Enlarger clean/fix queries

[Roger Scott]

After a wait of a couple of years I finally managed to find a colour 4x5 enlarger for the right price (free) and one which didn't cost me a fortune to ship (free again). It's an old Durst L1000 with a CLS450 colour head which compared to my LPL seems built like a tank. It's in pretty good condition but I have a few enlarger questions for the experts on this forum.

1. It's a bit dusty which isn't that much of a problem but there's a spot of some sort on the cyan dichroic filter which won't blow away with my lens blower. Any ideas on what I can clean this with without damaging the filter?

2. The head moves down much easier than the other direction. I'm guessing the spring is a bit weak but even if I could find a new one it will probably require a new mortgage. Does anyone know if there are any adjustments I can make which might help?

3. The negative carrier which came with the enlarger is of the glass variety so I'm planning on making some glassless inserts from aluminium as I can never seem to keep glass carriers clean. Any recommendations on a good matt black paint I can use on the inserts which won't attack or stick to the film and doesn't require a full body respirator?

4. I've ordered a couple of the expensive Durst lensboards (lapla39 and lapla50) which should handle my 80mm and 150mm lenses. Will the flat 39mm board be okay with my 50mm lens as well or will I need one of the more expensive special stepped boards in order to get it to focus?

5. My 150mm lens is a standard f5.6 Componon-S and I'm wondering if this will be okay for 16x20 colour prints? I know the APO versions are better but given this is only a 4X enlargement will I see any colour fringing with the non-APO lens?

6. Finally does anyone have the pinouts for the CLS450 head/TRA450 power supply? Mine is okay for the moment but being thirty years old I'm expecting it to give up the ghost eventually and I have enough of an electronics background to make a supply if I can find the specifications.

Regards,

[Nick_3536]

Which 50mm do you have? I needed a recessed one with the Nikon 50mm F/2.8. You can often find lensboards on Ebay for a fraction of the new price.

I wouldn't worry about the 150mm lens.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/nick_zentena/Durst1000.html

Different head but that's the manual for the enlarger.

[Neal Wydra]

Dear Roger,

I don't know about cleaning the filter but if you can cut glass you can get dichroic filters from Edmund Scientific.

[Roger Scott]

Thanks Nick. I'll download the manual over the next few days for reference - I'm on a dialup so it'll take a while. The 50mm lens I have is a Schneider Componon-S f2.8 which is fairly similar to the Nikon. The lensboard on the LPL is used recessed for the 50mm and reversed for the 80mm lens - I guess so they can reduce the length of the bellows but it's also handy having a board which'll handle both lenses. Sounds like I may need to find a recessed board for the Durst. I had a look on ebay before I ordered the other lensboards but couldn't find any in Australia. There were a few in the US but international freight made the price unreasonable. I'll keep my eyes and ears open.

Thanks again,

[Roger Scott]

Hi Neal,

Thanks for the filter source. I'm hoping it'll clean up okay with something but it's good to know I can replace them if necessary. Do you know if the older Durst filters fade much over time? There's a fairly impressive amount of light coming out of a 250W halogen lamp.

[Nick_3536]

I think the Nikon is the worst when it comes to needing a recessed board. I'd suggest trying your lens with the flatboard. Before paying the price for a new recessed board I'd put the money towards a new or used Nikon 63mm lens.

[resummerfield]

Hi Roger:

I've cleaned 20 year old Durst dichros with excellent results--remove them, and then soak in warm soapy water (dishwashing soap works fine), then gently wipe them while underwater with a very soft tissue. The idea is not to "grind in" any grit and scratch the coating. I rinsed them under hot running water, and held them on end to air-dry. I noticed no fading. Hope this helps.

[John D Gerndt]

On the lenses (skip using the 50mm if it presents problems at all) just check to see what the largest magnification possible is with your 80mm and decide if that is enough. It probably will be fine.

As to the APO lens, I bought one and can see that it delivers better results but I have to look really, really hard to see the difference. There are better (more cost effective) ways to spend your efforts to gain sharpness, vibration cheif among them.

Cheers,

[Mark_3899]

Roger are you going to be printing Cibachromes? If not who cares about the Cyan?

[Roger Scott]

Hi Nick,

Yes, I'll wait and see how I go. As John later suggests I may be able to get away with using the 80mm for the minimal amount of 35mm stuff I actually do. With the LPL I needed the extra stop the 50mm lens had as I didn't have a 35mm mixing box but the Durst came with four condensors one of which is for 35mm so providing I can get the head high enough I might be able to get away with it.

Eric, Thanks for the tip - just what I was after. Given I need to pull most of the head apart to clean it up I may as well pull out the dirty dichro as well. Do I need to be careful about the calibration or will they go back in the same spot?

John, Thanks, I'll see how I go with the 80mm lens. I don't do a lot of 35mm these days - most of it's historical. I'm hoping I can minimise vibration fairly easily as the previous owner had a bracket made which will let me bolt the top of the column to the wall - I'll test it with the usual light bouncing off a dish of water. I guess the trick with the APO lens is not to use one so I can't see the difference. :-) At what size could you see the difference? I'll admit I'm a little fussy.

Mark, yes I'll be printing Ciba/Ilfochromes. I haven't been happy with the digital prints from the only pro lab in town and it seems the only way to gain the quality I want is to do it myself - they also have a 10"x15" paper size limit which doesn't do justice to LF photos. I haven't had a lot of need for cyan filtration in the past (I think I needed it a couple of times) but if I don't get it clean Murphy says my next pack of paper will need it. :-)