Super Chromega D4 - toss it or upgrade it?

[Paul Coy]

All,

I have one of these D4's with the grey head.
The wiring is bad to the halogen bulbs and also to the fans. Overall, it is in fair shape, has all the focus tracks and lenses, and carriers.

Wondering if it is worth it to keep it and possibly swap to a better head, part it out and/or toss the carcass?

I haven't printed with it in a long time but don't want to regret getting rid of it if I want to print in the future.

Options?

Thx

[ic-racer]

Seems the Super Chromega heads are not that expensive on ebay. The power supply was pretty simple and could be reproduced rather easily, assuming the head does not come with the power supply.

[Jim C.]

You can always replace the bad wiring if you're handy at that, and even if you're not.
Most of that wiring is prety simple, just do one wire at a time, just make sure it's unplugged.

[Greg]

just do one wire at a time

Over the years I have rewired many enlarger heads. As you stated "one wire at a time". Also I checked each the connections for conductivity as I replaced each wire and connectors. Rewired my present 4x5 DURST but in the end couldn't get it to work... turned out to be one connection that looked OK but wasn't. That Durst has served me well since around maybe 2001. A friend once asked me if I would do him a favor and rewire his ZONE VI enlarger setup. I had overhauled one before (memories are that it was a challenge but doable) so I said OK, no problem. Probably two weeks later he dropped off the enlarger, timer, etc. As we went to his car to get the enlarger setup, he told me that he did me a "favor" and removed all the old wiring!!!!

[Mark Sampson]

In a past job, we had one of these along with several Super-Chromega dichroic head enlargers. I recall that your head uses Wratten gel filters to provide the colored light. These fade due to light exposure, and we found that the color filtration numbers increased over time, as the filters faded.
The dichro filters in the newer heads eliminate that issue- plus they only need one lamp. I'd look for a dichro head and power supply- or the integrated Chromegatrol timer- unless you're on a tight budget. The Super-Chromega Dichroic II design is almost fifty years old now; there must be plenty of them on the used market.
I must say that nobody missed the old color head once it was gone.

[Jim C.]

....he told me that he did me a "favor" and removed all the old wiring!!!!

Ouch !!

[Paul Coy]

Thanks all for the input. Looks like I should look for a head upgrade. Still on the fence on keeping it or getting rid of it as I don't print much.

[Mark Sampson]

Might you print more with a good light source? Having to fight against a tool tends to discourage its use.
I would contact KHB Photographic in Toronto to see about converting your D4 chassis. They seem to know more than anyone else about older Omega enlargers.