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

[greg zinselmeier]

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]

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

 

[ic-racer]

I need some parts for my enlarger.

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

 

[greg zinselmeier]

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]

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]

@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]

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

 

[Lachlan Young]

@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]

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]

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]

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