Hi,
How accurate are the grades on the control unit of the Ilford 500H head when printing on Ilford multigrade warm tone fiber base paper (glossy?) I know Ilford was not making this paper back when they were building these heads, I'd like to know how accurate the contrast settings are when using this newer paper. Thanks!

Simon Galley would have the definitive answer, but there is no particular reason they shouldn't be accurate, if you consider Multigrade as a system, all the components of the system should be made to the same performance standard.

The best way to find out would be to test it and see. That way, the enlarger head will be calibrated to yours.

You could consider using one of the RH Designs timers or analysers (StopClock 500 or Analyser 500) to get as close as possible to perfect calibration of that head to that paper or as a matter of fact to your developer, toner, and working practices. Personally, I have been very happy using 500H with the MGWT and other papers, but I feel there may have been a slight unevenness in grade separation. I cannot prove that, it is just a feeling. The RH Designs devices with "500" in the name have been calibrated very recently, and you can further calibrate them if you wish to.

Hi,
How accurate are the grades on the control unit of the Ilford 500H head when printing on Ilford multigrade warm tone fiber base paper (glossy?) I know Ilford was not making this paper back when they were building these heads, I'd like to know how accurate the contrast settings are when using this newer paper. Thanks!

Couldn't say quantitavely about the accuracy of the contrast settings with this head, as I've nothing to compare it with, no fixed grades. But it certainly gives an excellent contrast range with Ilford's product you mention. If it's a true 0 or 5 is rather academic; visually its certainly for me everything I require from a VC paper and enlarger head.

You can also fine tune the light output (green bias) by adjusting the dip switch on the back of the control panel. The normal setting is 1 = balanced lamps to max 5 = increase green light 40%. Mine came set on 4 and I've never felt the need to change.

Having used the ilford head for several years the adjustments are fairly simple ,since using the RHDesign 500 system its like a rolls royce in comparison,you can download the latest profiles just follow the links on site and the designer has about 10 or so which are perfect in setup.
Paper set 1 is usefull for most of my printing and the times almost double when I :)set it on warmtone paper setting so I guess some testing is the way to go(in spite of a lot of anti testing rants just of late)

how good is Ilford analyser compared with RH Design one? I have one which still works. I have not sorted out yet how to get the right technique. I found it can go up only 99 sec so I had to use widest aperture f4.5 and found it only sometimes works not 100% accurate.

I use the Ilford MG600 Head, (Durst Multigraph) and I know that it has different profiles for WT vs regular paper, and for FB vs RC. Having noted that, I have not seen a huge difference when I have had the wrong profile set.

tomasis: RH designs analyser is another league. Take into consideration that Ilford's analyser was designed some 30 years ago.
If you need some closer information contact Richard http://rhdesigns.co.uk/ or Chris http://www.ktphotonics.co.uk. Richard sells the Stopclock/Timer and Chris can help you with calibration.
RH Designs timer utilizes different principle than Ilford CP. Ilford CP mixes up the blue and green light while Stopclock and/or Analyser makes the first exposure with one light and the second exposure with other light. Nice feature for split grade printing.
If I remember correctly you can go up to 250s with Stopclock and after calibration you can be very accurate.

Of course calibration of Analyser, not Stopclock. Those are two different products. Stopclock substitute Ilford Control Pad and works as a F-stop timer with a lot of useful features. The analyser substitues CP including probe, missing some of the Stopclock's features.

Paper set 1 is usefull for most of my printing and the times almost double when I :)set it on warmtone paper setting so I guess some testing is the way to go(in spite of a lot of anti testing rants just of late)

Hmmm. Warmtone papers are generally about a stop slower than neutral or cold tone papers, making your increased printing times seem right in line with that.