light heads, I used both the heater and a compensating enlarging timer that varied the length of the "seconds" depending on the intensity of the light. Zone VI cold-light heads had a photo-cell built into the unit for this purpose. I still have my old Zone VI stabilizer around in a box somewhere...

Best,

Doremus

 

[ChristopherCoy]

In reference to the cold head, should it be sitting directly on the translucent glass? In order to use contrast filters I have to open the head and lift up the cold head and place the filter under it, between it and the glass. This means that there is a lot of movement inside the head which I would assume causes differences in light intensity.

 

[MattKing]

Probably.
You should get one of the filter kits that mounts below the lens.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Probably.
You should get one of the filter kits that mounts below the lens.

That’s what I was thinking but this enlarger is kinda mounted funky. It has a piece with a ruler that slides horizontally, and you can also tilt the bellows like the front end of a view camera.

 

[randyB]

The below the lens filter kits mount on the lens itself. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kodak-Poly...060403?hash=item3b486b4673:g:TcMAAOSwwGle2pw7. This link is just an example of the filter kit, not an endorsement of this seller. They can be a pain in the a** if your lens is small or doesn't have a smooth area for the 3 screws to mount. Ilford also makes a set very similar. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/24675-REG/Ilford_1762617_Multigrade_Filter_Set_with.html