Darkroom Renovation Phase 1

Printing with new E3 by Nokton48, on Flickr



Today I disassembled and rebuilt the LED head I received with my Automega E3. I mounted the LED driver on top of the head (as Jerry Bodine did) which gives more room inside for spreading out the diffusion plexi inside and now it's pretty even. Using my Pentax Digital Spotmeter I can see the center is 1/3 stop brighter than the four corners. I can live with that.

So tonight I am printing through 5x7 glass carrier with the E3 and the LED
 
So tonight I am printing through 5x7 glass carrier with the E3 and the LED 🙂

Lens is my fave 180mm f5.6 Rodagon 90s version

Enlarger E3 has some "flex" but what saves me is the "Laser Align". I confirm alignment right before exposing.
 
My Home Contractor "Bruce" has been around here for three days, renovating two of our smaller bathrooms. He did a fantastic job. Last year he built on a deck edition in our backyard that is amazing.

Tomorrow he is back to plumb my big black darkroom sink, that will be a job. The copper lines and drain pipes are already 75% done, he will finish it.

Our Furnace HVAC Guy looked the darkroom over, and he says all I need to do is hook up an existing bathroom exhaust (in the basement ceiling) to vent odors out of the darkroom. No need for that Harbour Freight dust fan, which sounded like a rocket engine.

So we will vent the darkroom odors out into the back yard.

Not done but getting closer.
 
Hey Dan-

I remember reading someplace that Federal had a problem with a center "hot spot" with their model 450 4 x 5 diffusion enlarger. They solved it by sandblasting the center and "feathering" it out towards the edges of the diffusion ground glass.
 
Poor Mans JOBO Film Processor by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is my "Poor Mans JOBO Film Processor". I have not developed any B&W film in quite a long time. In the Multitank 5 are loaded eighteen sheets of 6.5x9cm sheet film.

I will try twenty minutes approx in Microphen diluted 1:3.

The film is odd assortment of expired Eastern Bloc films and some other, so I am excited to see the results.
 
MrFujicaman said:
Hey Dan-

I remember reading someplace that Federal had a problem with a center "hot spot" with their model 450 4 x 5 diffusion enlarger. They solved it by sandblasting the center and "feathering" it out towards the edges of the diffusion ground glass.
Click to expand...

Thanks MFM! 🙂

Will take that under advisement.
 
Completed E3 5x7 Glass Carrier by Nokton48, on Flickr


Here is the completed Automega E3 5x7 Glass Negative Carrier. On the right, you can see the beveled glass and custom made clips that Glenn Evans manufactured. On the left, is a sheet of Durst L138 Glass (Non Anti Newton) that came from a dealer in Austria. Using a Dremel Grinder bit attached to my mini drill press, I slowly reduced the width of the glass, until it was a perfect fit in the Omega top frame. This took many hours to get just right. I then use 3M 850 Tape to build up the thickness of the ends of the glass. This required many many thicknesses of 850 tape. When I was satisfied with the glass tightly holding my test 4x5 negative, I used more 850 Tape to secure the glass to the bottom part of the top carrier frame. Glenn could not do anything with the top part of the frame.

So it works! Not Anti Newton but it gets me going. Sure took long enough to build!
 
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