Building a cold head....

This may be the wrong place to post this. If it is moderators feel free to move it to the proper forum. I'm new here and am looking for information on how to make a cold head for an enlarger. What kind of lamp should be used, what it should be constructed from, etc. Any help that anyone can give will be greatly appreciated.
Bill

Provide some background info..... What enlarger do you have? What size neg will you print?

Sorry, I forgot to include that I'm going to use an old press camera as the enlarger. Will accomodate up to 4x5 negatives. Basically I want to make a Graflarger.
Thanks,
Bill

It might be easier to get a second hand aristo unit and convert it. Cold lamps can be kinda tricky to diy with voltage regulation and grid spacing. You could check out http://www.aristogrid.com/ for ideas about what's available.

I don't know that they'd qualify as "cold light" because they aren't cold cathode, but the simplest method of building your own Graflarger equivalent would probably involve buying several of the very small under-shelf type of fluorescent light fixtures, removing the ballasts and sockets from the plastic shell, and reassembling them in an array that will provide even light. The fixtures run around $15-$20 each. You'll have to watch for start-up flickers and reduced output when the tubes are cold; given you're using a camera for this, using a lens in shutter, with T setting and cable release, is probably a good idea (you can just leave the light on, or let it warm for 30 seconds before opening the shutter for an exposure).

equinox photographic sells plans on their website for building a cold light head, its cheep enough, might be worth a looksie

-john

Why not just go ahead and buy a graflarger? There's one on that auction site (Item 7614638347)