Durst 138 to 8x10?

[outwest]

Very nice indeed! I'm interested. What would it take to acquire one of your units?

 

[Ginette]

Doc W,
The LACAP (metal part under a CLS301 color head) and LATIBOX will be no help because theses are too small for your need.
You need to start the larger possible over the bellows, removing the masking blade will be mandatory. If you look on eBay I have this stage and you can see then when the plate (5x7 opening) is removed (exact item https://www.ebay.ca/itm/303011577869) that the masking blades still reduce the opening of negative stage (see this part https://www.ebay.ca/itm/292893993486).
Over that part, you will need to make an extension box. The Michael Mutmansky box look metal but it is in wood! The drawer is the new negative stage. His negative carrier is simply a sandwich of 2 glasses.
The box need to be solid enough for the coldlight over it (coldlight with power supply in the head is heavy), LED unit can be less weight. But anyway made a solid extension box because the negative stage is into.
Here anothers images of Michael Mutmansky conversion that you can figure the height extension needed.



PS: I removed theses parts on a Durst 138 because I did a copy stand with it.

 

[claudius]

8x10 conv
i have had quite a few questions on the conversion for sale.
here are informations:

the light box is with 53 pcs 3W leds driven by 2 led drivers. height is around 18 cm . led are glued on the 5 mm alu cooling / top plate.
the light has exactly same brightness as the original in my BW 300 head ( and that is the brightest of all durst enlargers)
and no need for cooling fan !!

the unit is made for 240 mm lens, negatives in 18x24 cm ( near 8x10")
all parts are lazer cut and spray painted in grey Hammerite paint, weight 9 kg same as original equipment.

all parts needed for the set up are included:

one light box compleate with led and driver and 10 pcs spare bulbs
one pyramid stub on stainless plate / carrier
one 8x10 glass neg. carrier book type
one BMF insert ,with a cut out hole, to replace the original 5x7 neg carrier
one insert / light seal for replacing the 8x10 neg carr. ,in case you want to use original Durst 5x7 carrier with the led head.

you only need to cut out 2 corners of the alu plate under neg carriager. (see picture, you see what i mean)
a screwdriver to take the old head off and a 10mm spanner for the new unit.
that is all !
with my conversion you are still able to use the enlarger precisely same way as before ,
nothing is altered apart from the small cut out.
if you dont use under lens filters you can use 5x7 neg holder, but you loose light then. i do not recc. that.

i have extra units for sale, a very, very fair price would be around 400 euro/dollar, estimated by my fotofriends in the club.
most of it is materials and external workshop expences.
postage from Denmark ?? i will look into that if you still are interested

 

[claudius]

i might violate some regulations on selling
i will move this to proper fora if needed.
klaus

 

[Lachlan Young]

It's a really neat design - you wouldn't happen to be able to tell us which specific LEDs you used? I've been thinking about modifying the Beseler 8x10 type of conversion for an LED powered system & your setup is inspiring me to get on with the job!

 

[claudius]

hi lachlan
after many tests i found that this works just perfect for me:

53 pcs of 3W White led Beads With 20mm Star Base heat transmitter
included one extra bulb in the 4 corners to even out the light
and 2 led drivers.
no cooling fan.

i made the same conversion for my beseler 45,
as i like to keep the enlarger original, the round coutout for the original lamphouse
gave me some problems with light distribution and light path from the 18x24 cm negative.

i only use durst now.