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Durst 138 Fan

L Gebhardt

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Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
2,364
Location
NH
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Does anyone know if the Durst 138 external fan blows air into the lamp housing (what I'm assuming), or sucks air out? I need a fan for mine, and I found the vacuum pump for a vacuum easel I have fits in the port, but it only sucks air out. I don't want to over heat the chamber. Since the only bulb I have is 500 watts, I need some fan solution. I could also hook up a small shop vac exhaust port to the enlarger, but then I would lose the use of the shop vac (and I need to clean it).

Also, if anyone has a Durst LaFan for sale that would be even better.
 
I don't have one to check, but I'm willing to bet it sucks the air out.

If it blew in, it would blow air out in your face.

- Leigh
 
Bought a lamp kit form Durst and it states that the air is sucked out the top, this is an after market kit made for the 138 and sold by Durst-pro-USA, they are the one's who bought out the enlarger division of Durst in Italy. So go figure.
with my 200 watt lamp I had no fan at all and it seemed ok.

Mike
 
200 watts and 500 watts are very different animals. You definitely need a fan for a 500-watt lamp.

- Leigh
 
Which head do you have? The external LAFAN unit for the CLS 300 and CLS 301 heads blows air in. The internal fan in the CLS1000 head blows air out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have a 138 with the CLS 300 head (2000 watts). The fan contraption looks has four hoses. Two of them (one on each side of the light housing) blow air and the other 2 draw air away.
 
Mine is the stander condenser head so that makes a difference I suppose.

Mike
 
ic-racer said:
Which head do you have? The external LAFAN unit for the CLS 300 and CLS 301 heads blows air in. The internal fan in the CLS1000 head blows air out.
Click to expand...

I guess that was an oversight on my part. I have the condenser head. I am using a Ph/303 500 watt bulb. I wish I could find a large bulb like this for 5x7, but was only 200 watts.
 
L Gebhardt said:
I guess that was an oversight on my part. I have the condenser head. I am using a Ph/303 500 watt bulb. I wish I could find a large bulb like this for 5x7, but was only 200 watts.
Click to expand...

Looks like the LAFAN blower is also used condenser head (pushes air in).



 
I have the cls 301 kit for the 138 (head, power supply and LAFAN) but it's sitting in storage since I found a cls 1000. I too wanted to use the LAFAN with my condenser set-up when working with either the 500w or 1000w Durst bulbs. However, the LAFAN plugs into the cls 301 power supply, does not use a standard plug and I'm pretty certain requires 220v. On top of the 138 condenser is a 3" diameter hole for the fan hose. The condenser head is designed for positive pressure - any standard squirrel cage fan will work. Check Mcmaster Carr or just go to glennview in Chicago - he's familiar with the enlarger and has squirrel cage fans and hosing that will work for this application. Positive pressure is great for lamp cooling so long as the intake has a decent dust filter before it. And no, the air does not blow in your face...

I use an old Beseler external fan set-up from the late model universal closed-loop color head. The trickiest part is procuring a gasket or angle ring to mate the end of the hose to the hole on top of the condenser head. Hope this helps
 
Looks like a unit from Grainger should get me to 70 cfm that the Durst unit has. That should be easy to rig up into a decent blower, and not too much money. I'll also check with Durst Pro to see if they have something that's cheaper, but I doubt it. Thanks all.
 
Please let us know what Jensen's suggestion on this is. He's extremely knowledgeable but somewhat notorious as a businessman... Thanks.
 
Grainger has plenty of affordable squirrel cages. The cheaper ones will be relatively noisy. I you need
quiet, get a Panasonic inline fan.
 
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