How important to clean enlarger condensers?

http://www.sayal.com/images_s/WireCa...wer/168723.jpg

Like those? Must be somebody closer to you.

Radio shack sells them as electric razor power cords.

You must keep condensors clean, inside and out. My Durst enlarger has a pair of condensors arranged in a metal box. Unfortunately, when it gets cold (I've no heating in my darkroom), the condensors steam up owing to heat from the light. The effect is immediately noticable on the baseboard, but luckily it is easily remedied by taking the condensor arrangement apart and wiping the lenses down. BLIGHTY

One could say Blighty that God shone on Yorkshire first as it's further East, and dank Lancashire needs longer to awake from its slumbers. Perhaps we shouldn't re-open the wounds of the Wars of the Roses :-) To our US friends these took place a few hundred years before the American continent was re-discovered.

But actually a bit of condensation usually occurs in condensor enlargers in our dismal British climate, so it's worthwhile turning a condensor enlarger on half an hour before you want to use it to allow the heat to dissapate any condensation.

Back to the original post I can't believe that its not possible to clean the lenses, having asked around I can't find anyone near me with a Vivitar enlarger but there must be a way to clean them

Ian

Ian,
You are right! (not about Yorkshire of course, perish the thought! ;) ). What I should have said is, if your condensors 'condense' then you must clean them. However, prevention is better than cure; so during the cold weather, I warm the condensors verrrrrry slowly near the fire. Works a treat. Regards, BLIGHTY.

Postscript: I finally got the damn thing apart. Methodology was brute force - these are mounted in a cheap sheet metal stamping, I just had to pry and pry and finally the "lid" came off. Cleaned the inner surfaces, re-mounted the glass and pressed the whole works back together again. Lord only knows if the two lenses are anywhere close to being in alignment now.

Jonathan

I _must_ clean mine before my next printing session.
I see dust on my neg, so I clean it carefully by inspection, I put it back in the enlarger and the next print has new dust on it. It must be picking it up int the enlarger so I'm going to make it a project to clean the condensors, blow out the bellows and wipe down all the interior surfaces.
Hopefully, I will get the time back in reduced spotting time.

I found a clutch of Durst Latico condensers which appear to be in good shape. However, they are covered in thick coats of dust. How do I clean off the dust without scratching the glass? Should I vacuum them? Some of the dust appear stuck to the glass; should I remove them from their frames and rinse them in distilled water?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sean Tang

I found a clutch of Durst Latico condensers which appear to be in good shape. However, they are covered in thick coats of dust. How do I clean off the dust without scratching the glass? Should I vacuum them? Some of the dust appear stuck to the glass; should I remove them from their frames and rinse them in distilled water?

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I would not go to the bother of removing the glass from the metal enclosures...I would just immerse the entire condensor into water and let the dust soften and gently swish the condensors in the water to remove as much as possible.

Two things - I am late with the first, but one of these "steam caddys" seemed like the answer for the gentleman with the old vivitar - the steam does wonders to remove stubborn dirt. Unless the heat cracked the lens, but I doubt it.
Now, as to the "dirt does nothing, scratches do" question. Yes, a crack or a scratch is structural damage to the substance of the condensor. As such, it acts as its own, totally unpredictable lens/prism. Dirt, stains, etc., do not.

My Omega has a what looks like a water spot on the bottom side of the top lens of the condensor (its two pieces of convex/flat glass, with the convex parts facng each other). I assume years of temperature changes and condensation built up moisture on the glass, and when it condensed, it rolled to the lowest point and eventually dried there. I looked at cleaning it, and decided that a misaligned condesor would be more obtrusive than the little water spot. So far, I have been proven rigth, as I see no artefacts that I could realte to it on any of the prints I have made.
This is by nomeans an argument against cleanliness - I go as far as I prudently can to clean my lenses, etc. Its just about sme trade offs that might be worth making (lesser of two evils type thing).

Well, just some thoughts from a beginner - do take them with that in mind,
Cheers,

Peter.