Saunders 16x20 4 blade easel addressing the cause of sloppy blades

Todd Barlow · Jun 30, 2023

Sharing my fix with the group...

I have an easel with two blades that move properly and maintain square. The other two blades are very sloppy and do not hold square.
I removed the blade and adjusting mechanism completely from the easel.
I removed the adjusting knob mechanism from the blade and then pulled out the spring found under the adjusting knob.
I traced an outline of the shape of the spring after I pulled it out versus the shape after I adjusted and reinstalled (scale is in mm).
Blade sloppiness has been eliminated.

"Saunders instruction sheet states to always lift the blade assembly before adjusting the blade positions to help keep blades square."

All the best

Todd

Kino · Jun 30, 2023

So, it appears the spring gets compressed and allows the blade to flop around; right?

if so, good knowledge to share! I have a couple that are getting a bit loose and this is timely information.

Todd Barlow · Jun 30, 2023

Kino said:
So, it appears the spring gets compressed and allows the blade to flop around; right?

if so, good knowledge to share! I have a couple that are getting a bit loose and this is timely information.

Yes, that is what I found.
The easel is new to me but I do not know it's history, I can only speculate that the springs lost their shape due to the blades being adjusted without lifting the blade assembly.

GregY · Jun 30, 2023

Todd Barlow said:
Yes, that is what I found.
The easel is new to me but I do not know it's history, I can only speculate that the springs lost their shape due to the blades being adjusted without lifting the blade assembly.

I have Saunders easels 11x14, 16x20, 20x24. The only one with issues is the 11x14. When adjusting the arms, i now check if they're square with a steel ruler.

DREW WILEY · Jun 30, 2023

Indeed, lift the whole upper section before adjusting the blade travel. Then check them with a small reliable square or draftsman's triangle when down. If any blade is out of square or loose, there are screws adjacent to the knobs which allow it to easily be re-squared. I have several of these easels, but none in which the springs per se seem worn out. Rough shipping or abuse can lead to the need to correct the squaring, even on units bought new. I alway check such things regardless.

MarkS · Jun 30, 2023

Most darkroom workers just beat on those easels, like they're an old screen door on the back porch. They will last a lifetime if they're used properly... glad you found a fix for yours!

ic-racer · Jul 1, 2023

Good job fixing that! New easels can be very expensive these days.

The larger Saunders easels have coil springs instead of the spring steel bands. The principle is the same, if the springs are weak the blades will be wobbly.

Nicholas Lindan · Jul 1, 2023

MarkS said:
... old screen door on the back porch ... will last a lifetime if [treated with care] ...

That's true of just about everything.

There is no excuse for treating tools badly. Grounds for warning & dismissal in my book.

GregY · Jul 1, 2023

Nicholas Lindan said:
That's true of just about everything.

There is no excuse for treating tools badly. Grounds for warning & dismissal in my book.

"Most darkroom workers just beat on those easels".... You're both making some very generalized assumptions there gentlemen.....

GregY · Jul 1, 2023

Nicholas, civilized discourse...
"Treating tools badly"... is not an assumption.... but ....."grounds for warning & dismissal"..... based on what evidence? Who said that darkroom workers were anyones' employees?

Kino · Jul 1, 2023

Every bit of darkroom gear I have is used. I have no control over how previous owners treated this equipment, but I sure have to deal with it now.

Nicholas Lindan · Jul 1, 2023

Gear that was always used by an amateur is rarely worn out or abused - except for the odd camera that went swimming in the sea. Though, if you own it you can do sod all to it - but most don't because they bought it, it has hard value.

Gear that was in a commercial or industrial darkroom can get worn out and can be subject to abuse - although both are rare occurrences. And gear can get abused in the normal way of things - a Nikon that went through Vietnam.

I only had one employee who trashed gear. He became ex- as soon as could be arraigned.

MattKing · Jul 1, 2023

Nicholas Lindan said:
He became ex- as soon as could be arraigned

Emphasis added.
I was going to post with my moderator's hat on here that we don't allow discussion about US politics, but I expect this is merely a very funny typo.

Kino · Jul 1, 2023

Nicholas Lindan said:
Gear that was always used by an amateur is rarely worn out or abused -

You live in a different country than I do...

Don_ih · Jul 2, 2023

I have one of these easels but hardly ever use it (I usually print on 8x10). Mine was owned by a semi-pro (was a paid photographer but had a day job) and he hasn't seemed to abuse it - although it is clearly used. I got my Omega 4x5 from him, too. And he was a nice guy - we went out to lunch.

MattKing · Jul 2, 2023

Speaking anecdotally, my experience is that equipment that has been owned and used by individual photographers tends to show less sign of heavy usage than equipment used in places like a busy, multi-photographer, shared equipment darkroom.
Not universally, but more often than not.
The commercial quality auto-focus enlargers that I used in a large newspaper darkroom in the 1970s were very robust, but even they showed excess wear in the fine focus adjustment mechanism.
Some of this is compensated for by the fact that big organizations usually spend more money on maintenance than smaller organizations can manage.

ic-racer · Jul 3, 2023

The most abused equipment I have come across came from a shared/rented/commercial darkroom situation.

Pieter12 · Jul 3, 2023

ic-racer said:
The most abused equipment I have come across came from a shared/rented/commercial darkroom situation.

The most abused darkroom gear I have came from schools. Students often don't know or don't care.

On the subject of easels, I always check the blades for square with a drafting triangle and proper opening and margin dimensions since I don't trim my prints. Once set, I tape the blades together for the printing session.

Don_ih · Jul 3, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Once set, I tape the blades together for the printing session.

That's probably the best advice for a large easel, yet.

mshchem · Jul 3, 2023

Nice post. Good fix!

Saunders 16x20 4 blade easel addressing the cause of sloppy blades

Todd Barlow

Kino

Todd Barlow

GregY

DREW WILEY

MarkS

ic-racer

Nicholas Lindan

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GregY

GregY

Kino

Nicholas Lindan

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MattKing

Moderator

Kino

Don_ih

MattKing

Moderator

ic-racer

Pieter12

Don_ih

mshchem

Saunders 16x20 4 blade easel addressing the cause of sloppy blades

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