Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...

[gary mulder]

I have never seen a picture of a HL2500. May be a rare beast.

You don't want to see one IRL. Maintaining one will give you a real headache. Last year I gave op on my last electronically controlled Durst. I am back to a bare essential 1840.

[Drew Wiley]

I know where there is one of the autofocus versions in storage. It's was the lab owner's least favorite Durst - too much unique about it, and in a finicky high-maintenance manner.

With all my Durst renovations, I bypassed the electronics entirely, and simply hard-wired the thing, separating the 115 and 240 V circuits.

[ic-racer]

I wondered if the HL2500 had manual adjusted filters like the CLS2000 as indicated in Jens’ documentation posted above.

Another interpretation is I once saw what I thought was an electronic CLS2000 on his now defunct site. Maybe that is the head shared by the two enlargers.

[gary mulder]

The only thing that is shared are the light bulb and the reflector. By the way the reflector(s) will by the most problematic in the future to maintain.

[Michael Kadillak]

By the way the reflector(s) will by the most problematic in the future to maintain.

That is a true statement unless you put a Heliand LED multi contrast head on the enlarger. A dynamic game changer.

[Drew Wiley]

I have a CLS301 atop my L184 chassis. The reflectors are built into the ELH bulbs, which are very common. Back when I had the nuclear option 2000W CLS300, that did require independent reflectors, which in fact had to be periodically replaced at considerable expense, due to the extreme heat. The later CLS2000 head also uses specialized bulbs. But I'm very skeptical about the Heiland or any other LED head having enough lumen output for serious color printing. Might be fine for MG black and white papers, but so is any ordinary colorhead, which will do color paper too. Incidentally, Jens would convert older 2000W heads to accept ordinary halogen reflector bulbs instead. Whether you ever got delivery of it was a different story.

[Michael Kadillak]

I have a CLS301 atop my L184 chassis. The reflectors are built into the ELH bulbs, which are very common. Back when I had the nuclear option 2000W CLS300, that did require independent reflectors, which in fact had to be periodically replaced at considerable expense, due to the extreme heat. The later CLS2000 head also uses specialized bulbs. But I'm very skeptical about the Heiland or any other LED head having enough lumen output for serious color printing. Might be fine for MG black and white papers, but so is any ordinary colorhead, which will do color paper too. Incidentally, Jens would convert older 2000W heads to accept ordinary halogen reflector bulbs instead. Whether you ever got delivery of it was a different story.

Apples and oranges Drew. The Heiland LED heads are designed specifically for B&W printing. My challenge with the high intensity color head was not just the heat, but the ceiling in my darkroom as a serious limitation. Replaced all of what was above the negative carrier (diffusion box and filter carriers etc) with a 3 1/2" tall square metal bolt on accessory that tips the scale at about 3.5#was a huge difference. And what a joy it is to work with. The gears on my center column have never had it so easy.

[Drew Wiley]

Oh gosh, I have both my L184 and an even much bigger vertical 8x10 color enlarger in a room with a 16 ft high ceiling. And it has fiberglass FRP fire-resistant panel stapled to the ceiling, along with the walls directly behind the colorheads. But in a different room with typical 8 ft ceiling ht, I have a couple of shorter 138 chassis, one with a 5x7 colorhead on it, the other with an 8X10 stage and 12X12 cold light pancake on it. So, for those seeking a modern alternative to flat cold lights, LED seems the way to go for b&w printing at least. But weight? I actually had to attach a dumbwaiter counterbalance to one of my enlargers to offset the reduced head weight - a long ABS tube filled with lead birdshot, attached to a cable and pulley. Fun projects - all of them.

[ic-racer]

Yes, the latest Durst 10x10 color heads are quite high. In my darkroom I get around the loss of head height with a 240 Componon-S for 40" prints on the baseboard. Otherwise, for 98% of the rest of the time the 300mm works, or I can swing the head and project on the wall.

[Thodoris Tzalavras]

(from post #618):
When you get the CLS1840 you should get the EST1000 with it and some light box diffusers. The light box diffusers are in two parts, upper and lower. You will need a timer, as the timing unit is incorporated into the power supply for the L1840 chassis, rather than the CLS1840 head. From what I recall, just about any timer will work. The timer does not actually control the 1000W lamp, it triggers a relay in the unit which starts the exposure process (fan on, lamp pre-heat, shutter open, shutter close, etc.)

The CLS2000 manual doesn't give any specs for timer suitability.

Is my 220v digital timer with "switching capacity: 1000va" and an "T4amp " safe to use?

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(also, separate question):

According to the CLS2000 manual the EST2000 stabilizer consumes 2500w.

I'm assuming that this is based on 2000w for the lamp and the other 500w for the fans, indicator lamps, electronic shutter, etc…

The older EST2000 gives the option to run the lamp at either 1000w or 2000w.

When the 1000w is selected, is the consumption still 2500w, or does it fall to say 1500w?