Enlarger repairs

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greenbee

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Becca
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Hello everyone newbie to the forum here.
I wonder if any of you may be able to help. I am an Art Technician in a school just south of London and I'm trying to get our enlargers up to scratch and usable in our department (B&W Paterson/Paragon enlargers). I believe that just by replacing a couple of bits these would be ok (rather than buying new - school budgets being what they are). Does anyone know any companies in the UK ideally South East(ish) that may be able to help me with repairs/spares? so far I have not had any luck.
Many thanks
 
@greenbee
Hi and welcome to TP :)

There are few places listed here..

That might be worth asking about spares(repairs?)???

It may inform the folks here at TP who are doing analogue F&C, exactly what parts you need (or envisage requiring?) As @Petrochemist says some parts are perhaps more available than others :thinking:

Best of luck sourcing what you need to be budget worthy :)
 
thank you so much @Petrochemist and @Box Brownie for your suggestion, I will try both. I believe we need to change the wiring system at the back, it looks like it would be fairly easy to do if I can get a replacement, which I'm hoping would not be impossible to source, I can't figure out how to attach a photo, sorry. Thanks guys
 
Wiring from the 50//60/ 70s era should be fairly rudimentary and a simple change , just be aware older models may not use modern colour codes I.e black will be neutral and red live . . If ? There are any soldered joints watch out for dry joints a simple continuity test will verify if works needed or not
 
greenbee said:
thank you so much @Petrochemist and @Box Brownie for your suggestion, I will try both. I believe we need to change the wiring system at the back, it looks like it would be fairly easy to do if I can get a replacement, which I'm hoping would not be impossible to source, I can't figure out how to attach a photo, sorry. Thanks guys
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Please bear in mind......and forgive me if I state the obvious....

As you are in a public facility...
Any changes to mains powered device should be completed by a qualified electrician. Though if PAT certificated by an external third party electrician, DIY can be ok on the proviso that you do not plug it into the mains before it is PAT certificated.

I strongly suggest (if not done already) that check the protocols with whoever is in charge of "facilities management" at the school
 
I strongly recommend that anyone dealing with electrical equipment in public places or working environments read the Health and Safety Executive's advice here...

PAT (Portable appliance testing) - HSE's answers to popular questions

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) answers; frequency of tests, legal requirements, record keeping, new equipment, who can test, hire tools
www.hse.gov.uk www.hse.gov.uk

...as the introduction says: "There are many common myths about portable appliance testing (PAT)"
 
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Box Brownie said:
Please bear in mind......and forgive me if I state the obvious....

As you are in a public facility...
Any changes to mains powered device should be completed by a qualified electrician. Though if PAT certificated by an external third party electrician, DIY can be ok on the proviso that you do not plug it into the mains before it is PAT certificated.

I strongly suggest (if not done already) that check the protocols with whoever is in charge of "facilities management" at the school
Click to expand...


At a guess, the college will have an estates department who will probably have a PAT tester among them.
 
Nod said:
At a guess, the college will have an estates department who will probably have a PAT tester among them.
Click to expand...
As the HSE implies, there is no such animal as a PAT tester.

Portable appliance testing is just the process of carrying out basic checks for safety flaws, most of which are visual. I strongly recommend reading the article I linked to above, which is the official guide and dispels much of the mythology around a simple safety check.
 
I'd rather rely on real people - like Rob, who describes himself as a PAT tester.
 
How on Earth does a thread with a new member asking about spares for enlargers for his school turn into people arguing about PAT testing?

Trust me, anyone who works as a technician in an education setting will know whether the school/college requires PAT testing (it will because the school/college has a duty of care not to electrocute anyone) and....
Nod said:
At a guess, the college will have an estates department who will probably have a PAT tester among them.
Click to expand...

This is more than likely the correct answer.

Source. Me. A former Art/Photography technician in a 6th form college who did a course paid for by the college on how to PAT test and subsequently PAT tested things regularly. There were also members of the estates team with the same knowledge and able to do it.
 
Downhill Specialist said:
Source. Me. A former Art/Photography technician in a 6th form college who did a course paid for by the college on how to PAT test and subsequently PAT tested things regularly. There were also members of the estates team with the same knowledge and able to do it.
Click to expand...
Well, I suggest you write to the head of the Health and Safety Executive to tell him that this is wrong...

"The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently (ie they don't make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to undertake this annually)."

For the purposes of completeness, they also write...

"The person doing testing work needs to competent to do it. In many low-risk environments, a sensible (competent) member of staff can undertake visual inspections if they have enough knowledge and training. However, when undertaking combined inspection and testing, a greater level of knowledge and experience is needed, and the person will need:
  • the right equipment to do the tests
  • the ability to use this test equipment properly
  • the ability to properly understand the test results"
Hence, anyone who conforms with this advice can do what is required in any particular circumstance.

Then, they provide this advice, in response to the common question: "Is Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) compulsory?

"No. The law simply requires an employer to ensure that their electrical equipment is maintained in order to prevent danger. It does not say how this should be done or how often. Employers should take a risk-based approach, considering the type of equipment and what it is being used for. If it is used regularly and moved a lot eg a floor cleaner or a kettle, testing (along with visual checks) can be an important part of an effective maintenance regime giving employers confidence that they are doing what is necessary to help them meet their legal duties. HSE provides guidance on how to maintain equipment including the use of PAT."

It seems to me that HSE set out to provide advice for meeting a legal requirement with common sense. Then someone saw a nice little earner and started printing labels and claiming special expertise was required. Someone else started selling training and "proper documentation". Now there's a three ring circus with large costs for doing something that any sensible person can do for nothing.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Well, I suggest you write to the head of the Health and Safety Executive to tell him that this is wrong...

"The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently (ie they don't make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to undertake this annually)."

For the purposes of completeness, they also write...

"The person doing testing work needs to competent to do it. In many low-risk environments, a sensible (competent) member of staff can undertake visual inspections if they have enough knowledge and training. However, when undertaking combined inspection and testing, a greater level of knowledge and experience is needed, and the person will need:
  • the right equipment to do the tests
  • the ability to use this test equipment properly
  • the ability to properly understand the test results"
Hence, anyone who conforms with this advice can do what is required in any particular circumstance.

Then, they provide this advice, in response to the common question: "Is Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) compulsory?

"No. The law simply requires an employer to ensure that their electrical equipment is maintained in order to prevent danger. It does not say how this should be done or how often. Employers should take a risk-based approach, considering the type of equipment and what it is being used for. If it is used regularly and moved a lot eg a floor cleaner or a kettle, testing (along with visual checks) can be an important part of an effective maintenance regime giving employers confidence that they are doing what is necessary to help them meet their legal duties. HSE provides guidance on how to maintain equipment including the use of PAT."

It seems to me that HSE set out to provide advice for meeting a legal requirement with common sense. Then someone saw a nice little earner and started printing labels and claiming special expertise was required. Someone else started selling training and "proper documentation". Now there's a three ring circus with large costs for doing something that any sensible person can do for nothing.
Click to expand...
Indeed the regulations do not specify what needs to be done, individual Safety departments will decide what they want done in their organisation to cover the regulations.
The regulations (as is often the way) are deliberately vague to allow for different use cases, which lawyers might subsequently end up arguing about, to determine blame.

Persons trained to meet a companies testing requirements might then be classed as PAT testers in that organisation, The training night be fairly irrelevant in another organisation with different internal guidelines

Unfortunately safety departments often do not show a great deal of common sense & may have a limited understanding of electrics. So a companies requirements can involve large amounts of excess to cover their a**es.

Where I used to work a portable appliance was considered to be anything with a mains plug (including a sensitive instrument that needed at least 4 people to move it off the bench). In the light of this & several pieces of kit being seriously damaged by insulation/earth tests employed my department ended up getting multiple items hard wired.
I don't think appliances that were moved around daily were tested any more than items that stayed static on a desk all year...
 
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Re: PAT
Yes, there seems to be a whole industry built around poorly executed legislation..... .where companies and other corporate bodies are in effect going through an a*se covering exercise.

Thinking back, when was working in B2B sales, I mostly worked from home but at my last company I was in the office one day when my work was interrupted by a PAT testing guy who wanted to check my laptop. I explained I am rarely in the office i.e. my kit doesn't need testing! But no, he insisted he had to test the power supply :thinking:
 
Petrochemist said:
Unfortunately safety departments often do not show a great deal of common sense & may have a limited understanding of electrics. So a companies requirements can involve large amounts of excess to cover their a**es.
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I agree.

In my opinion, what started out as a sensible reminder to companies generally, that they have a duty of care to customers and staff, was turned into a nonsensical process by a combination of bad management and get rich quick merchants.
 
I only found this thread by a fluke, as I assume that this section doesn't contain anything of interest to me - I normally stay in the Film and Conventional part.

Have you tried Paterson themselves? I know from chatting to them at the Photography Show that they carry some spare parts for older items. They even offered some parts for my 1979 tripod.

Can you supply the model numbers? Have you tried MrCad and Second Hand Darkroom? They are the first three names that come to mind. There are other places which are less likely (smaller stock lists) but I don't know where you've tried.
 
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AndrewFlannigan said:
Well, I suggest you write to the head of the Health and Safety Executive to tell him that this is wrong...
Click to expand...
Ha. As if I care that much about it? I said I used to work there. I followed their protocol because they were my employer. I was suggesting it's probably the case for most education establishments. I don't care. I would rather people just advise the OP on where he can find parts for his enlargers as @StephenM has done above.
 
Downhill Specialist said:
Ha. As if I care that much about it?
Click to expand...
Nor for that matter do I.

However, someone mentioned the acronym, I pointed out the HSE advice on the matter, then people came a;long and started... C'est la vie, à la internet. :naughty:
 
The complete life story of the nanny state .. does anyone come round these days to see if you've wiped your bum correctly ..I give up :headbang: :headbang::headbang::headbang:
 
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