[pure-silver] Re: 8x10 condenser enlarger head design
----- Original Message ----- From: "John" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 12:01 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] 8x10 condenser enlarger head design
I am new here. I followed Mr. Knoppow to here from usenet. (Hello, Richard!)
I have been rebuilding a Saltzman 8x10" enlarger which is missing a light source. The condensers are in good condition, I prefer condenser enlargers and I'd like to have an appropriate hot head made. (I am very fortunate to know an excellent sheet-metal fabricator who makes custom devices for our local composites-material factories.)
I have no clue as to the design of the original tungsten source head. I have Focomats (I and II) and their design uses a single frosted bulb and a matte-silver reflector. Is there a single, large-enough bulb to work for an 8x10" enlarger? (The condensers are 14" in diameter). I have a hot box originally designed to light natural specimens; it uses six tungsten bulbs. Would it make more sense to use multiple bulbs? 

Can anyone point me to a good source for head designs?


Thank you,
John


   Hi, John, welcome to this list:-)
I don't know of any source for drawings of the original Saltzman stuff. They may exist because at least one person continued to service them for many years after Ceaser-Saltzman went out of business. The original condenser head used a mirror to fold the light path. It may also have been a "cold" mirror but I don't know for certain. The lamp could be focused by means of a crank wheel on the back of the housing. That suggests that there was some sort of support frame inside the housing, probably a casting. Condenser heads seem to have been rare although you may be able to find one with some searching since most of these big enlargers have been taken out of service, and, I am afraid, scrapped. The condensers are probably the hardest part to find so you are ahead of the game there. The 8x10 Saltzmans came originally with diffusion heads using Cooper-Hewit type mercury vapor lamps. That's why the exposure was controlled by a shutter. The lamps must be run continuously. Saltzman also had a cold-light head available using regular fluorescent lamps. There were also a couple of after-market dicroic type color heads made for them. The simplest way of getting the thing going is to get an Arista cold light head for it. They are expensive. I would try simply advertising for a condenser head, again since you already have the condensers finding the rest may be easier. Good luck with this. I've lusted after a Saltzman since I was about fifteen. But, as the fellow says, "Never the time, the place, and the loved one together" so when you could get a Saltzman by coming with a truck and taking it I didn't (and still don't) have the room. 

--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
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