Omega B-66 Enlarger

[Kathab]

Hi,
Is anyone able to advise me on the above enlarger lighting set up?
I live in the UK and acquired a B-66 condenser enlarger a few months ago. The condenser set up shown inside the lamp housing schematically appears a bit confusing to me. I have one condenser mounted on a metal frame and sitting in a slot below the lamp and one other slightly larger which is dropped inside the housing and sitting right above the opening above the negative holder slot (which is not in a metal frame as the top one is). Is this arrangement a standard one, or should the bottom condenser be in a frame, and am I missing a third condenser metal-frame mounted? I am using 6x6 and 6x4.5 negs mostly.
I would appreciate any help from B-66 users.

Regards, Kathab:confused:

 

[Nick Zentena]

If nobody else answers I'll find my B66 condensor head and post.

But anyways from memory. The third condensor is only for 35mm. It's not even needed for 35mm but will increase the light output some.

Don't remember the setup of the condesors right now.

 

[ann]

check out harry's classic enlargers, he is the expert when it comes to omega enlargers

 

[David Brown]

I think you may be missing one of the main condensors. There should be two that are the same size and mounted with the curved edges facing each other. According to the copy of the manual that I have, the two larger condensors are "permanently installed". As mentioned, the 3rd smaller condensor is for 35mm, actually for using lenses of 50mm or shorter.

PM me with an email, and I'll send you the page you need from the manual.

... one other slightly larger which is dropped inside the housing ...

Regards, Kathab

Actually, the "dropped inside the housing" sounds like a B22, not a B66.

 

[dschneller]

Hi,
Is anyone able to advise me on the above enlarger lighting set up?
I live in the UK and acquired a B-66 condenser enlarger a few months ago. The condenser set up shown inside the lamp housing schematically appears a bit confusing to me. I have one condenser mounted on a metal frame and sitting in a slot below the lamp and one other slightly larger which is dropped inside the housing and sitting right above the opening above the negative holder slot (which is not in a metal frame as the top one is). Is this arrangement a standard one, or should the bottom condenser be in a frame, and am I missing a third condenser metal-frame mounted? I am using 6x6 and 6x4.5 negs mostly.
I would appreciate any help from B-66 users.

Regards, Kathab:confused:

I believe Nick has it right that the third condenser is not necessary. Attached is the setup from the manual.

 

[Curt]

Pull out the condenser and get a cold light head and put it in there. What do you think about that idea?
Curt

 

[John Koehrer]

I believe Nick has it right that the third condenser is not necessary. Attached is the setup from the manual.

If the auxiliary condenser is missing it's no big deal. It may be another story if the missing condenser is one of the mains.

 

[Kathab]

Thanks guys for all your help, and for the write up and scheme supplied by dschneller from the hand book. It now looks as though I have the smaller condenser for the 35mm set up and the larger one (without the mounting frame) is one of the pair for the 6x6 set up. So I am short on another larger diameter condenser mounted in the metal frame. I'll have to keep my eye out for one on EBay, as I doubt whether there will be any available from any other source for such an old enlarger.

Regards, Kathab

 

[geauxpez]

In the next couple of weeks, I hope to have my B-66 unpacked & running again. If I run across any spare condensers, I'll let you know. I seem to remember that I may have had one, but who knows.

Adam