The Darkroom Cookbook Forum

Now what, never noticed the tear before I properly set up the enlarger the other day (school darkroom, many donations, pretty sure this one has never be used for 4x5 before). The condenser, topside, had the spacer ring for the plano-convex lenses in the wrong place so I fixed that. Slapped on a 135mm lens and went to focus the enlarger. And there's a big tear in the bellows. Not happy, more light coming out the side than through the lens.



I have another carriage, that I could swap in for the buggered unit (the motor is shot on this one). How big a job to remove the entire carriage assy. from the enlargers and swap?

darkroommike wrote: Now what, never noticed the tear before I properly set up the enlarger the other day (school darkroom, many donations, pretty sure this one has never be used for 4x5 before). The condenser, topside, had the spacer ring for the plano-convex lenses in the wrong place so I fixed that. Slapped on a 135mm lens and went to focus the enlarger. And there's a big tear in the bellows. Not happy, more light coming out the side than through the lens.



I have another carriage, that I could swap in for the buggered unit (the motor is shot on this one). How big a job to remove the entire carriage assy. from the enlargers and swap?




You should be able to swap the bellows. The older units had screws in the bellows frames. Some of the newer models were riveted, but you can drill those out and replace them with screws.



Changing the entire carriage is a little more complex and you need to relive the torsion spring in the lower driving tube before you attempt to remove it from the main frame. If the motor is no good you can swap it also without having to swap the entire carriage.



Here is a link to more info and how to adjust the counterbalance torsion spring;



http://www.tech-diy.com/Photography/Bes ... eleven.gif



Hope this helps!

I have successfully repaired bellows on both enlargers and view cameras using black gaffers tape available from Freestyle and other photo sources. The tape comes in a variety of widths.



You might ask if anyone has a used MX they'll send you for the cost of shipping.



I have several Omega D5's without light sources which i would be glad to send on that basis. I will be posting them on the free equipment section of this site when I get a chance.

I'm more an Omega man myself (and I don't men the awful movie with Charlton Heston!). In my (crowded) home darkroom I have a D5/MG600 head, a D3 with a Variable Condenser head, and a D2 I am rebuilding. I am replacing the bellows on the D2, not for damage, but because the seam came unglued. On inspection I think the Omega bellows is much more robust than the Beseler bellows and perhaps the D2 and D3 cones (which everyone curses) may be part of the reason the bellows don't get so much stress since the bellows don't get stretched as much.



If my Summer classes convene I'll be on campus all Summer and can work on the darkroom some more. If not I'll be in my home, climate controlled darkroom where everything works.

I have three D5 columns and lens stages in almost new condition. if you want one or more of them for the cost of shipping. They have the wide bars for a color head but the D2 bars should fit to adapt to a b/w or cold white head.

Re: On the subject of bellows
Does anyone know where one can get bellows replaced or how make a bellows. I have a Super Chromega D, Dichroic enlarger that needs a new bellows.
Thanks for any info,
Constantine

castewart wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:26 am Re: On the subject of bellows
Does anyone know where one can get bellows replaced or how make a bellows. I have a Super Chromega D, Dichroic enlarger that needs a new bellows.
Thanks for any info,
Constantine

JB Harlan (I believe this is the same JB Harlan that was posting above, yes?) has these bellows-building instructions on his website: https://www.jbhphoto.com/wp-content/upl ... bh2008.pdf

I haven't used them myself, but a friend used them to make a new bellows for an early 1900's view camera and it worked great.