Adjustment of LPL/Saunders Masking Negative Carrier?

[Newt_on_Swings]

I finally got my hands on one of these from a fellow forum member brand new =]. I have also installed the Anti-newton top plate which was included as well.

I have one problem though, the metal adjustable masks (2 on bottom edge and 2 on right edge) are not perfectly straight. I have opened it up removing just 4 screws from the bottom plate and examined its simple design. It seems that the metal blades are made out of too thin a metal which does not hold it rigidity well when moving it.

Now does anyone know a specific way to adjust these blades, or do you just try to bend them carefully? Trying to get perfect alignment in the enlarger is tricky, as the blades go in and out of parallel with each other.

Was there any instruction booklet that came along with this unit?

Also it has been hinted at in the past that shaving a bit of plastic from the edges (which act as stops) can allow this carrier to go to 6x9 size. Any info on that as well?

And one more thing, for people using it, any hints on how to place negative directly in the center, as a skewed image might project differently from the enlarger lens, especially when using shorter focal lengths.

Thanks

[Newt_on_Swings]

Can anyone confirm if this is also a problem for them as well?

[tomalophicon]

I took mine out and replaced it with a maskless carrier. They were a real pain in the arse.

[Newt_on_Swings]

Man, that wasnt the answer I was hoping for. It did take a bit of time to get things setup each time I had to switch a negative. I may reserve this carrier then only for half frame work and medium format negatives, as flatness was a concern.

It was very helpful when printing side by side negatives from my half frame camera though.

[Mark Fisher]

I used this carrier for awhile. The thing is that it is really nice for curly 35mm negs, but the dust challange is more than I was up for. I still use it for 35mm when I can't get it flat any other way. I also use it if I want a black border around a medium format print (rare). My masking blades are reasonably close to parallel. I don't have a problem with flatness with medium format negs so I usually use a glassless carrier

[perkeleellinen]

I also gave up using this and went for the glassless carrier. I only print 35mm so there's no real set up problems. For me it was Newton's rings that were the issue even with AN glass - but only on Kodak colour negs, Fuji were fine. I measured them and there's maybe 0.001" difference in thickness, enough to give me rings with Kodak.

[Laurent]

The blades on mine were removed by the previous owner, I tried to put them back but wasn't too happy with the results.
I'm now using the holder without them (two glasses for 6x6, glassless for 35mm) and am pleased with the results...

[Newt_on_Swings]

I ended up taking it apart and bending the metal strips a bit to get it straighter. If I had to design this masking easel the simplest addition of a masking metal strip that actually bridged both sides of the carrier would have made this infinitely straighter. How is it designed with only one side being held by the adjustment tabs, which allows the far end to hang and dangle loose and go out of parallel. Really dumb move by LPL/Saunders.