Kaiser VCP6001 Enlarger

I've just acquired a Kaiser VCP6001 enlarger from eBay. Fantastic deal with 2 Schneider lenses (50mm/2.8 and 80mm/4.0) for £50!

Last night I put it together and tested it and it all works. Lenses have no clear sign of fungus and when inserting a negative and switching the machine on, I can see the image on my desk.

I read in the manual that it takes a cool bulb. However, even after 5 minutes of use, the head is quite hot and the light isn't that bright.

Is this right? Should the head get quite hot when the bulb is supposed to be a cool bulb?

Apologies for the potential dumb question but I've never owned or used an enlarger before. And how bright should the image actually be? I'm not sure if I'm just expecting something different than what it's giving me.

Cheers
Jay


I'm running with both hands...

A cold mirror (ie dichroic mirror or dichroic reflector) transmits the heat and reflects the light. The transmitted heat goes through the back of the mirror (the reflector around your halogen lamp) and that is making the head of the enlarger hot and keeping your negative cool.

ic-racer said:

A cold mirror (ie dichroic mirror or dichroic reflector) transmits the heat and reflects the light. The transmitted heat goes through the back of the mirror (the reflector around your halogen lamp) and that is making the head of the enlarger hot and keeping your negative cool.

Click to expand...

Perfect. As long as it's normal than all is good cheers ice-racer!


I'm running with both hands...