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Re: $150 contact printer
Joe, I made a 16x20 contact printer out of mahogany that will hold 20x24
paper for well under 150.00. I bought the hardware from Doug Kennedy for my
springs and did the rest of the work at home.
Eric J. Neilsen
4101 Commerce Street, Suite #9
Dallas, TX 75226
214-827-8301
http://e.neilsen.home.att.net
http://www.ericneilsenphotography.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Portale" <jportale@gci-net.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 7:03 PM
Subject: $150 contact printer
> I have not forgotten about you folks asking about the contact printer. It
is
> that I have become suddenly incredibly busy. I will get the drawings out
to
> all who have asked as soon as 1) I find them 2) get them scanned.
>
> Others asked how could I possibly have made a contact box for under $150.
I
> can answer that in one word: SCROUNGING.
>
> The orginal box that I built was for an 8X10 prints. The box size is
12X16.
> I went to a building materials recycling company and found an old kitchen
> cabinet the size I needed. $15.00. At the same place I picked up a piece
of
> tempered glass for another $7.00. A scrap piece of 3/4 inch plywood that
> was residing in my garage became the inside shelf for the flourecent
lamps.
> The flourecent fixtures was a problem. As luck would have it, the same
> recycler that had the box and glass had a boat load of those under the
> counter fl light strips, the ones with the little can ballasts, 12 inch
long
> ones, package deal at $4.50 each, only eight would fit in the cabinet box.
> The bulbs came from Home Depot, forgot what they cost exactly, but these
> were the single most expensive part of the whole thing. I used flourecent
> BL bulbs 15 watters. The cord and male plug cost about $15, I only use
> expensive three wire cord. (Can't be that cheap all the time). Another
piece
> of plywood volunteer from my scrap pile became the lid, a piano hinge for
> connecting the top to the box, $2.99), The top was covered with some felt
my
> wife picked up for me while junk store hopping with her buddies, $2.00.
And
> bam! A cheap contact box. Oh, I did forget the three cans of spray paint.
As
> time went on, a small biscuit fan was added and I improved the lid with
> better plywood and jazzed up the appearence some.
>
> This setup has long since gone away. I gave it to a kid wanting to get
> started in alt processes. My latest box can do 16X20 prints. And this
DID
> not cost me under $150 to make.
>
>