I was given a Beseler 45m in pieces. After assembly I was not very happy with the condensor head and thought I might build a cold light head. The Beseler has a stove pipe (round) opening where the light head fits in. Oddly enough it is not a standard pipe size but is about the same size as a standard paint can. (I wonder what they used when prototyping:>))
I bought some sheet metal and rolled it into the right size pipe and riveted it. Then I made a cap for it from another piece of sheet metal. In the cap, I installed 3 equally spaced standard light sockets. I glued a thick strip of felt around the outside of the pipe to keep it in position on the head. My enlarger did not have a filter box. I removed the upper bellows and built a 1 inch thick mixing/filter box to put in its place. The bottom of the box holds a 1/4 in sheet of white plastic for diffusion. For bulbs, I chose three GE dimmable flourescent (3200K) bulbs. They cost about $20 each around here. These are about 29 watts each and with all three I am generating about 5000 lumens. This is about a stop more light at the baseboard than the condensor head. Heat has not been a problem except for the time I forgot and left it on for 4 hours. The head was fine but the white plastic had sagged a little in the mixing box. I have an electronic line dimmer for the enlarger but have not used it yet. This is in case I have too much light for the aperture I want. There is a consistent 6 tenths of a second delay from the time I press the button on the timer until the light kicks on. Light fall-off is about 1/2 stop from center to edges - a little better than I was getting with the condensor head. If I were doing it over, I would find a sheet metal shop to make the light head and the mixing/filter box as one unit. Although it works very well, it is ugly. And for an equipped shop this would not be a tough or time consuming deal. I would also use 1/2 inch or thicker white plastic for the diffuser. The best diffuser I have ever seen was one of those textured white plastic cutting boards from a kitchen supply store. Altogether I have about 6 hours and $80 into this head and I am pleased with the performance. I could have bought an Aristo head for not too much more but I don't think it puts out as much light. Although I will never do color, the 3200K bulbs would be fine to use with a filter pack. Another advantage to the cold light head on a Beseler 45M is that is it much lighter than the condensor head and the old motor goes up and down a lot better. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
