the quest continues - filter drawer (philips enlarger)

[sez]

I had another look at the enlarger i mentioned in my previous posts, and it seems its not that the filter drawer itself is bent, but that the piece of plastic or something has come off the front? The drawer itself is there, but not the bit at the front that stops it from going right inside the enlarger and getting stuck, and stops light from leaking out the front. If that makes sense. Can anyone think of any way i could rig up a solution for this?

 

[Nige]

matt board?

2 ways I can think of assuming you still want access to the drawer...

1. stick a bit of matt board over the whole by the top edge only, so you can lift it up to get at the filter drawer.

2. remove the bent bit from the filter drawer and stick a piece of matt board in it's place

If you don't need acces, then just stick some matt board over the hole.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Is the missing part the rectangular panel that should be below it, covering the condenser lenses?

Gaffer's tape should do it, maybe with some black paper behind it just in case of pinholes.

 

[sez]

Nige: thanks for those ideas

David: Nope, the condenser cover is there. It'd be the bit directly above that. Basically the bit you have to grab to get the drawer out. It keeps getting pushed in too far so we have to take the top off the enlarger to get it out *rolls eyes* ... i mean, i can do that, but we're not too keen on photo society members who've used a darkroom for 5 minutes doing that

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I see. You're missing the handle on the drawer. It shouldn't be hard to make a new one out of something like the thin plywood you can get from a shop that sells supplies for making models. At the front of the filter drawer there are two holes for screws that hold onto the handle. If you would like, I can make a drawing or a few digital pictures with the dimensions of the handle, and you should be able to fabricate a new one easily.

 

[sez]

Ahha, its a handle and not a flat plate ... yes, i see the holes for the handle, that makes sense. If you could give me some idea of how it would look etc it would be amazingly helpful!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Okay, here's a freehand sketch of the side view of the filter drawer. The handle is a flat plate that goes the whole width of the filter drawer with a little lip at about a 45-degree angle at the bottom as shown, and the handle plate is attached to the drawer with screws through those two little holes that screw into a square plastic piece that's as thick as it is wide (the same thickness as the filter drawer). To pull out the drawer, you press in on the panel that covers the condensers and grab that angled lip underneath.

So what you need to do is get a square wooden rod, maybe 5mm on a side and glue it to a wooden plate, made from modeling plywood or maybe even a piece of plastic, and another piece at the bottom to serve as the lip, which blocks light from the bottom of the drawer. There's also a strip of light-trap fabric on the top part of the plate that keeps light from getting out the top. You can get light trap material from www.micro-tools.com. Make this handle piece the width of the filter drawer, screw it in, and you're in business.

 

[sez]

You're a star