Upper bellows are about to give. In Canada, KHB Photographix is out of stock. Couldn't find a store in the US that sells them, and there aren't any replacement parts sold at beseler.com
If anybody has a ressource, it would be greatly appreciated. It's the only functionnal enlarger in a community darkroom.
If you can remove the bellows and frames, you could send them to Custom Bellows in Birmingham, UK.
Keith is great to work with, turnaround time is fast, and they do top-notch work.
(I've had them make 4 bellows for my LF cameras).
Bellows integrity isn't as important for an enlarger as it is for a camera. Patching it up with good tape will probably work well enough. Don't forget tape can go inside the bellows, too.
You can get another enlarger for the cost of a custom bellows. Probably 4 other enlargers.
I needed upper bellows for one of my 45MXs. I ended up buying an entire upper stage in eBay for cheap and simply replacing the whole assembly. You might check that possibility.
Bellows integrity isn't as important for an enlarger as it is for a camera. Patching it up with good tape will probably work well enough. Don't forget tape can go inside the bellows, too.
You can get another enlarger for the cost of a custom bellows. Probably 4 other enlargers.
That's the state in which I found it — the community darkroom had been dormant for many years and I've been helping putting it back up. There's lot's of black tape, but a lot of the bellows is clearly torn and detached from the part that's holding it to the top of the head. It's workable for now, but it won't last.
I needed upper bellows for one of my 45MXs. I ended up buying an entire upper stage in eBay for cheap and simply replacing the whole assembly. You might check that possibility.
If it were my money, I wouldn't hesitate. But this is a community darkroom, and budget is scarce.
I'm also not seeing many 45MX on the local market (Montreal and area). Lot's of very cheap 23 C II in good condition, though. So that might be a solution, even though it would mean not being able to enlarge 4x5.
If you can remove the bellows and frames, you could send them to Custom Bellows in Birmingham, UK.
Keith is great to work with, turnaround time is fast, and they do top-notch work.
Good suggestion. I'll look into it. Problem is this would mean the community darkroom would not be operational for a good time since it's the only enlarger right now.
There are lots of 4x5 cameras with straight bellows. Replacements are easy to find. Finding one the correct size might be possible. Try the place on the bottom of this page. They sell on EBAY:
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