Enlarger woes

VirtualAdept

VirtualAdept

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Mads
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Morning guys and girlytypes.

I've got one of these enlargers
It's not working by Madison S, on Flickr

Which has worked fairly well for a while now, however, following a length of time where I didn't use it, the focussing knob
20180510_115233 by Madison S, on Flickr

No longer moves the bellows/lens, it just spins uselessly. There is some friction to it, but not enough to get the focus changed at all. Could it require a tightening up, or lubing or something like that?

Thanks in advance

Mads
 
In the orientation of the bottom photo, are you able to gain access to the inside of right hand vertical face that you can't see? I.e., not the face which the knob and axel go through, but rather the next vertical face when moving round that cube anticlockwise? If you can get in there, you'll be able to see whether the gear on the axel which you rotate by hand has either come off the teeth on the vertical column (I'm assuming it has these) or whether the gear even rotates with the axel still, etc.
 
Woodsy said:
In the orientation of the bottom photo, are you able to gain access to the inside of right hand vertical face that you can't see? I.e., not the face which the knob and axel go through, but rather the next vertical face when moving round that cube anticlockwise? If you can get in there, you'll be able to see whether the gear on the axel which you rotate by hand has either come off the teeth on the vertical column (I'm assuming it has these) or whether the gear even rotates with the axel still, etc.
Click to expand...
Doesnt look like the column has any teeth, or none I can see above the black box from this angle, so I'm wondering if it's just a simple friction drive and not being used for a while has "damaged" it. Perhaps the friction material is now stuck to the column, or sometimes these drives have an adjusting/tension screw and it needs tightening? That's how my telescope focus adjuster works, no gears at all. I remember these enlargers from many years ago and they were very simple designs.
 
I'll go and have a tinker. It didn't even occur to me to look at that bit, let alone inside it
 
20180510_125758 by Madison S, on Flickr 20180510_125809 by Madison S, on Flickr

So then. I tightened both screws on the back of the knobs panel which helped but not much... took it apart as shown above and noticed that the movement wasn't particularly smooth, so gave the rods a rubbing down to get rid of whatever crud was on it, fitted it all back together and it seems to be on the move nicely again. Time will tell.

I cant see any friction material on the column or on the little roller bit.
 
Looks to me like the back panel will push against the brass bit on the shaft with the turning handle which will in turn push against the stainless steel shaft and create metal to metal friction . It might be worthwhile to lubricate the brass element with a tiny amount of grease on the bits that contact the back plate, but NOT the central bit that bears against the steel rod, technically I would describe the outer bits as flanges. They look like they have some old lubricant on them, are there any marks on the inside of the backing plate to confirm there has been contact?
There also appears to be a grub screw holding the brass bit to the handle shaft, is this tight, be careful not to strip the tread when tightening.
Is it a Gnome?
 
Last edited:
MatBin said:
Looks to me like the back panel will push against the brass bit on the shaft with the turning handle which will in turn push against the stainless steel shaft and create metal to metal friction . It might be worthwhile to lubricate the brass element with a tiny amount of grease on the bits that contact the back plate, but NOT the central bit that bears against the steel rod, technically I would describe the outer bits as flanges. They look like they have some old lubricant on them, are there any marks on the inside of the backing plate to confirm there has been contact?
There also appears to be a grub screw holding the brass bit to the handle shaft, is this tight, be careful not to strip the tread when tightening.
Is it a Gnome?
Click to expand...
Pretty much bang on.
The cover plate you removed pushes against steel shaft of the focus wheel.
I would not lubricate the chrome guides as this will make the brass part slip on the guides.
 
I'll admit to toying with the idea of adding lube until I realised it was an awful idea, considering how it works.
I think its a gnome, but cant find any identifying plates or marks on it, but it certainly looks to be the same as every other gnome I've seen while perusing the internet.
I'll have a look at the grub screw, but I think it was the roller slipping on the guide, rather than the roller spinning on the knob.
 
MatBin said:
Doesnt look like the column has any teeth, or none I can see above the black box from this angle, so I'm wondering if it's just a simple friction drive and not being used for a while has "damaged" it. Perhaps the friction material is now stuck to the column, or sometimes these drives have an adjusting/tension screw and it needs tightening? That's how my telescope focus adjuster works, no gears at all. I remember these enlargers from many years ago and they were very simple designs.
Click to expand...

Right you are it seems! I stand corrected.
 
How easy is it to slide the belows up and down by hand with the knob removed? Could be that lubrication would help free that up and then wipe off the excess?
 
sirch said:
How easy is it to slide the belows up and down by hand with the knob removed? Could be that lubrication would help free that up and then wipe off the excess?
Click to expand...

It wasn't smooth as it should be, but once I'd rubbed down the guides and got the crud off it, its working again.
 
I have a bag of Gnome enlarger bits waiting to fly in a skip somewhere, the guides, transport, film carriers, the bellows, everything but the stand..:)
I want to save this stuff, but I've got to be sensible otherwise I'll end up buried in 5h1te on the pretext that it "might" come in useful while I still have a pulse.

not happnin
 
joxby said:
I have a bag of Gnome enlarger bits waiting to fly in a skip somewhere, the guides, transport, film carriers, the bellows, everything but the stand..:)
I want to save this stuff, but I've got to be sensible otherwise I'll end up buried in 5h1te on the pretext that it "might" come in useful while I still have a pulse.

not happnin
Click to expand...

All I'll say to that is... I had a shedton of stuff related to printing and developing that I kept for years... I finally got rid of it all (at the behest of she who must be obeyed) and BANG, five weeks later, I've got an enlarger and could've put all that kit to use...
 
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