needing repair technician/ or parts guy for Ilford 500H multigrade head

greg zinselmeier · Mar 29, 2021

Hello,
would any one have a referral ( here in the U.S) for someone who works on these heads? I need some parts for my enlarger. I have a Ilford 500H multigrade. Thank you in advance for your time and suggestions

Lachlan Young · Mar 29, 2021

What's wrong with your machine? A lot of the parts are pretty standard components.

ic-racer · Mar 29, 2021

I need some parts for my enlarger.

What kind of enlarger do you have? I usually look for parts on e-bay.

greg zinselmeier · Mar 30, 2021

I broke the black box which holds the mixing chamber, and electrical housing/bulbs/recepticle, what ever you want to call it. I need a (new to me) working black box with door/flap to put in the electrical/bulbs and mixing chamber and masks for the formats. . The electrical stuff is all o.k., the mixing chamber is not broken, neither are the masks. What I need is the Ilford 500 "box" that holds everything above your negative.

greg zinselmeier · Mar 30, 2021

I know I can make one, just wanting to know if there still is a place to buy, or a person to buy from, that has "old" ilford 500m parts. This unit is on an Omega XL chasis. But the chasis is fine and is in working order.

Lachlan Young · Mar 30, 2021

@greg zinselmeier - so it's an empty head shell you're after? John Boyce at Odyssey Sales might have one, but probably very unlikely, as they're in pretty steady demand as complete reconditioned systems - and the mechanical/ structural bits tend not to break. From figure 1.1 here, is the damage to the end castings or the folded metal parts? Or has the front door been broken off?

greg zinselmeier · Mar 30, 2021

ya, the front door is off and the side is cracked!!

Lachlan Young · Mar 30, 2021

@greg zinselmeier unless you can find one that's got totally dead electrics (unlikely, they're not hard to resurrect) I think finding a replacement side casting (left or right?) is going to be very difficult indeed - at the end of the day, the head is a very simple metal box with the only significant features of the ends being the light trapped vent & a duct/ septum that modulates the flow of air in the cooling system. They're not designed to require highly skilled assembly.

greg zinselmeier · Mar 31, 2021

thank you so much for your insights Lachlan Young. I have a few leads out now, and I am trying to see what my best options are. a few people have 'em. but they want REALLY "good" money for the label of ILFORD 500m on the cover. More than likely I will be building it myself and attaching the electrical parts in my new box, using the old box as template for placement.

jbrianfoto · Dec 29, 2022

I found one of my 500H heads and the power supply boxes were broken from rough handling. Ended up just gluing the broken pieces back in place - added some black gaffers tape to cover any gaps - right as rain.

L Gebhardt · Dec 29, 2022

Depending on what's broken you could also consider 3D printing some replacement parts (but be aware of high heat areas).

needing repair technician/ or parts guy for Ilford 500H multigrade head

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