Saunders 4500 II uneven light....

[Cluster]

Hello Everyone,

I have a weird problem with my new Saunders 4500 II. I just installed it (wall mount) and went to make my first contacts with it (APO Rodagon 80mm wide open) and noticed that I had serious uneven light fall-off on the resulting 8x10 prints. Half the print was darker than the other half. I checked the diffuser box, but I could not figure out where this light fall-off was coming from. After some time, I discovered that if I stopped down the lens to f8 the fall-off went away, but this is weird. Something is not right. When I took the diffusion box out again for inspection, I noticed that the hole on the side of the enlarger head (that lets the light in from the lamp house) was misaligned with the module filter hole by about a quarter inch. I assume that Saunders designed these to line-up evenly. I tried to push the module as far in as possible to get the 2 holes to line-up but I couldn't do it. It seems to me that the origin of this uneven light has to do with this misalignment between filter module and enlarger head. Does anyone out there know how I can adjust the alignment of the filter module and the enlarger head? Oh and one more thing: The lamp in the head is 200 watts but I am finding it too low for my purposes. Having to do an 80 second exposure at f8 for a simple 8x10 is way too long. Is it possible to up the wattage of this bulb. Thanks.

 

[pelerin]

Hello Everyone,

I have a weird problem with my new Saunders 4500 II. I just installed it (wall mount) and went to make my first contacts with it (APO Rodagon 80mm wide open) and noticed that I had serious uneven light fall-off on the resulting 8x10 prints. Half the print was darker than the other half. I checked the diffuser box, but I could not figure out where this light fall-off was coming from. After some time, I discovered that if I stopped down the lens to f8 the fall-off went away, but this is weird. Something is not right. When I took the diffusion box out again for inspection, I noticed that the hole on the side of the enlarger head (that lets the light in from the lamp house) was misaligned with the module filter hole by about a quarter inch. I assume that Saunders designed these to line-up evenly. I tried to push the module as far in as possible to get the 2 holes to line-up but I couldn't do it. It seems to me that the origin of this uneven light has to do with this misalignment between filter module and enlarger head. Does anyone out there know how I can adjust the alignment of the filter module and the enlarger head? Oh and one more thing: The lamp in the head is 200 watts but I am finding it too low for my purposes. Having to do an 80 second exposure at f8 for a simple 8x10 is way too long. Is it possible to up the wattage of this bulb. Thanks.

Hi,
When you say "mis-aligned" do you mean in vertically or horizontally? (looking at the enlarger from the front) There are two thumb screws on the bottom right side of the head. The first as you must have found allows you to remove the filters, the back one allows you to remove the lamp/fan assy. If you remove the lamp/fan assy the aperture in the filter module should appear fairly well aligned with the corresponding opening in the head and the one in the diffusion box. If everything is not aligned is the filter module flush with the front of the head? If it is a vertical mis-alignment is the diffsion box properly seated? (the release lever for the neg carrier must be horizontal for the box to properly seat) If things seem way out of whack I would trundle down to the dealer you bought it from and compare your unit to their display. If your new unit is (by comparison to another unit) seriously wrong it sounds like a warranty problem. As far as exposure times are concerned a little more detail might help. Are you using it as light source for contacts? What paper are you printing on? I would check with Omega before I up-rated the bulb. I just sent a cooked lamphouse out them for repair and the parts cost alone will be quite significant.
Celac.

 

[Cluster]

Thanks for the input. The misalignment is horizontal, meaning that when I insert the module, it doesn't seem to go in far enough to completely line up with the hole in the enlarger head. The way I inspect this is by taking out the diffusion box from the top of the enlarger and then looking at the side hole as I insert the module. The vertical alignment is fine. I haven't seen what a correct one should look like but I would assume that these holes should all be correctly aligned. As far as exposure, the negs were of normal density and I was using Agfa RC paper with a 2-1/4 carrier at a height that would cover the contact area. I was also using a VCCE module at a setting of 3 and an APO Rodagon at f8. The final exposure times where anywhere from 50 to 80 seconds which is a lot more than I expected compared to my condenser enlarger. Maybe the longer times have to do with the misalignment. I would think that a misaligned light would not be as intense, especially if it's off by a 1/4 inch.