Versalab's Parallel laser enlarger alignment tool

On 3/22/2005 11:55 AM laura spake thus:

Apparently, some sales people at Calumet are telling customers that
Versalab no longer makes the Parallel laser enlarger alignment tool.

Not True! We still make them and people still love them.

Just wanted to let people know what's going on.

Thank you.

Laura @ versalab.com

That's nice to know, but you should also know that anybody can do the same job
(accurately aligning their enlarger) with a simple technique requiring only
two ordinary mirrors.


--
"I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."

- Former President Gerald Ford to his golf partners, as related by
the late Hunter S. Thompson

Hey Dave:
Is this technique documented somewhere?
-Lew
"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
...
On 3/22/2005 11:55 AM laura spake thus:

Apparently, some sales people at Calumet are telling customers that
Versalab no longer makes the Parallel laser enlarger alignment tool.

Not True! We still make them and people still love them.

Just wanted to let people know what's going on.

Thank you.

Laura @ versalab.com

That's nice to know, but you should also know that anybody can do the same
job (accurately aligning their enlarger) with a simple technique requiring
only two ordinary mirrors.


--
"I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."

- Former President Gerald Ford to his golf partners, as related by
the late Hunter S. Thompson

"Lew" wrote in message
...
: Hey Dave:
: Is this technique documented somewhere?



http://www.darkroomz.com/align_your_enlarger.html

Second hit in Google search.

RS


: -Lew
: "David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
: ...
: On 3/22/2005 11:55 AM laura spake thus:
:
: Apparently, some sales people at Calumet are telling customers that
: Versalab no longer makes the Parallel laser enlarger alignment
tool.
:
: Not True! We still make them and people still love them.
:
: Just wanted to let people know what's going on.
:
: Thank you.
:
: Laura @ versalab.com
:
: That's nice to know, but you should also know that anybody can do
the same
: job (accurately aligning their enlarger) with a simple technique
requiring
: only two ordinary mirrors.
:
:
: --
: "I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."
:
: - Former President Gerald Ford to his golf partners, as related by
: the late Hunter S. Thompson
:
:
:

Peter De Smidt wrote:
laura wrote:
Good day.

Apparently, some sales people at Calumet are telling customers that

Versalab no longer makes the Parallel laser enlarger alignment
tool.

Not True! We still make them and people still love them.

Just wanted to let people know what's going on.

Thank you.

Laura @ versalab.com

That's great. I have one and love it.

I have a question, though. I've had the parallel for 5 years, and I
haven't replaced the battery. Should I do this myself, or would it
better be done at the factory?

-Peter De Smidt
www.desmidt.net

Thank you for your support and glad you love it. Everyone does. Very
easy to replace the batteries yourself -- that's why we supply the
little allen wrench and instructions. Remove the screws, remove the
lid, replace the 2 AA batteries. Then replace the lid, push it up into
the upper left-hand corner of the box, and tighten the screws while
holding the lid in that position. Done.

Laura

David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 3/22/2005 11:55 AM laura spake thus:

Apparently, some sales people at Calumet are telling customers that
Versalab no longer makes the Parallel laser enlarger alignment tool.

Not True! We still make them and people still love them.

Just wanted to let people know what's going on.

Thank you.

Laura @ versalab.com

That's nice to know, but you should also know that anybody can do the same job
(accurately aligning their enlarger) with a simple technique requiring only
two ordinary mirrors.


That's true. Unfortunately, even with an large enlarger (Durst G139)
this mirror method is a PITA, and the Versalab is a joy to work. I
aligned my enlargers with mirrors for years and bought the Versalab some
time ago, now I never want to align an enlarger without it.

Martin

David Nebenzahl wrote:

[ Versalab] ... anybody can do the same job (accurately aligning their
enlarger) with a simple technique requiring only two ordinary mirrors.

The 2-mirror trick works, it's cheap and it's available at any
hardware store.

I use it and don't like it. The top mirror has to be held against
the lens barrel with one hand while one peers through the hole in
the top mirror (have the hardware store grind the mirror edges smooth or
pick up some band-aids on the way home) and then using the other
hand turn an invisible (remember, you are peering through the hole
in the mirror so you can't see squat) and hard to get at alignment
screw while leaning over and bent double at the waist.

To make the alignment easier I use cross of two strips of white
correction tape around the hole and illuminate the tape/top mirror
with a Tensor lamp. The classic method uses a magic-marker black cross,
but it is hard to illuminate black and so the view is quite
dim.

To make the job much easier, Guillermo posted earlier about using
four LED's shining out through the top mirror. There was a website
illustration but it has disappeared. Herewith the original r.p.d.
post:


From: "G.P"
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 01:08:25 GMT

I just finished a prototype of a Poor man's LED alignment tools and it works
beautifully!! It is nothing extraordinary but thought to post a
description for the sake of those that like me are looking for a cheap way
to align their enlarger.


Took a piece of plywood 1/8"x5"x5", made a 1/2" hole at its center and 4
holes 1.5" from the center and equidistant from each other, these holes were
just big enough to allow the insertion of 4 standard LED's (one in each
hole), the LEDs were series connected, a 50 resistor was added to the
circuit to limit the current and LEDS+resistor fed by a 9volts battery. The
configuration of holes of the piece of wood was replicated at the end side
on one of the mirrors, holes were not made on the mirror, instead its
backing was scraped. The piece of wood with the circuit was glued onto the
mirror. I happened to have the prism of my defunct very first SLR (Minolta
XG2), I placed this prism on the center hole of the piece of wood and can
see very clearly the alignment dots-cross pattern thru the prism. A prism
is not absolutely necessary, one can peek from above the mirror and thru its
center hole, but a prism make the alignment so much easier. A prism can be
easily obtained from a defunct SLR camera, eBay lists many broken SLRs going
for very little money. Edmund Sci. has a right angle prism for about $10,
this place also sells surplus prisms http://www.anchoroptics.com/


Guillermo

I still, however, lust for a Versalab when alignment time comes around.


--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

mar2405 from Lloyd Erlick,

Uh-oh. Have I been silly again? I've been relying on
the hype around my durst enlarger (L1200). Supposedly
they do not fall out of alignment. Not true?

regards,
--le
________________________________
Lloyd Erlick Portraits, Toronto.
voice: 416-686-0326
email:
net: www.heylloyd.com
________________________________
--

"Lloyd Erlick" Lloyd at @the-wire. dot com wrote

Uh-oh. Have I been silly again? I've been relying on
the hype around my durst enlarger (L1200). Supposedly
they do not fall out of alignment. Not true?

I imagine it depends on how far it fell and what it fell on.


--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:

I still, however, lust for a Versalab when alignment
time comes around.


I don't lust at all. In my mind the the proof of a good
alignment is an enlarged, distortion free, all corners sharp,
projection. The proof of that is on the easel. So, I still
maintain that the best method of alignment makes use of a
square, a ruler, and of course, the tools needed for
the adjustments.
Secondary surfaces and indirect proofs are by that method
factored out. What you see is what you get. Dan