Getting this thing up and running has been an epic journey I can tell you. It's an '87 built Dainippon Screen 4.3kW metal halide system that I picked up for £700 GBP about 6 months ago (which is a steal when you consider a standalone MH light source will sell used for that and more, and the lamps cost about £250 each). Instant-on arc lamp, digital timer & light integrator, built in safe lights, auto-close curtains and adjustable lamp height.
Only problem is, it's not a screen exposure table. It's a platemaker. And I didn't realise this when I bought it either. After a few moments of horror when I thought I may have thrown away a wad of cash I realised I could convert it for screens by simply flipping the bed base, re-drilling and tapping the hinge mounts, adding inner side supports and replacing the vacuum membrane. Simples. Except my workshop power was hopelessly inadequate for a machine with a starting surge current of 42amps. So an upgrade was required. This isn't my own business premises however (I share space in a recording studio) so this took rather a while longer than originally intended as it needed to coincide with a new kitchen installation so I could branch off from the electric oven feed line that I would be installing.
Several months down the line and I'm finally on it and getting it assembled so below you can see it in all its glory. It's still not fully functional yet. Firstly the belt on the original vacuum pump is busted (not a major issue, I have a backup until I can find a new belt), the light source works as I found by manually triggering it, but for some reason the controller brain wasn't operating the lamp. Good job I have a tiny amount of electrical knowledge so I could trace the problem to 2 blown relays which activate the lamp remote switch. Those are on order now so hopefully by next week I'll be burning away.
It's a telling sign of how big this thing is relative to the room it's in that I had to make a panoramic image just to get it all in shot. :p
