Durst 138 question

[Richard Wasserman]

I just received a new for me, but fairly ancient Durst 138 today and spent most of the afternoon cleaning and adjusting it. Everything is fine except that I can't seem to get the focus mechanism to work properly. The knob doesn't have enough grip to move the bellows up and down without assistance. I have played with it for a long time and have given up in frustration. I cleaned and tightend and loosened everything and can not get it to work as it should. Actually, the design doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It is just a notched shaft the fits around a square rod. There is a felt pad under a metal plate to apply pressure and I guess friction is supposed to do the rest, but I can't get it to work. Anyone have any suggestions? I of course can talk to Jens Jensen about this problem, but what fun is that?

I ordered a Light Kit and a Trineg negative carrier from Durst-Pro-USA today. I should have them in 2-3 weeks and then I can put this beast to work!

Richard Wasserman

 

[Donald Miller]

I had the same condition on a couple of the same enlarger. I fixed mine by installing a properly sized o'ring into the slot that you mentioned.

 

[Richard Wasserman]

Donald- brilliant, thank you!

Richard Wasserman

 

[gordrob]

Inside the column housing there is a small plastic pressure plate with a spring that holds it against the column. I found that mine had picked up some type of grease on it and it lost the friction it need to help move the bellows. Once it was cleaned it worked better but the addition of the O ring sounds like a more reliable fix for the problem.

Regards
Gord

 

[Reinhold]

I had one of those behemoths a few years ago...

I just finished converting a 4x5 Beseler to handle 5x7 negatives with a lot less real estate, compared to that Durst.

Somewhere I still have one of those monster enlarging lamps that are now impossible to find. If I can find mine, what's a fair price, if I decide to put it on the market?

Reinhold

www.classicBWphoto.com

 

[jp80874]

Richard,

Do you have a manual? I notice on Jensen's site that the link for the 138S manual takes you to the L 184 manual. Not much help. If you need a manual PM me a mailing address and I will burn a CD. The PDF is 18+ Meg and I don't think my email will process more than 8 Meg.

John Powers

 

[HenrikB]

You have a 138S manual pdf under "Library and resources" and then "L138S-1000 Manual" , the link is http://www.jensen-optical.us/PDF_FILES_TANK/L138SP- CLS1000 Manual.pdf

Hope this helps,
/Henrik