Question on building and 8X10 enlarger

John Wiegerink · Apr 4, 2025

I've been thinking of building a 8X10 enlarger for sometime now and need some advice. Last night I won a Beseler 45MRX enlarger on an online auction, which will now be the base of the 8X10 enlarger. It's dirty and dusty, came with three lenses and a dichro DG colorhead, but no baseboard. Nobody wanted it so I ended up with it for scrap price. I'm going to build my own multi-grade VC head and run it with my Iford control off my Ilford 400 series VC 4X5 unit. Now, the question is how far does the baseboard to the head height have to be to get a 20x24 inch print with a 300mm lens on the enlarger.

Ian C · Apr 4, 2025

An 8”x 10” negative has a recorded image of about 195 mm x 245 mm. Making a borderless 20” x 24” print requires a projection of at least 2.6X. You’ll want the ability to make a larger projection for overlap and room to crop. So, the ability to project the 195 mm width to at least 22”/559 mm (2.9X) is prudent.

Using a 300 mm f/5.6 EL Nikkor, you’d need about 1575 mm from the negative to the image.

If you used a 240 mm f/5.6 EL Nikkor, the required distance is about 1260 mm.

John Wiegerink · Apr 4, 2025

Ian C said:
An 8”x 10” negative has a recorded image of about 195 mm x 245 mm. Making a borderless 20” x 24” print requires a projection of at least 2.6X. You’ll want the ability to make a larger projection for overlap and room to crop. So, the ability to project the 195 mm width to at least 22”/559 mm (2.9X) is prudent.

Using a 300 mm f/5.6 EL Nikkor, you’d need about 1575 mm from the negative to the image.

If you used a 240 mm f/5.6 EL Nikkor, the required distance is about 1260 mm.

Ian,
Thanks for that information. It will help me figure out where to put this rig as far as ceiling height and baseboard to floor measurements. I only have a 240mm G-claron that I could try to start out, but have a friend that has a 300mm Rodagon I can use if I want. I think a good 240mm would actually work better for me, but would like to have the option to use a 300mm also for a 20X24 print or as you folks across the pond 24X20 print. I'm sure the 240mm G-Claron will get me going so I can at least "fine-tune" the enlarger and light source. Thanks again for be here!

Patrick Robert James · Apr 4, 2025

There have been people who have done this, and one person who makes a ready to go solution. You should probably just go the ready made route and save yourself the grief.

John Wiegerink · Apr 4, 2025

Patrick Robert James said:
There have been people who have done this, and one person who makes a ready to go solution. You should probably just go the ready made route and save yourself the grief.

Pat,
I'm a "do-it-yourselfer" and I live in grief. I pretty much have it all figured out in my head already. Now, it's just a matter of getting my head and the project to work together. Besides, this isn't a must have thing for me, so it's a "nothing venture, noting gained" type project.

Patrick Robert James · Apr 4, 2025

Do you have machining skills?

John Wiegerink · Apr 4, 2025

Patrick Robert James said:
Do you have machining skills?

Just enough to get by! I have a lathe and milling machine along with light sheet metal tools. I'll get'err done one way or the other. I might make a prototype head out of 1/4" plywood just to make sure it works first. I'll keep you posted when I get the enlarger and start the project.

AERO · Apr 5, 2025

John Wiegerink said:
Just enough to get by! I have a lathe and milling machine along with light sheet metal tools. I'll get'err done one way or the other. I might make a prototype head out of 1/4" plywood just to make sure it works first. I'll keep you posted when I get the enlarger and start the project.

Nothing ventured...nothing gained.... or where there is a will..there is a way....

John Wiegerink · Apr 5, 2025

AERO said:
Nothing ventured...nothing gained.... or where there' i s a will..there is a way....

Exactly!

mshchem · Apr 5, 2025

Should work out fine.

John Wiegerink · Apr 5, 2025

mshchem said:
Should work out fine.

I won't be able to pickup the Beseler until next week when I return home. I'll post my progress and possible setbacks here as I go along.

Matthew K · 2025-11-02T12:05:25-0500

Out of curiosity, was there progress on this project? Came across it looking for some details on if I could manage to make prints from my 8x10 negatives in the very limited space I have. Contact prints are of course an option, just wondering about anything else that could be achieved.

John Wiegerink · 2025-11-02T18:08:00-0500

Matthew K said:
Out of curiosity, was there progress on this project? Came across it looking for some details on if I could manage to make prints from my 8x10 negatives in the very limited space I have. Contact prints are of course an option, just wondering about anything else that could be achieved.

Well, the Beseler is waiting for a place to be put. My wife and I are cleaning out our home in southern Michigan and moving up to our cottage in the north. Things are a little tighter, room wise, at the cottage so there is a little more planning to be done before I can start on this project. I'm just starting to do some 8X10 contact prints and those will have to do until I manage to find a place to put my darkroom back together again.

Question on building and 8X10 enlarger

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