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  #1  
Old 11th May 2021, 09:08 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default Enlarger woes

Over the past 3-4 weeks I have noticed what I thought was the enlarger bulb flickering in my LPL7700 when making a long-ish exposure. Today it gave up the struggle and wouldn't light up.

I replaced the bulb in the 7700 and again no light. I fitted it to my LPL6700 and it lit up straight away!

To check, I put another bulb in but no luck. So I checked the fuse in the back of the transformer and the glass tube was black, well and truly burnt out! I swapped over the fuse from my other transformer and still no light.

It turned out to be corrosion in the ceramic bulb holder where the two pins are inserted. To clean them out was struggle because the holes are too small to insert anything easily. It was eventually cleaned by using a damaged bulb and with a shot of WD40 pushed the bulb in and out many times until the pins on the bulb were bright and shiny.

I put it all back together and let there be light, job done. With traces of the WD40 still in the holder this may help to stave off any more corrosion.

Now the burnt out fuse. It appears to be similar to a standard glass fuse that used to be fitted to cars a while back, but looks about 25% larger! Spares are no longer available from the likes of Firstcall who used to be the importer. Also, it was rated at 1amp, car fuses were never that low rating.

I may be struggling to get one and I may have to resort to repairing it with new 1amp wire soldered into the two end caps. Not a difficult job, I have done it before, however if a simple spare like a fuse is no longer available we may be struggling later on to keep even colour enlargers working.

Last edited by John King; 11th May 2021 at 09:17 PM.
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Old 12th May 2021, 03:35 AM
Molli Molli is offline
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Would it be worth contacting KHB Photografix? They're the only suppliers of LPL parts that immediately spring to mind. A quick glance at the LPL7700 page doesn't mention fuses, but that's not to say they don't have them or can't source them for you.
The LPL7700 page:
http://www.khbphotografix.com/LPL/LPL7700series.htm

Best of luck. I'm heartened to read of your results with the ceramic holder cleaning. I bought replacements for the exact same model, along with new globes. The globes didn't help with the suddenly long exposure times required, nor the horrible lack of contrast and I simply can't access the wires of the holder to replace the part with any sort of confidence. An APUG member wound up splicing his into place. I'm not game - also, I was gifted an Omega D2V 4x5 shortly after so the urgency wore off rather quickly at that point!

(Apologies for my usual wordiness!)
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Old 12th May 2021, 04:05 AM
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Bob Bob is offline
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Fuses come in a range of pretty standard sizes so Ebay may be your friend if you plug in the size and value of the fuse. If you find one, it will be of poor quality (and you will probably have to buy ten of them...) but the alternative of checking the likes of RS Components and Farnell (Element 14) will lead to carriage charges greater even than buying an original part. Good luck!
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Old 12th May 2021, 04:42 AM
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Uwe Pilz Uwe Pilz is offline
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My Durst enlarger runs a 100 W Halogen bulb. This gives much head, and the holder corrodes. From time to time I insert a new holder. You need one which is fit for 100 W, but they can be bought. The best ceramic type are constructed for 5 A, I did not find any higher current. This is a bit low for 100W, so they need to be replaced from time to time.

Please don't shorten the wires. They serve for cooling.

I had problems with the fuse too. There was a speedy type set in (speedy? Don't know the exact English term). I replaced it by a slow type.
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Old 12th May 2021, 07:07 AM
Keith Haithwa Keith Haithwa is offline
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I replaced the lampholders in an LPL 6700 and an LPL 7700 a few years ago. I managed to track the supplier down from my email history:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351673651605
If you're running a 12v 100w lamp you will see the rating is far higher than you need so they will last a long time. Memory is a bit hazy now but I don't recall any problems with the replacement. I seem to remember searching for fuses at the same time but I can't find any trace of the results.
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Old 12th May 2021, 07:43 AM
John King John King is offline
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Default LPL Spares and repairs

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob View Post
Fuses come in a range of pretty standard sizes so Ebay may be your friend if you plug in the size and value of the fuse. If you find one, it will be of poor quality (and you will probably have to buy ten of them...) but the alternative of checking the likes of RS Components and Farnell (Element 14) will lead to carriage charges greater even than buying an original part. Good luck!
Ah yes good old RS supplies. They have so many bits and pieces in their catalogue, if anyone has them they should. I have had a few bits from them in the past.

I will still be repairing the old fuse even as an exercise to keep my hand in. I will post pictures.

Keith I will not have anything to do with EBAY I look upon them as slightly more dishonest than Fagin.

Uwe. As Durst enlargers use the same bulb as the LPL a Durst ceramic bulb holder should fit. The one on the LPL7700 involves quite a bit of work to get at the terminals, so perhaps that is a job for a rainy day.

Molli As khb are in Canada they may be my last port of call if all else fails.

At present apart from the fuse, I have a spare LPL 7700 lamp house where I can remove the ceramic holder and clean it up at my leisure. I also believer RK Photo, one of our supporters also have a number of spares and I will try them.
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Old 12th May 2021, 10:22 AM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John King View Post
Ah yes good old RS supplies. They have so many bits and pieces in their catalogue, if anyone has them they should. I have had a few bits from them in the past.

I will still be repairing the old fuse even as an exercise to keep my hand in. I will post pictures.

Keith I will not have anything to do with EBAY I look upon them as slightly more dishonest than Fagin.

Uwe. As Durst enlargers use the same bulb as the LPL a Durst ceramic bulb holder should fit. The one on the LPL7700 involves quite a bit of work to get at the terminals, so perhaps that is a job for a rainy day.

Molli As khb are in Canada they may be my last port of call if all else fails.

At present apart from the fuse, I have a spare LPL 7700 lamp house where I can remove the ceramic holder and clean it up at my leisure. I also believer RK Photo, one of our supporters also have a number of spares and I will try them.
Might just be worth looking at Imaging Warehouse, they also do some LPL spares
Richard
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Old 12th May 2021, 10:33 AM
SteveW SteveW is offline
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The fuse in my LPL 7451 popped the other week and like yourself thought the size was a bit odd. I thought I would struggle to get a replacement. However I checked with the manual to make sure of the voltage etc, popped onto Amazon and had them next day. Purchased a pack of 10 IIRC for about a £5. Just as well as another popped the following day. Turned out to be the timer causing the issue.
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Old 12th May 2021, 11:47 AM
mpirie mpirie is offline
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To clean the lamp holder contacts, i'd recommend Servisol electrical contact cleaner rather than WD40.

Your fuse is likely to be 20mm glass. The rating should be impressed on the fuse caps, 240VAC and 1A or 2A.

If ordering from RS (Maplins used to be a good local source) then i'd suggest getting anti-surge fuses, they are built to take the "shock" of high demand for a short time before blowing, so are better suited for transformers etc.

Mike

PS If all fails, drop me a PM and i'm sure i can find a spare for you.
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  #10  
Old 12th May 2021, 12:04 PM
Nat Polton Nat Polton is offline
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I think the description Uwe Pilz was after are slow-blow and anti-surge fuses.

It's a shame you seem to have a reluctance to use ebay John. I ordered two of these for my Durst M605 about a year ago. Fast delivery etc. and cheap. Cut the old wires and soldered this in place with heat shrink over the solder.
Reading the comments here I wonder if it is the same fitting required.

Somebody did mention here a while back that they cut off the old faulty ceramic socket and simply soldered the feed wires to the new bulb.

Cheers.
__________________
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Last edited by Nat Polton; 12th May 2021 at 12:25 PM.
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