megido
Well-known
I've been looking for the Leitz 16x20 wooden
base easel for some time, and now having found a possible lead on one I've noticed that the baseboard is thicker than the standard 1 inch that the auto focus system is set up for. I know Leitz made a spacer to go with the thicker easel but by all accounts it's impossible to find. I'm wondering if I will be able to still employ the auto focus system at all ranges without the spacer? I'm currently using the 8x10 1 inch thick easel which works perfectly at all ranges. The design of the 16x20 is identical apart from the thickness of the base. I'm also wondering why Leitz did not keep to the 1 inch standard.
base easel for some time, and now having found a possible lead on one I've noticed that the baseboard is thicker than the standard 1 inch that the auto focus system is set up for. I know Leitz made a spacer to go with the thicker easel but by all accounts it's impossible to find. I'm wondering if I will be able to still employ the auto focus system at all ranges without the spacer? I'm currently using the 8x10 1 inch thick easel which works perfectly at all ranges. The design of the 16x20 is identical apart from the thickness of the base. I'm also wondering why Leitz did not keep to the 1 inch standard.
Graybeard
Longtime IIIf User
The Ic enlarger head rests on an indexing pin which goes through the column about at the column midpoint.
It should be a simple task to fabricate a spacer that slips over the enlarger column to raise the Focomat head by the difference in baseboard thickness.
If I were doing this, I'd probably cut a ring out of a section of plastic pipe. A trip to the hardware store (or the ironmonger, if you prefer) might be your next step.
Rick Waldroup
Well-known
Many years ago, I worked in the photo department of a local publishing company and we had four separate printing stations using these enlargers. They had the 16x20 board and, if my memory is correct, we modified them using PVC pipe, much like Graybeard described above.