Keith Pitman
I have had a Zone VI - Type II enlarger for a long time. After acquiring an 8x10 head, I found it to be a pain to swap the heads when I wanted to print with the other head. I bought the last chassis sold by Calumet, found a column, made a counter weight, and a wall-mount kit. It's really difficult to focus without a focusing extension, and Calumet had no more of them so I tried making one. It worked pretty well, but was not smooth enough for precise focusing. Then I stumbled on an Ebay sale for a Type I chassis with a complete motorized focusing control box and motor. I bought it at $40 to see if it would work. I had always understood that the motorized focusing kit would not work with the Type II enlarger. Well, with a minor modification, it works great.
The motor has a drive shaft that extends beyond the end of the box and is inserted into the Type I enlarger's drive shaft inside the chassis. On the Type II enlarger, the enlarger's drive shaft extends outside the chassis. All I had to do was fabricate a 1/2" spacer between the box and the enlarger chassis to account for the length of the Type II's drive shaft. The spacer is the grayish object between the box and the chassis in the photo. All the mounting holes lined up between the box and the Type II chassis. The motor focuses slowly and smoothly.
So, if you have a Type II enlarger and can find one of these motorized focus controls at a reasonable cost, it's an easy and worthwhile project, especially if you do not have a focus extension. (If anyone needs a Type I chassis, I have a surplus one available.)
The motor has a drive shaft that extends beyond the end of the box and is inserted into the Type I enlarger's drive shaft inside the chassis. On the Type II enlarger, the enlarger's drive shaft extends outside the chassis. All I had to do was fabricate a 1/2" spacer between the box and the enlarger chassis to account for the length of the Type II's drive shaft. The spacer is the grayish object between the box and the chassis in the photo. All the mounting holes lined up between the box and the Type II chassis. The motor focuses slowly and smoothly.
So, if you have a Type II enlarger and can find one of these motorized focus controls at a reasonable cost, it's an easy and worthwhile project, especially if you do not have a focus extension. (If anyone needs a Type I chassis, I have a surplus one available.)
