An External Cooling System for the Beseler 45S Dichroic Head

[felipemorgan]

felipemorgan submitted a new resource:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) - An External Cooling System for the Beseler 45S Dichroic Head

I recently got a Beseler 45S dichroic head for my Beseler 45MCRX enlarger, which was previously fitted with a condenser head. I was already sold on the advantages of a dichroic head for B&W variable contrast printing and was happy to find this head for a good price on eBay. When the head arrived from the seller I began cleaning it up and noticed that the internal cooling fan had started to come loose from its mounting system.

The existing cooling fan is a small plastic unit about 3″ in...

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Photo Engineer]

This is totally unlike the 45S that I have. It has many more controls and LED indicators.

Just FYI.

PE

 

[felipemorgan]

Thanks for that info PE. I did not know there were multiple variations on the 45S. In the one pictured in this article, there is an On/Off switch, a "White Light" indicator, and illuminated filter control dials but no LEDs.

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Philip, you have the later model, some might say, 'better' dichroic head. The computer version is okay, but prone to issues with voltage regulators. Fairly ingenious setup for the the fan and something that Beseler used to do on their older MCRX (blue finished) models.

 

[Joe Lipka]

You have apparently leapt ahead backwards. Many moons ago I had a dichro head for my Beseler MCRX 45. The cooling unit was external with a flexible plastic tube running from the fan to the lamphouse. You have gone back to that design.

 

[felipemorgan]

Indeed, externalizing the cooling fan is a move "backwards" in one sense, but for me it reduced vibration in the enlarger head and decreased the operating temperature of the head, so it was worth it!

 

[Chan Tran]

My dichro 45 died so and I can't get a replacement head at reasonable price so I ended up with a CB7 with the Dichro DG head. I like the Dichro DG head with 2 lamps, more light and more even but I don't like it external cooling blower.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

My 10x10 Chromega has a rather large external fan box connected to the Dichro head with a flexi-hose also.

 

[Chan Tran]

Thanks for that info PE. I did not know there were multiple variations on the 45S. In the one pictured in this article, there is an On/Off switch, a "White Light" indicator, and illuminated filter control dials but no LEDs.

The one the you have, Phillips, is the standard 45s and the same model is in production for the longest time. In fact the 45s is still available now, even when the newest 45 Universal has been discontinued. The version that PE has is called the Dichro 45 Computerized color head. It's basically the same as the 45s but there is sensor mounted on the diffusion chamber to display on the 3 LED the actual amount of filtration. I like this version a lot more but like the one I have, when it's dead I can't fix it. Electrically the standard 45s is simple and I can fix most of its problems. It doesn't have the scale on the control knobs.

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

Sweet deal. I like that the fans are mounted remotely. Easier to implement, little risk of damaging the head, no vibration..