Leitz Focomat IIa film holder glass

[trondareo]

The negative tray/holder on my Focomat 2a has scratched glass, after decades of wear from the metal masks. The bottom glass is easy to replace, since it is simply a flat piece of glass with edge clamping. However the top glass has ground down a ledge for the glass to lay flat with the underside of the metal. Ok - that was a difficult explanation - see photograph.
My question is, has anyone replaced the glass or learnt to live without the glass?

 

[trondareo]

and here is an image in context of the negative holder

 

[John Koehrer]

Would a glass shop be able to grind a lip similar to that?

In the US there are sources for anti-newton glass online.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

http://www.fpointinc.com/glass.htm

They could probably make you a direct replacement. Go for the anti newton glass. Might as well....

You might be able to fit a beveled glass in there by slightly bending the tabs up.

Hope that helps.

 

[Ron789]

As Patrick suggested: http://www.fpointinc.com/glass.htm
I bought anti-newton glass there for several enlargers. Good service and fast shipment with good packaging. The only downside: in Europe we pay quite a bit of extra money for customs and taxes.

 

[Malcolm Stewart]

You could try Knight Optical in Kent, UK. Seems as though they've expanded since I used them years ago.
https://www.knightoptical.com/
Could be quite expensive, but worth a try.

 

[gorbas]

It's not going to be cheap, but please use that jewel of mechanical engineering.
http://enlarger.de/home_english/Leitz_Focomat_Ic_IIa_IIc__Vall/leitz_focomat_ic_iia_iic__vall.html

 

[Blurryimages]

In mine I've replaced with Durst AN glass (from Laborator 900). It doesn't cover entirely the 6x9 frame but it is almost invisible. Durst's AN glass is far much better then Leica's so I would recommend you to try this one - and it's also far much cheaper.

 

[trondareo]

Thank you all, for great suggestions! I have asked locally about grinding, without success. One place suggested I might try grining myself with a dremel or similar, but with plenty of water cooling. I might give it a go. I'll also give each of your sources a serious review.

 

[Trond]

Try Kienzle (http://www.kienzle-phototechnik.de/) I know they supply glass for the IIa, so I would recommend sending a request to: kienzle-phototechnik@t-online.de. Attach the images you posted in this tread to avoid confusion (just in case there are variations of the IIa negative carrier).

They have have supplied parts to two of my enlargers in the past (Focomat IIc and Kienzle V 69).

Trond