Want to make an Enlarger.

Indrajit Kar · Apr 1, 2018

I'm new to analogue photography. Recently I have started 35mm black and white film developing.
I'm wondering is there any chance to make my own Enlarger?
Wish to print max 8X10.

What should I consider to make a enlarger or more importantly is it possible to make? If yes how should I proceed?
Can I get some help here?

Malcolm Stewart · Apr 1, 2018

Hi, and welcome.
It certainly is possible to make your own enlarger, and back in the 1950s when I was starting out, a UK magazine "Practical Mechanics" (from memory) ran a series showing what the basic parts were, and how they might be made using equipment available at home. Being "Practical Mechanics" I think it assumed fairly easy access to a bench drill, possibly a lathe, as well as the usual hand-drill, screwdriver etc. Most commercial enlargers are of the vertical variety with the paper lying horizontally on the base of the enlarger. You might find it easier for your first attempt to make a horizontal enlarger with the lamp-house, negative holder and lens sliding horizontally - with the paper held in some form of vertical holder.

What access do you have to wood and metal working tools? School or college workshop?
I assume that you would buy things like the condenser, enlarger lens and lamp?

All the best - it might be some time before you make a print!

E. von Hoegh · Apr 1, 2018

Buy one. They're cheap, and far better than anything you will be able to fabricate.

John51 · Apr 1, 2018

I'm assuming that enlargers are rare and/or expensive where you live and that diy is your only option.

It's very easy to make an enlarger but getting good quality prints from it is the difficult part.

Here's a YT of a very cheap build:

For good quality prints, the negative, lens and paper need to be in the same plane. To start, making similar to an old fashioned postcard enlarger might suit you. There's usually a few up for auction and you can base your design on the pics. It will be fixed magnification but it will produce acceptable prints if you have the lens in the correct place and the alignment is good.

Reverse mounting a camera lens can give good results if you have trouble finding a quality enlarger lens. To do this cheaply, remove the glass from a suitably sized filter and glue the ring to a small board, say 4 inches by 4. Then build your enlarger to accept 4 x 4 lens boards. Maybe build a few postcard type enlargers with different amounts of magnification.

Good luck with your project.

voceumana · Apr 1, 2018

If you can buy an old view or press camera you have bellows for focussing, a front standard with lens board to mount the enlarger lens, and a back. You'll then need to fabricate a method to attach a negative carrier to the back and a light source with which to illuminate the negative. It is probably easiest to make a diffusion light source to illuminate the negative.

Paul Howell · Apr 1, 2018

In the 50s and 60s Popular and Modern Photography ran several articles a year on how to build an enlarger, maybe you can find some on Google Books. Comes down to wood or metal, but even a wooden frame will need metal brackets and such. What type of lighting, DYI some sort of condenser? The basics are light source, negative stage, bellows for focus, then lens. You will want a filter drawer and some means to move the enlarger closer or father way from the paper depending on the size of the print. My guess that for a 8X10 a horizontal design would easier to build and use. Good luck.

Indrajit Kar · Apr 4, 2018

E. von Hoegh said:
Buy one. They're cheap, and far better than anything you will be able to fabricate.

Buy! Hard to find a not damage Enlarger these days. But I'm still searching in my locality. I thought it will be worth a try to make myself.

Indrajit Kar · Apr 5, 2018

Malcolm Stewart said:
Hi, and welcome.
It certainly is possible to make your own enlarger, and back in the 1950s when I was starting out, a UK magazine "Practical Mechanics" (from memory) ran a series showing what the basic parts were, and how they might be made using equipment available at home. Being "Practical Mechanics" I think it assumed fairly easy access to a bench drill, possibly a lathe, as well as the usual hand-drill, screwdriver etc. Most commercial enlargers are of the vertical variety with the paper lying horizontally on the base of the enlarger. You might find it easier for your first attempt to make a horizontal enlarger with the lamp-house, negative holder and lens sliding horizontally - with the paper held in some form of vertical holder.

What access do you have to wood and metal working tools? School or college workshop?
I assume that you would buy things like the condenser, enlarger lens and lamp?

All the best - it might be some time before you make a print!

I'm still searching on internet some good guidance on it. Let's see what happen!
Yes definitely I'll buy enlarger lens, condenser, bulb.

billbretz · Apr 5, 2018

Only you can speak to availability of enlargers where you are there, but I'd be surprised if the demand for enlargers is really making it hard to find a good one. By all means, if you want to make one, please do.... just seems like the time investment is not worth it in a world that can't get rid of the things fast enough.

Gerald C Koch · Apr 5, 2018

Unless you have a machine shop in your basement it's going to be impossible to make something that is useful. An enlarger is a precise piece of equipment with close tolerances. Considering the price of used enlargers and building your own seems impractical. A few years I bought a 6x6 name brand one for $25.

chris77 · Apr 5, 2018

hello op.
it can be done, no problem,but what you will really find helpful is an alignment tool. since i use it my prints are sharp corner to corner, even going big.
it sure can be achieved without, but alignment its so much easier since i have it.
no limits.

chris77 · Apr 5, 2018

John51 · Apr 5, 2018

Gerald C Koch said:
Unless you have a machine shop in your basement it's going to be impossible to make something that is useful. An enlarger is a precise piece of equipment with close tolerances. Considering the price of used enlargers and building your own seems impractical. A few years I bought a 6x6 name brand one for $25.

You can only buy what is up for sale and affordable. With enlargers, you can have the added problem of the one you really want being hundreds of miles away.

It's the ability to make adjustments to the enlarger that complicates the build process. If there is no provision for adjustments, it's a lot simpler to make. Which is why I suggested a postcard enlarger type of build earlier.

A plywood box, 8x10 cross section, open one end so it can be stood over the paper. Could be built to give white borders if desired. Opening for the negative at the other end with a piece of opal translucent plastic on top for a diffuser. Desk lamp overhead to provide the illumination.

The tricky part is getting the lens in the correct place but once it's right, it stays right for as long as the box keeps its shape.

OP, don't bother buying a condenser unless it's part of a complete enlarger.

E. von Hoegh · Apr 5, 2018

Indrajit Kar said:
Buy! Hard to find a not damage Enlarger these days. But I'm still searching in my locality. I thought it will be worth a try to make myself.

I built a horizontal enlarger years ago, for one specific purpose - to print 8x10" negatives on 16x20" paper. I designed it around a 13" process lens I found cheap at a camera show. In this case, it was worth the bother because no such device was available, and I had access to the necessary equipment to do a good job of it. Now, excellent enlargers - far better than anything you will be able to make on your own, lacking tools, skills, knowledge, and experience; are available for next to nothing often enough for free. I was recently offered a Durst 4x5" color enlarger, floor mounted, with a complete set of lenses from 35mm to 4x5", carriers, etc. for free - I have nowhere to put it being almost 6' tall and weighing near 500lbs.
Be patient, look around, buy one.

AgX · Apr 5, 2018

Chris, could you explain what want to show us in your two photos. As these are two different systems. Maybe both to form an enlarger at some point.

AgX · Apr 5, 2018

E. von Hoegh said:
Buy one. They're cheap, and far better than anything you will be able to fabricate.

Last year we could learn here at Apug how difficult it is to get any decent used enlarger in Indonesia. Maybe that is the same for India, resp.Kolkata.

An alternative might be buying a new one. There still are offered indian-made enlargers by the manufacturer.

Eric Rose · Apr 5, 2018

When I was in high school, many moons ago, our photography club made an enlarger out of wood. We used a bellows from an old monorail camera. Worked pretty well actually.

RauschenOderKorn · Apr 5, 2018

Welcome to Photrio!!!!

It is possible to build your own enlarger, but it depends very much on the standard you are going for. There is a video on youtube by a person who used a homemade pinhole shoebox enlarger, and she was able to print with that very creatively. If you want to go for an "average-darkroom" standard, it is probably easier and cheaper to buy a used enlarger. As your negative size is 35mm only, and 8x10 is not a big print format, almost anything on the market will do. Even including shipment and taxes, you could probably get one fairly cheap from overseas, if nothing is available locally..

On building something yourself: The easiest way would be modifying a LF camera with a negative plane and a light source (Linhof used to sell these for the Technika) or using an old slide projector as a horizontal enlarger.

chris77 · Apr 5, 2018

AgX said:
Chris, could you explain what want to show us in your two photos. As these are two different systems. Maybe both to form an enlarger at some point.

both are enlargers, fully functional.
one is a a transformed studio camera (pentacon mento panorama) the other one i built myself.
both use a powerful led lamp (flood 100w) and several diffusors (matte glass). maybe not as comfortable as a professional readymade enlarger but works perfectly well.

chris77 · Apr 5, 2018

more pix

Luis-F-S · Apr 5, 2018

Indrajit Kar said:
Buy! Hard to find a not damage Enlarger these days.

Baloney! You just have to look.

Paul Howell · Apr 5, 2018

Gerald C Koch said:
Unless you have a machine shop in your basement it's going to be impossible to make something that is useful. An enlarger is a precise piece of equipment with close tolerances. Considering the price of used enlargers and building your own seems impractical. A few years I bought a 6x6 name brand one for $25.

Don't know, maybe some parts can be machined as needed, most can be made out of wood. An used 8X10 may be scarce in India, imports may have high taxes. One advantage of building today is availability of LEDs. Ansel Adams had a bank of small tungsten built for his home made 8X10 with the outer ring of lights a little closer to the negative to print the edges a tad darker. The expensive part will be ordering a 8X10 bellows, imagine must be ordered from aboard. Then again in the 70s and 80s there was an Indian 8X10 field camera, the Raj (?) might be parts around somewhere.

chris77 · Apr 5, 2018

a bellows is not really necessary . light tight fabric will do..

John Koehrer · Apr 5, 2018

Even a sliding box will work. Cardboard will work but wood would be more durable. It might be possible to have a
local craftsman make the sliding box with a very high degree of precision and good quality finish.
The primary concern is being able to focus the image at different height or distance if it's horizontal and he wants
to make different size prints.

Again, depending on what's available in India.
It's nice that some of us think there's an abundance of used stuff out there but keep in mind there is/were a serious difference
of disposable income in that country and most of the society was just trying to survive. Hobbies weren't exactly a priority.

Here's one link of many from youtube, Add a light source to the back & your lens to the front. set up a
parallel(to the back) board to hold your paper & you need smoe dark.
Exposures can be counted off or you could use a metronome to be more consistent.

AgX · Apr 6, 2018

Paul Howell said:
An used 8X10 may be scarce in India, imports may have high taxes.

The OP wants max 8x10 print size. And his film format is 35mm

Want to make an Enlarger.

Indrajit Kar

Malcolm Stewart

E. von Hoegh

John51

voceumana

Paul Howell

Indrajit Kar

Indrajit Kar

billbretz

Gerald C Koch

chris77

chris77

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John51

E. von Hoegh

AgX

AgX

Eric Rose

RauschenOderKorn

chris77

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Luis-F-S

Paul Howell

chris77

John Koehrer

AgX

Want to make an Enlarger.

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