john joseph wrote:
Richard Knoppow wrote:
"Lew" wrote in message
...
Can anyone give me a run down of what's available, what to look at &
what to avoid? Thanks.

Since others have given you some answers I will ask a question:
Why do you want to change to a cold-light head?

I would like to know as well. I'm rebuilding a Saltzman 8x10 with
condensers. I know that four 250W bulbs is going to be hot, but such has
a reliable on/off quality of light. Cold heads - dunno - they seem so
finnicky - someone enlighten me.

*waves wand* I pronounce you enlightened....as if my opinion really mattered (been married
too long to think otherwise)


I think most people want to go to a diffused light source to minimize the dust and scratch
issue. Personally, I lean towards the flourescent bulb and white diffusor approach, which
reminds me, John, you wanna let go of that electromagnetic (solenoid actuated) shutter
from the enlarger?

back to the subject at hand, if you know a good (I mean really good) neon bender, a
coldlight head is not much more than a neon tube bent in a serpentine pattern. I bent one
up (years ago) for a friend that had vertical returns and had 1/2" spacing, used a bit of
glass up, but worked wonderfully. It's really important to ask you bender to bombard the
glass properly, most glass guys just seem to do good enough, as opposed to allowing all
the contaminants to be burnt off before pumping the glass down. I could probably look up
the specifics if anyone is interested, I may have my notes still.

e