What are the best and easiest ways to level the backlight and film holder, in a pipe stand setup? Once the camera is on the pipe it has a small forward tip and rotation, due to the pipe not being 90.00 degrees vertical, and weight of the camera pulling on the pipe.
The film holder down below must be tipped/tilted so the film is perpendicular to the lens axis to match this, otherwise the neg can never be in focus across the entire frame.
Here’s the leveller I made, it works but it’s fussy. Cap head bolts at four corners with a T nut set into the wood on the underside so the bolt is used to adjust the height, and a wingnut to lock it once it’s done. Insert film with a test image with sharp details at each corner into the film holder. Inspect the focus in whichever corner is being adjusted with live view on the laptop.
As an example of the adjustment needed, the height at the lower right is 6.7mm and 12.5mm at the back right.
That’s perfectly fine but it would be less fussy if it was a bigger, heavier platform, and potentially more precise. I’d suggest something like at least 25 cms (10”) square and maybe 20mm or 3/4” thick, think of it as a secondary baseboard. The 3-legged (milking stool) arrangement makes perfect sense, literally always grounded. However I do have a heavy cast iron version from a very old enlarger and I find it slightly counter-intuitive to adjust as you are always adjusting in more than one axis. In addition two of the corners are effectively unsupported so it’s a bit easy to accidentally tip it. You do get used to it though and once it’s set you shouldn’t need to touch it, unless you have to set it all up each time you want to ‘scan’.
As well as being lower cost than a geared head, this also avoids more mass hanging out from the side of the pipe, more places that can wobble, and the cost of a geared head that has zero droop during use. I also like making things
Changing to a larger 3-foot platform would be good. The bolts would be further away for finer adjustment, and it would be heavier so it’s less susceptible to being moved. The unsupported front corners and potential for accidental tipping can be eliminated - they can simply be cut off so this new base is triangle-shaped.
I’ll post a photo of the upgraded base in a few days once it’s ready.
Drill stands can be bought for USD 50, the one above is about USD 200.
I bought a similar beast about 30 years ago. Cast base plate and a hexagonal forged steel column, all very heavy and built to last. Gave it to recycling when I last moved…
You wouldn’t believe how heavy it is, they knew a thing or two about stability in those days (probably the 1930s) and this was just for an enlarger. I’ve never come across another enlarger where precise alignment was catered for in fact.
A 3-legged version is not actually too confusing to adjust, and as long as the front corners are removed where it could be bumped it’s not tippy once the weight of the backlight is added. It is also naturally stable, with only 3 legs.
That looks good, nice and easy to adjust and lock in place. For the benefit of the OP have you put threaded inserts into the wood for the screws? These are easily available (in the UK at least but I imagine everywhere) and there are a few different types. You can also buy threaded rubber feet in fact, or even more exotic (and expensive) pointed feet meant for hi-fi components.
I am the OP On this one I also used T nuts, pressed into the plywood. The threaded inserts are nicer but didn’t have any right then.
On the tips of the screws I used vinyl screw thread protectors. A bare bolt can slide too easily and those tip protectors give them a bit of grip but also allow the bolt to turn easily. Threaded rubber feet would be good for staying in place too, except for the strange effect of doubling the amount of height adjustment for each turn of the bolt and reducing the fineness of adjustment! (If the foot stays still, the bolt rises out of it, as well as the platform rising from the bolt, on each turn).
