Is it me, or did I miss something?

DREW WILEY said:

Anyone who isn't afraid of concentrated acids is a fool, plain and simple. Everyone SHOULD be afraid of this stuff. Fear is what keeps you safe.

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Anyone who doesn't respect concentrated acids...

Respect is not fear. Allowing your irrational fears to rule is what causes mistakes to happen. That's the definition of panic. And panic is when you stop thinking straight. Respect is when you are thinking rationally and making the extra effort to understand a situation and apply the necessary care.

As I said earlier regarding the dilution of glacial acetic acid: "Be thoughtful and careful and you will be just fine."

DREW WILEY said:

Now are you going to try and convince me that rattlesnakes make cute and cuddly pets that deserve to sleep on your pillow at night?

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This little subtopic isn't about rattlesnakes as pets.

It's about the safe darkroom dilution of acetic acid for photographic purposes...

Ken

Yes, "respect", now we're on the same wavelength. "Healthy fear". For some time I've been making my living distributing a lot of professional machinery, especially to contractors, woodworkers, boatbuilders, on a good day up to 20K an hour. Not toys. Today was a slow day. I use this gear
myself, and frankly, I "fear" it. Or you can say I "respect" it. I prefer "fear". That's why I still have all my fingers left, and why my hearing is still fine.
And that is why, when I'm tired and dopey, there are certain things I simply will not do, whether they're potentially unsafe, or simply a case of screwing up an expensive print due to being a bit careless. But back to machinery... I have one long term customers that always begins his hiring
practice by asking any potential helper if he is "afraid" of "that big table saw over there"... If they answer "no", interview over. He'll only hire people
who are distinctly "afraid". Otherwise, it's spinning the roulette wheel, and just a matter of time.

DREW WILEY said:

...now we're on the same wavelength.

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In terms of rationally viewing, analyzing, and reacting to the world around us, I disagree...

DREW WILEY said:

For some time I've been making my living distributing a lot of professional machinery, especially to contractors, woodworkers, boatbuilders...

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Do you engage them with the same level of hysteria based on false assertions passed off as facts as you do here?

I certainly hope not...



Ken

Wow! It's amazing how a thread questioning the responses of members, which IMHO, were dismissive to a young man searching for information, became a rather, again IMHO, caustic (pun intended) discussion of acids, injury from same, and fear or respect of power tools!! My only comment on the acidic/power tool diversion is to hope that none of you have ever dealt with death to the extent that I have. As a funeral director for several years, I have seen and dealt with death and destruction that could cause many people to have nightmares for life. I used to have a neighbor who was an ER trauma nurse and she used to tell me that I'd seen more than she had. All I'll say is that life is too short to sweat the minor things. Please play nice!

I think the yound member in question should be encouraged to take a stab at building his own enlarger. Regardless of whether he succeeds or fails, he will learn a lot. And give his imagination a nice workout.

I own and use a 4x5 Omega D5XL wall-mounted enlarger in a very pleasant darkroom. But I also own and use an 8x10 camera, and there are times I have considered building my own 8x10 enlarger since there is absolutely no room for me to purchase and install a huge commercial unit.

If I were to begin with my existing 8x10 camera and lens, then I would have automatically applied lens correction, since the taking lens would also be the enlarging lens. It's a G-Claron flat-field. I've considered the logistics of a horizontally projecting design with an old Aristo cold light head mated to the back of the unit. It's a Calumet C1 camera, and so is plenty rugged enough, I think.

Lots of compromises, to be sure. But not an impossible task. Even just sitting here now thinking about it clicks my mind over into problem solving mode. Given the time, I'll bet I could do it.

So if the enlarger thread OP is still reading this thread, I say give it a go. If it doesn't work out you will be no worse off than you are right now enlarger-wise, and much, much better off for the knowledge and experience gained.



Ken

while i understand respect and fear of acids, bases and heavy equipment
i am unsure what this has to do with a 15 year old kid asking
for advice about condensors and cold light sources.
the plans he uploaded and enlarger he built did not look / seem
extremely dangerous. plenty of people build lights/sconses/shades with tin cans, and in the last
year or so a few people have built and presented reflective enlargers made of
tin cans here on apug. these tinkers weren't told to abandon their plans, they were flirting with
disaster or doing something extremely dangerous. their efforts were commended.
if he had been making his own fluorescent cold light source with argon
mercury beads, powder coating the glass tubes with
beryllium and making his own leaky voltage power source,
that would be a bit different. but he was asking for advice in a DIY forum
about condensors and cold light heads for a project that is similar to something
in boys life magazine, pop photography/mechanics or merit badge pamphlet.

i agree, hubris will kill, but im not sure what that has to do with condensor lenses and a low wattage light bulb.

The OP is a newbie, likely unaware of the ins and outs, and current state of affairs with regards to used enlarger availability and low prices. It was a valuable suggestion for him to check into used practically free enlargers before attempting to build one himself, especially as that avenue may mistakenly have seemed to be the least expensive option to him.

If he really just wants to build his own enlarger, then by all means, go for it.

frank said:

The OP is a newbie, likely unaware of the ins and outs, and current state of affairs with regards to used enlarger availability and low prices. It was a valuable suggestion for him to check into used practically free enlargers before attempting to build one himself, especially as that avenue may mistakenly have seemed to be the least expensive option to him.

If he really just wants to build his own enlarger, then by all means, go for it.

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+1

In addition, the tone and tenor of the responses that some are objecting to would most likely have been very different (in most cases) if the young OP in that thread had made it clear at the outset how young and "new" he actually is.

I still think his best course would have been to acquire a used enlarger, and then apply what he learned from that while having fun trying to build one himself.

Well, I certainly would have altered my tone from its usual sarcasm to something more appropriate if I'd have known he was 16. But the substance
would have been the same: not a good idea; get a real enlarger.