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

[LabRat]

Every time I have to get at a problem part in a professional Durst, it makes me appreciate the easy to adjust, service etc, unfussy yet high precision engineering of De Vere's 504/507/5108/515...

I completely agree!!! If I were just looking for an enlarger, I would turn down Durst and keep searching for a DeVere...

The cast metal models are much better, but the sheet metal models are a nightmare to service!!! Not too horrible when they are newer, but I had to service a # of used/abused sheet metal units, and because of an inefficient cooling system, there was MUCH distortion of metal components, critical plastics failure, even panels that popped into new hole spacing and fit etc... And now there are no spare parts available!!! And before it was Jensen, and many knew what that was like...

And their (I forget #) horizontal mural enl was uselessly complicated and hell to service...

Don't mind my rant... ;-I

Steve K

[ic-racer]

Which were the sheet metal models?

[interneg]

Which were the sheet metal models?

I think L1840 etc vis-a-vis the L184/ L138s

And their (I forget #) horizontal mural enl was uselessly complicated and hell to service...

H2501 or something like that? They seemed to have been meant for highly automated operation & output, not creative printing! They had a data printout or something like that too - which sometimes still crop up taped to neg sleeves handed to me for scanning or darkroom printing.

[Drew Wiley]

I find the Durst L138 and L184 series brilliantly engineered and built. Just look at how long they last, and all the built-in features to fine-tune them and keep them precise decade after decade. You'll never see that kind of machining again - it would simply be too expensive in the current era of CNC anodized aluminum, nylon, and 3D printed paper mache paste. The self-focussing units and horizontal-only units were separate critters with deservedly bad reputations when it comes to maintenance, and too electronically complicated to interest me. But these were also out of the commercial division, which even once made a monster 12X16 in. vert/hor convertible L. "Sheet metal" is obviously a sneer at the anodized alum. units out of the remaining amateur products division, one of which is a darn nice 4x5, but not equal to the ole machined 138 5X7 units, which were the smallest chassis made in the commercial division. There's not a bit of sheet metal, anodized anything, or plastic on any of my Durst enlargers, except for some darn tough bakelite dials, knobs, etc. No different than microscopes, table saws, you name it ... the era of machined high-quality alloys and stainless metals reached its peak in the 70's, and has gone downhill ever since. Who need an enlarger that lasts a hundred years when the average digital selfie is forgotten within 15 seconds.

[Luis-F-S]

Which were the sheet metal models?

I suspect some of the 4x5 and smaller models. The commercial division started with the largely cast L-138. L

[LabRat]

I should have specified 4X5, but mostly, stay away from the CLS 501 color head!!! And any of the more recent (80's+) electronics...

Misery and grief!!!

Steve K

[interneg]

the CLS 501 color head

The horror, the horror.

After opening one up I always wonder if they feared somebody wanted to steal the dichroics or stuff their fingers in the fan & thus needed to make the head as damned awkward to open as possible.

The other headache (ha ha) is the Ilford MG500 - a lot of power in not a lot of ventilated space - I've seen one blowtorch the heat filters...

[LabRat]

H2501 or something like that? They seemed to have been meant for highly automated operation & output, not creative printing! They had a data printout or something like that too - which sometimes still crop up taped to neg sleeves handed to me for scanning or darkroom printing.

I think it might have been a 2501 or 3... (I don't remember, I have sweats and PTSD just thinking about it!!!) It had a huge box underneath stuffed with enough pcb's and electronics to land this beast on the planet Mars, but not even an RS-232 port to create any output!!! All this just to drive the filter wheels, readouts, and timer... Meanwhile, the control board button switches that didn't always make good contact, so users would mash or hammer the start buttons, causing microcracks to the motherboard below (failure and $$$ replacement)... And the hi-output bulb ($$$) needed to be replaced frequently before it melted or shattered into many bits and fall right into the filter drive gearbox directly underneath... Bad!!!



Don't mind me... :-(

Steve K

[Drew Wiley]

Don't you guys know that those assembly lines employed elves and skinny little midgets with especially long fingers. I can appreciate that fact every time I lift the hood of my wife's Prius, trying to figure out how all of that got packed into such a tight space. And stop worrying about the cost of high-output bulbs. Ever see the parabolic quartz mirrors behind the bulbs on the 2000W CLS 300, which cost $1200 per pair way back then, and needed asbestos pads behind them, and spalled off their dichroic coatings due to heat, needing to either be replaced or recoated every six months? No problem... if you can afford to get a Ferrari serviced every six months, you can afford to do it with a Durst too. Just relax, let somebody else do the work, and sip wine at your villa in Tuscany.

[interneg]

Ever see the parabolic quartz mirrors behind the bulbs on the 2000W CLS 300, which cost $1200 per pair way back then, and needed asbestos pads behind them, and spalled off their dichroic coatings due to heat, needing to either be replaced or recoated every six months?

The De Vere approach in comparison used 4, 8 or 16 ELH's depending on system. Rather more sensible, but a hell of a lot of dichroic filters...