Durst M605 - Help!!

APB · Nov 25, 2005

Hi,

I am new to these forums, but hoping someone will be able to help me.. Having finished my college course on photography I have decided to set up a darkroom in my shed, bought an M605 w/ colour head (will be sticking to b&w for now, I heard this colour head is suitable for that purpose?) off ebay, picked it up this evening, alas, with no instructions! I can't seem to get it to switch on?!

I guess this could be as simple as the bulb has gone, or it could be me being stupid! lol Was hoping there might be someone who could help me with this.. either direct me to an online manual.. or give me some handy hints as how to get the damn thing running!! Can't wait to get back into printing, been almost a year now!

Any help appreciated,

Alex

Mike Kennedy · Nov 25, 2005

I love my 605. I run the enlarger plug into my timer and the timer into a power bar. Mine is for straight B&W printing,no color head.
It has to be the bulb unless there is a loose wire somewhere. Trace the line of current,from bulb through cord to timer then plug. Any frays? Loose ends? Have you paid the power bill?
I don,t have a manual but will ask the chap I got mine from.

Mike

Mike Kennedy · Nov 25, 2005

I just remembered that the color head comes with a transformer. Could that be the problem?
JMK

pentaxuser · Nov 25, 2005

APB said:
Hi,

I am new to these forums, but hoping someone will be able to help me.. Having finished my college course on photography I have decided to set up a darkroom in my shed, bought an M605 w/ colour head (will be sticking to b&w for now, I heard this colour head is suitable for that purpose?) off ebay, picked it up this evening, alas, with no instructions! I can't seem to get it to switch on?!

I guess this could be as simple as the bulb has gone, or it could be me being stupid! lol Was hoping there might be someone who could help me with this.. either direct me to an online manual.. or give me some handy hints as how to get the damn thing running!! Can't wait to get back into printing, been almost a year now!

Any help appreciated,

Alex

I have a M605 Colour. Yes it is fine for B&W. The Magenta and Yellow dials give you full control over variable grade paper.Mine is connected to what I assume to be a voltage stabiliser which is then connected to a plug which supplies the power. Mine is also connected to an exposure timer which operates the enlarger. I have an operating manual. If you can't get an online manual then I could photocopy the manual at my local library at 10p per page. It is full of black and white photos to illustrate the enlarger so I don't know how good these would appear as a photocopy.

Where are you? Easiest if you are U.K. based but not impossible if based elsewhere. Just might take longer to get there.

I have also found the stockist for Durst in the U.K. but have never used it so can't say what they can provide. You can look at its very simple website but I suspect it is a small outfit as you have to contact by phone to make enquiries. Not ideal if you are N America based but if you are then I am sure some of our members there can help.If you need the website address again let me know.

As you say easiest is on-line downloading and possibly phone contact with a Durst specialist but if no-one else can help, let me know.

Pentaxuser

127 · Nov 25, 2005

Electrically there really is nothing to an enlarger. The 605 colour has an external transformer, which COULD be the problem. Basically you just need to check:

everythings plugged together
the mains socket is live
the mains plug fuse is good.
the transformer fuse is good.
the bulb is good.

If you've got a volt meter then you can check that you're getting the appropriate voltage (25v I think) across the bulb terminals.

To open it up, you undo the two large post/bolts that are underneath the enlarger head (behind the bellows) - then the head lifts off and you can see the bulb. It took me ages to figure that out

As long as it's not the transformer, then it's a trivial fix.

Ian

APB · Nov 25, 2005

Hi,

Thanks for your quick replies!! I now have the enlarger in pieces on my floor.. the transformer type thing is happily humming away, so I presume that it's ok. Have removed the bulb, nothing seems to be wrong with it, but that appears to be the only option.

I am in the UK, so does anyone know of any supliers I could get a suitable bulb from?

I shall try to get hold of a multimeter, that will conclude what the problem is!

Pentaxuser - could you tell me the filtration levels to set on the head, to give the grades 1 - 5?

Thanks again for everyones help, any more is still appreciated!

Alex

pentaxuser · Nov 25, 2005

APB said:
Hi,

Thanks for your quick replies!! I now have the enlarger in pieces on my floor.. the transformer type thing is happily humming away, so I presume that it's ok. Have removed the bulb, nothing seems to be wrong with it, but that appears to be the only option.

I am in the UK, so does anyone know of any supliers I could get a suitable bulb from?

I shall try to get hold of a multimeter, that will conclude what the problem is!

Pentaxuser - could you tell me the filtration levels to set on the head, to give the grades 1 - 5?

Thanks again for everyones help, any more is still appreciated!

Alex

For bulbs try www.techlamps.co.uk. Alternatively Nova Darkroom can sometimes supply but they get their lamps from Techlamps anyway as far as I know. There is a legitimate mark-up of course to cover Nova's time and effort. If you want to go on to do colour then I found the 75W lamp better than the 100W as specified by Durst. Exposure times for colour negs are very short with 100W. If your bulb has failed then unless you are prepared to wait for several days you might want to buy a spare as well. Sod's law says that bulbs always go when someone is waiting for those special prints the very next day.

Filtration levels depend on whose paper you use but whichever box you have should contain filtration instructions.

I have the Ilford and Agfa filtrations on a word doc. Anyone know if I can send at attachment via APUG? If I can't then can we use the APUG private e-mail to exchange e-mail addresses to which I can then attach the word doc.

Don't want to add to your costs but unless you are particularly adept with enlargers you might want to think about a photocopy of the manual. Happy to sent it at cost.

Pentaxuser

127 · Nov 25, 2005

The bulb I put in mine recently I got here:

Dead Link Removed

There are plenty of other places (probably cheaper), but I needed a couple of others too, and these guys had a good range.

If you can't wait/want to test, then most hardware stores will sell 12v 25w or maybe 50w which work fine, but are much dimmer. I used one of these for a few weeks while I got round to ordering the 100w replacement (which are much harder to find).

Ian

APB · Nov 25, 2005

Ahaa!

Sucess! Had a fiddle with the wires, cleaned contacts, pushed them in firmly etc.. used a 50w halogen from my desk light to test.. and hey presto! it works! Now just have to order some proper bulbs from somewhere : ) , ta for those links!

I shall have a hunt around the internet for a manual, am familiar with a M370, but this one has a few more levers and knobs.. If I can't get one, shall PM you pentaxuser.

Thanks for everyones help, has been really helpful! If I have any more problems I know where to come, thanks again.

Alex

clogz · Nov 25, 2005

Another possibility: clean the contacts of the bulb. They get easily corroded.

Hans

srs5694 · Nov 25, 2005

APB said:
Was hoping there might be someone who could help me with this.. either direct me to an online manual..

I'm not familiar with that specific model, but a quick Web search turned this up:

http://manuelsphoto.free.fr/durstm605manual.pdf

Note that although this is a French Web site, the manual is in English. It looks like a bitmap scan turned into a PDF. It suffers from some bad compression artifacts but is basically legible (at least, based on my cursory examination).

127 · Nov 26, 2005

That's fantastic!

I've used the 605 for a few years (I've got a colour and bw version), and got along fine with it, but there are a few tricks in there that I missed...

Most interestingly is the "secret" suplimentary filter on the colour head - the control is round the back, but the power cord. A month or so ago someone was having problems with extremely long enlarging times on a 605 - perhaps thats the problem?

Ian

pentaxuser · Nov 26, 2005

clogz said:
Another possibility: clean the contacts of the bulb. They get easily corroded.

Hans

In addition the bulb contacts fit into a ceramic holder. A tip I got from Nova Darkroom was to get a very narrow round file which would have to be not much bigger than a large sewing needle and clean the inside of the two holes which accept the bulb prongs. Apparently there is a tendency for arcing between the prongs(male) and metal holders(female) in the ceramic base causing a build-up which affects the connection.

If you get a fluctuation in light output, it could be caused by this or it might be the bulb on its way out. In my case it was the bulb so i never had to find a narrow round file but such things must exist in the likes of hobby and model making shops where tools like screwdrivers etc have to be very small.

If all else fails you can buy a new ceramic holder. I did just for peace of mind.

Pentaxuser

pentaxuser · Nov 26, 2005

srs5694 said:
I'm not familiar with that specific model, but a quick Web search turned this up:

http://manuelsphoto.free.fr/durstm605manual.pdf

Note that although this is a French Web site, the manual is in English. It looks like a bitmap scan turned into a PDF. It suffers from some bad compression artifacts but is basically legible (at least, based on my cursory examination).

Brilliant searching. Well done srs5694

APB. This is in fact my manual. srs5694 has saved you photocopying and postage and me time. The illustrations are every bit as good as my photocopied ones would be.

The only thing to add is that in some later models the supplementary filter which adds approx 40 yellow and 20 magenta beyond the 130 magenta on the dial is at the front not the back. If it is at the front it will be obvious.You simply turn it out or in.

Pentaxuser

Durst M605 - Help!!

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