Help with Beseler MXT

KEK · Jun 19, 2006

Just recieved the enlarger from the ebay seller and naturally it's missing pieces. The few screws and the broken lamp are no problem but the missing negative stage guide is. If another MXT owner could get me a measurement I could get a pc of metal from the hardware store and make one.

Thanks
Kevin

Also I did contact the seller but they have deactivated there account so no luck there.

ann · Jun 20, 2006

i will be glad to send you the measurements later in the day. will pm them to you.

silly me, forgot i had one sitting in the other room and don't have to go to the lab to check.

4x5 film, the head needs to sit as close to the negative stage as possible.

measuring from that point.

3 1/4 x 4 1/4 is 1.25 inches
2 1/4 x 3 1/2 is 2.25 inches
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 is 3.5 inches
35 mm is 4 3/4 inches

you may need to use this with a bit of wiggle room as i was measuring around a very large bulky color head so i may be off 1/8 here or there.

KEK · Jun 20, 2006

Thanks very much Ann

Fletcher Jernigan · Jun 20, 2006

I have attempted to attach an image of my film guide. The guide is 7 1/8 inches long. Ann's numbers agree with mine.

Fletcher

David Brown · Sep 7, 2008

ann said:
4x5 film, the head needs to sit as close to the negative stage as possible.

measuring from that point.

3 1/4 x 4 1/4 is 1.25 inches
2 1/4 x 3 1/2 is 2.25 inches
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 is 3.5 inches
35 mm is 4 3/4 inches

you may need to use this with a bit of wiggle room as i was measuring around a very large bulky color head so i may be off 1/8 here or there.

I am going to resurrect this old thread because I just came into possession of a 45MXT. The quote above answers one of my questions.

Actually, 90% of this enlarger is self-evident. It has the Universal 45 head. So, my questions (until I get a manual) are these:

What are the distances from the bottom of the head to the neg stage for 35mm and 6x7 (see above). Or, with a diffusion head, does it even make any difference?

I am assuming that the electric motor to raise and lower the enlarger plugs in and operates entirely independent of the light source - correct?

And this is critical, because I don't want to damage an expensive peice of gear:

The Universal head has a controller/timer all in one unit. From this unit there is all the standard timer functions (time, focus, print) and settings for the three color channels. I have the RH Designs Stop Clock Pro timer and don't want to give it up. Can I run this Beseler controller from out of the RH timer, simply by leaving the Beseler on "focus"?

Thanks in advance!

ann · Sep 7, 2008

david,

with a cold light or diffusion head the head sets as close to the negative stage as possible. the distances are as you saw above if using a condensor head.

yes the motor to raise and lower works independently of the light source

sorry, i don't know about the the timer.

frotog · Sep 7, 2008

David Brown said:
The Universal head has a controller/timer all in one unit. From this unit there is all the standard timer functions (time, focus, print) and settings for the three color channels. I have the RH Designs Stop Clock Pro timer and don't want to give it up. Can I run this Beseler controller from out of the RH timer, simply by leaving the Beseler on "focus"?

Thanks in advance!

Don't do it! You will fry the circuitry of the controller. The beseler universal 45 was beseler's last hoorah in the enlarger wars. Unfortunately it never really had all the bugs ironed out. However it is an excellent head for color printing and when properly tweaked there is nothing else quite like it. I know the gentleman who designed the circuitry in both the mark i and mark ii universal 45. He was working on a significant chip upgrade at the time beseler pulled the plug on this project. Without it the universal is a not so reliable color head at best and a piece of junk at the worst. I had him do the upgrade on mine three years ago and it made a huge difference. I think I still have his contact info. Pm me if you're interested. Oh yeah....the color controller is not conducive to multi contrast b/w printing. You'll need the b/w controller if you fly this way.

David Brown · Sep 7, 2008

frotog said:
Don't do it!

That's what I was afraid of.

frotog said:
Oh yeah....the color controller is not conducive to multi contrast b/w printing. You'll need the b/w controller if you fly this way.

Well, then the machine may not be useful to me. The guy I got it from was using it for VC B&W (so he said). But, I'm not going to spend a lot of money to upgrade, modify, or buy another controller when there is a perfectly good Chromega D5 sitting in my darkroom.*

This came from a commercial guy who has gone digital (case study # 3,405,223). :rolleyes: I got the enlarger - which also came with a Zone VI cold light BTW - maybe I'll play with that; and all the carriers, lens boards and 4 Schneider lenses. Plus a sink with temp controller, a Saunders 16x20 easel, tanks, trays, paper of questionable freshness, washers, light box, etc. I more than got my money's worth with the easel, or the lenses, or ...

I didn't need any of it, but I did not want the guy to throw the gear in the dumpster and that was next. So, maybe the Beseler will be for sale soon. We'll see.

Thanks, Ann! I would have guessed that about the diffusion head. Ironic about the easel isn't it?

* unless somebody has a condensor head to give away ...

ann · Sep 8, 2008

so sorry david, there is always the classified section

David Brown · Sep 19, 2008

Well, here's the update on my MXT. I really like the machine. I am going to do quite a bit more printing this weekend to try and make a final decision about keeping the Beseler, or keeping the Omega.

The plot on keeping the Beseler has "thickened", as we say. I've had contacts about buying the Universel head, and trading for the head. I've been using it, and it works just fine, and is easy enough to use, it just won't work with the RH timer. However, I have a chance to get a condensor head either through trade or purchase, and there are also some 45S heads out there available.

The 45S head appears to be a dicroic head similar to the Chromega, correct? That is, it would work with any timer, unlike the computerized Universal.

If this is so, this factors into my decision tree. And yes, it has become a tree!

jeroldharter · Sep 19, 2008

David Brown said:
Well, here's the update on my MXT. I really like the machine. I am going to do quite a bit more printing this weekend to try and make a final decision about keeping the Beseler, or keeping the Omega.

The plot on keeping the Beseler has "thickened", as we say. I've had contacts about buying the Universel head, and trading for the head. I've been using it, and it works just fine, and is easy enough to use, it just won't work with the RH timer. However, I have a chance to get a condensor head either through trade or purchase, and there are also some 45S heads out there available.

The 45S head appears to be a dicroic head similar to the Chromega, correct? That is, it would work with any timer, unlike the computerized Universal.

If this is so, this factors into my decision tree. And yes, it has become a tree!

I would keep the Beseler with the Dichro 45S. The Universal light source is very slick but difficult to find the VC controller. I have 2 Dichro 45S heads and they are reliable. You do have to dial in the filtration changes each time for split printing which is tedious. It will work with the RH Designs timers (I use the SpopClock Pro). They do have light leaks which I patch with black electrical tape and I built a baffle out of mat board and tape to fit over the fan exhaust where most of the light leaks.

Help with Beseler MXT

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