Enlargers (more memorial ramblings)

[rodeo_joe1]

We always used a wetting agent rinse for a minute or two before placing them in the dryer.

I did likewise with the flatbed 'ferrotyping', and always gave the chrome plate a good polish before use and checked the apron tension. Didn't seem to make any difference. Sometimes I'd hear the satisfying crackling noise as the prints released themselves from the plate, and other times the deafening silence told me I had a problem.

[conrad_hoffman]

I tried all manner of agents and polish when using flat plates and I don't think I ever produced a single print with no defects on the gloss.

[Rick Helmke]

I used a borrowed B22 at times and in high school there was a brand new color head Beseler. Where I really grew into photography was in the news business with a couple of Omega D-6’s. Much later I was working in a university darkroom with another D-6 and all the glass for negatives through 4x5. When they went digital I bought all that stuff and have it set up now. I added a Beseler from the same fire sale and now have a darkroom I would have killed for back in the day. Add all the digital stuff and it’s no wonder I have no money.

 

Rick H.

[billangel]

I have owned two enlargers: a Bogen and a Beseler.

I used the Bogen while I was in high school in the 1960s. It was only good for black and white printing, as the condenser lens had a strong greenish cast to it.

I used the Beseler enlarger in the 1980s to do both black and white and color printing.

As the Beseler enlarger had a "Dichro Color" head, I could use it to do black and white printing with polycontrast papers.

 

[glen_h]

My previously mentioned college student darkroom had a drum dryer.

 

I do remember that for RC paper you face away from the drum, and fiber paper

toward the drum. I might have had fiber base Panalure, and RC Polycontrast, though

I might have forgotten in 40 years. I don't remember any problems with it.

 

When I was younger, I inherited a ferrotype plate and roller, but as mentioned by others,

never got it to work as well as it should. There were always spots that weren't

as glossy as the rest.

 

I also had a Kodak Blotter roll. Looks like this one:

 

New Vintage Photo Developing Item

 

which has one sheet of ordinary blotter paper, one sheet of cloth covered paper,

where you put the prints facing the cloth. They don't come out glossy, but a finish

that I was happy with at the time. Most of them were for my 7th and 8th grade

yearbook, so super glossy isn't needed.

 

Earlier that that, I had Kodak Print Flattening Solution, which didn't work all

that well, and wasn't so cheap, either.

[Gary Naka]

My previously mentioned college student darkroom had a drum dryer.

 

I do remember that for RC paper you face away from the drum, and fiber paper

toward the drum. I might have had fiber base Panalure, and RC Polycontrast, though

I might have forgotten in 40 years. I don't remember any problems with it.

 

I though you could NOT put RC paper into a heated dryer, for fear of melting the plastic/resin.

I always air dried by RC prints.

[glen_h]

I though you could NOT put RC paper into a heated dryer, for fear of melting the plastic/resin.

I always air dried by RC prints.

 

Since you mention it, I don't remember now. That was 40 years ago.

 

It might be that there was a temperature adjustment so I could do them at a lower temperature.

 

Papers 40 years ago might have been different.

 

I do remember knowing about different dry-mount tissue for the lower temperature for RC papers.

 

Looking at Polycontrast III data sheets (on the web), and actual paper data sheet that I still

have from about 40 years ago, both say dry facing away from the drum, below 88C or 190F.

 

I don't remember now how the dryer worked, though, but I would have followed the

Kodak instructions. (No Google to look things up 40 years ago.)

[denny_rane]

I have owned two enlargers: a Bogen and a Beseler.

I used the Bogen while I was in high school in the 1960s. It was only good for black and white printing, as the condenser lens had a strong greenish cast to it.

I used the Beseler enlarger in the 1980s to do both black and white and color printing.

As the Beseler enlarger had a "Dichro Color" head, I could use it to do black and white printing with polycontrast papers.

 

[ATTACH=full]1325822[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]1325823[/ATTACH]

What i really like about the Bogen is the way they cantilever the head. That is great for Dodge/Burn. :)

 

I have a Beseler and the focus rail gets in the way sometimes.

[Bill C]

I though you could NOT put RC paper into a heated dryer, for fear of melting the plastic/resin.

 

I'm sure that you COULD; perhaps not the best way 'cuz of the issue of allowing the moisture next to the drum to escape. So you'd ideally squeegee the paper (to strip off surface moisture) and limit the temperature.

 

In high-volume processing situations the standard method for RC is to have hot air impinging on the paper from both sides as the paper moves through a drying cabinet. (Virtually all color paper is RC; drying recs should be in the Kodak Z manuals.)

[glen_h]

https://125px.com/docs/paper/kodak/g21.pdf

 

does say to squeegee them before putting them in the drum drier, back toward the drum.

 

I don't remember doing that, but maybe shake as much water off as I could.

[conrad_hoffman]

I used to sponge them off then lay them flat to dry.

 

That Bogen is very much like the Prinz (sp?) I had, with the same parallelogram arrangement. I was always fond of it.