I want to retrofit an 8x10 lamphouse to one of my 4x5 enlargers. The Durst I want to change is a Laborator 1000, it is presently configured with a colorhead. I also have a second lens carrier/bellows/head carrier unit that can be modified to suit. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what lamphouse would be the easiest to fit on this chassis and do you know of any good sources for locating a decent used lamphouse?
John,
I looked into this last winter because I thought it might be a good enlarger to make a conversion head to fit.
I made some drawings to work up the geometry, and I decided that while the conversion is possible, it is far from ideal for a few reasons. The biggest problem is that the chassis behind the bellows opening at the current negative stage is close, and it rises up a few inches, which will interfere with a conversion cone that is needed to make the enlarger able to accommodate an 8x10 negative.
It looked possible to make a modification to the chassis that would not cause any structural problems and remove some of the interfering metal. However, I decided that there were much better enlargers out there to modify into an 8x10, so I didn't persue it any further.
One of the problems that I saw is the limit of the rise of the head will put a limit on the maximum enlargement that you will be able to do. I don't recall the sizes, but it is a consideration to be aware of. You should check to confirm that you will be able to make the prints you want before going through the conversion. I am unwilling to use a short enlarging lens, so this issue was made more significant. I use a 300mm for 8x10 full frame enlargements.
As for lamphouses, most of these are somewhat independant of the head, and will be so in a conversion like this, because there will be an adapter cone and a negative stage up above the old location. At that point, I think it comes down to practical issues.
The size and weight of the head are big concerns, because the L1000 is not terribly large, although it is very well built.
For my purposes, an Aristo 1212 was the way to go, and I'm pleased with my decision at this point. They do occasionally show up at Ebay, but you have to be careful which lamp it has. The newest lamp is tuned for multigrade printing, and the older lamps are not. I decided to get that part new to avoid problems with an older piece of equipment.
---Michael
www.mutmansky.com
Micheal,
Thanks for the feedback. My Durst has both the easel/column setup and also a separate wall mounting bracket and column clamps so I can either use the enlarger sitting on a counter or it can be mounted on the wall so enlargement size restrictions is not a big issue.
I agree that the vertical head retaining flange sticking up behind the negative stage would need modification and I have a second negative stage/ bellows unit that I could make those modifications to so that's a hurdle I can deal with. The thing I am wondering about is the tube or track that rises above the negative stage that facilitates the bellows and lens stage adjustments. What are your thoughts on that? What were you considering to do about making the cone? What head were you considering for the Durst, the 1212?
What enlarger did you ultimately use?
Thanks again..........
John,
You may still have an issue with the maximum enlargement possibility. This would be associated with the distance from the optical center to the front edge of the column. Don't forget that you will need additional space for the easel. I don't recall if that was a problem in my calculations or not. I'll email you some info I pulled together last year on this issue, if I still have it.
After working the geometry of the L1000 for a while, I decided that the L138 head was a better way to get an easy 8x10 enlarger, so that's the route I went. The 138's are so cheap anymore that it ended up being a great way to go, and I now have a floor-standing 8x10 enlarger that can do anything I want as far as print size goes. I could even turn the head and project onto the wall, if I wanted a poster print (neven going to happen, though). A friend of mine recently purchased a 138 for about $200. It has a damaged lamphouse but otherwise appears to be complete and in great shape. Since the lamphouse won't be used as part of the conversion, the damage was not important, and helped keep the price very low.
The 138 reqires only a very minor modification to make it easily accommodate an 8x10 conversion, and it would be possible to actually have the conversion without any modifications to the chassis at all, however, I felt that the minor mod required would make a better, more flexible enlarger.
In either case, I was planning to use an Aristo 1212 as the light source. I did some research on the Aristo 810, but my impressions are that it is really too small for use as a source for 8x10, especially if the lens used is on the wide angle side.
---Michael
Hi Michael, I see that you made a conversion head, can you share any information on the head adapter? Is it fabricated from metal, I would like to have one?
Thank you,
tr
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