Help dismantling a Super Chromega D-6 Enlarger for shipping

[Nicole]

Seems like a doh! question... but I'm willing to ask for help.

I've donated a Super Chromega D-6 Enlarger to a lucky student in Sydney (5000km from Perth) and now need to dismantle it this weekend so the courier can collect it. Never had to package one up before. Any helpful suggestions on anything specific I need to watch out for would be much appreciated.

[ozphoto]

Hi Nicole. I had to ship an enlarger ADL-MEL (not quite as far) but did use copious amounts of newspaper. I actually stuffed it into every possible crevice in the enlarger I could, to protect against shock and hopefully reduced the dents. The baseboard packed at the bottom would protect from any damage, and make for sturdy shipment.

The globe was removed and wrapped before placing back into the lamphouse, any glass was removed and wrapped to protect against breakage, neg carriers likewise.

Anything I thought could get bent, broken or lost was removed (if possible) and placed in a Glad resealable bag and labelled clearly. I went through a ton of newspaper (thank God we used to have it delivered daily!) but once in the box, it wasn't moving anywhere. The courier did a great job (I insisted on insurance or no shipping) and it arrived safely, no damage.

I remember marking the box with FRAGILE stickers everywhere and "This Way Up", which hopefully was taken note of. Oh and used a truckload of Fragile packing tape - that flouro orange seems to grab people's attention!

[MattKing]

You will need to be careful of the springs. I would suggest removing the head and lens board/turret, then allowing the chassis to move up the rail so as to release as much of the tension as possible. Then secure the chassis at that position.

I wonder if an enquiry with Harry Taylor at Classic Enlargers would be a good idea? He is usually fairly prompt at responding in his Help Forum.

http://www.classic-enlargers.com/

[Ian C]

Remove the lens and collapse the bellows to protect them for shipping.

Losen the 4 knobs holding the light head (and condenser unit if so equipped) and remove the head.

The head and condenser unit should be well wrapped in thick padding and boxed by itself. You might want to separate the condenser unit from the lamphouse and pack these separately.

Crank the carriage most of the way up on the rails to relax the counterbalance springs. If you raise it high enough the carriage should be high enough to largely protect the counterbalance springs on top of the column.

You should have one person hold the column while a second person removes the 3 base clamp screws and short clamping bars.

Now the column & carriage (stays together) can be lifted away from the base. This is by far the largest and heaviest component and needs a strong box and generous packing such as air-pillow packing or balled up newspaper.

The column and base needs to be carefully packed in a sufficiently large box so that you can insert sufficient padding between the column & carriage assembly and the inside of the box. The column & carriage assembly should stay together (don’t attempt to disassemble).

You need to pay particular attention to safeguarding the counterbalance springs (the housings at the top of the column as they are easily bent and ruined in shipping if not protected from blows or force against them). The Micromega focusing unit (standard on the D6) is also easily damaged if it receives a blow or force. Therefore, this too requires particular care in packing so that it isn’t damaged in shipping. The Micromega focusing unit can be removed and packed separately if wanted.

The baseboard should be wrapped and boxed separately. You can leave the clamping hardware on the baseboard along with the clamp bars and the screws. It’s a good idea to snug the screws so that the screws, spacers, and clamps won’t get lost.

Obviously, the packages:

1. Column & baseboard

2. Lamphouse & condenser unit (this could be in 2 separate packages, but don’t have to be separated).

3. Baseboard and column-mounting hardware

Should be marked "FRAGILE—PLEASE HANDLE CAREFULLY"

There’s a D6 photo and parts list for reference here by choosing “Discontinued Enlargers” and then clicking onto the D6 photo.

http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/