Ha! Nobody ever again will be economically able to afford again the cost of skilled machinist labor characteristic of the peak quality of the 70's era. I don't care if it's a microscope, an enlarger, or a table saw. Anodized aluminum CNC components just don't equal true die-cast and machined stainless parts of classic Durst commercial enlargers, for example. I have no doubt that the examples I've refurbished will last another hundred years if given a little TLC. But if I were younger and betting on something new instead, would I opt for Heiland if I could afford it? You betcha! They seem to be coming up with a chassis of their own. And it will probably be more affordable relative to current inflated values than Durst was when it was new.
Their LED system with respect to color applications still leaves me with some legitimate doubts, which I've already expressed. My own needs are somewhat different, requiring purer hues, than a studio portrait photographer like Pitzi, who is no doubt relying on "muddier" lower-contrast, less-saturated films designed for portrait work to begin with. Different ballgame.
Almost every one of the little LED dots would have to have its own customized permanent fine-tuning cutoff filter installed over it, which would skyrocket the price way above what it already is, and turn the manufacture process itself into a potential nightmare. But it's just a matter of time till some manufacturer of LED's will figure out a way to get them more precisely RGB targeted right out of the box. I've been following some of the tech chatter; but it's still a tall order. In the meantime, RA4 papers have progressed in their own right, having cleaner dye sensitivity peaks. We're steadily getting there, except that during this current epidemic mess, I'm having trouble even getting a response concerning the specific paper I need to order.
In my case - my lab is just a few blocks from the infamous Hayward fault, which produced stronger quakes in the second half of the 19th C than the famous 1906 SF quake (but less loss of property or life because this side of the Bay was way less developed back then) - well, you get the point .... I built that enlarger like a tank. I can literally stand on the vacuum easel without deflecting it. The colorhead itself is so solid and darn heavy that it takes a block and tackle system to lift it off to do even a bulb change. The support column is a big structural strand beam pickled with marine epoxy and over-laminated. Dimensionally stable is an understatement. Lucky the place I worked had a 22 inch diameter blade table saw with a 440V 3-phase motor capable of squaring it off. The yaw correction device on the focus column is a WWII-surplus machined bronze micrometer-driven heavy battleship artillery scope mount, designed to withstand endless extreme shocks (got it for free). Nothing on it will rust. Fun project, but I'd hate to do another.
