In order to counter balance the heavy color head and condenser lenses, the engineers at Durst developed a Counterweight Spring system. In the Column Hood Assembly (AB33701) are housed two large coil springs which, when fully wound, provide enough tension to counteract the weight of whatever head you are using. These springs are connected to two steel cables (AB33714) that are in turn attached firmly to the Carrige Assembly (AS33403). I would imagine that, when new, your enlarger would have the proper amount of tension set by a Durst technician. If, for instance, you were going to be using a color head with several condensers + a big lens, more tension would be needed than if you were only using a cold light head (with no condensers, of course). I have no idea how much either would take. It does not matter, mine are both broken and gone. Here is my story and a warning.

WARNING ! Screwing around with the Counterweight Springs (AB33710) in your L184 / L183 / S45 / L-Whatever can be VERY DANGEROUS if you are not fully prepared. I have read that these things, fully wound, can produce 2000 pounds of force. If you are not aware, you can be seriously hurt by these, or by the tools you use to loosen the tension. I have no advice for you with regards to loosening these if they are in working condition. My text here is only for people whose springs have been broken and have no interest in repairing them.

From talking to others I have learned that shattered counterweight springs are quite common. I don't know what has to happen to break them for others, but I can tell you what happened to mine. If you recall, when I picked up my enlarger, both the units I looked at had the same flaw - the Column Hood Cover Strip (AB33715) was bent outward, and missing a screw (there are supposed to be 6). At the time I thought nothing of it. The head moved up and down freely, so I thought nothing was wrong. As it turned out, one of the two springs had been broken, and in the process of uncoiling, it had enough force to snap one of the screws for the cover strip (1128299) along with some internal parts I would discover years later. Now - here is something important to know. If you are only going to use a cold light head (which weighs maybe 15 pounds, at the most) - you DO NOT NEED the counterweight springs. At all. I have none. Those springs are only there to counteract the weight of heavy loads. Soooo - if you are looking at a buying an L184 or similar system, and it has this damage (which may not always be obvious) - don't worry. Use this knowledge to bargain for a better price. If, however, you plan on using condensers (which weigh nearly 35 pounds EACH!) or a color head, this damage could be a show stopper. This is, of course, only my opinion. Don't get me started on the "anal-retentive-wanna-be-gotta-be-perfect-photographers" I have run into.

One day, a few months ago, I was moving my L184 . In the process I dropped it, causing the Column Hood to smack against a concrete step. I curse loud, but not loud enough to cover the snap noise coming out of the top of my enlarger. That snap, turned out to be the last of my two counterweight springs failing, and coming uncoiled. After the shock wore off, I looked at the Damage. Boy was I pissed, at first. But then I finally settled to the fact and got on with my day. I was not going to be able to fix the damage, but I could come up with a solution that suited my needs in the darkroom. First I had to figure out how to get the damaged springs out of the head, and two, what to do about he damaged aluminum cover.

I could see that both springs were still coiled up inside the head. BOth ends of the spindle that they were mounted on were still attached, and most of the cover was fracutred off. I had no real idea of how to get these out, safely. I began basic removal of the end caps, but when I got to the actual Cable Drums (AB33705) I was lost. I gave Jens Jensen a call, he had sold me a PROLA alingment assembly a few years ago and was very nice, so I thought, what the hell. He understood the problem immediatly and advised me that removing the springs was to be done carefully, that I could get hurt if not careful. He sent me to a .pdf file on his website that deals with this very subject. I read it carefully and finally understood just what was needed to get parts out.

Without going into painful detail, I was able to remove both the Washers for FIxing Cable (AB33705) and the Cable Drums (AB31703) but had some trouble with the actual coiled springs. My concern, since the head was partially destroyed, that if I was not careful, one of htese things could uncoil and hurt me. SO - I clamped each spring with two big Vice Grips, in an effort to keep them compressed. I could see the both springs were totally seperated from the Spindle Shaft (AB33707) and it was cleat the only thing holding them in was the remains of the cast aluminum hood housing. I was not able to simply unwind them, too tight. I got a long section of pipe and started prying them out, one at a time. Eventually the first one slipped out of the housing, nearly scaring me to death. I gingerly carried this on the end of my pipe out to the front yard an gave it a swift toss. It hit the ground, both Vice Grips popped off and I heard the noise as the spring uncoiled. All my fear was for not. The only uncoiled to approximately twice their original size. Unless I had my finders in a dangerous place when they uncoiled, I would not have been hurt.

Now beware - if you were applying tension to one of these with a breaker bar (in a properly working system) and were not careful, the pressure generated by one of these could break your jaw with the wrench or worse. My situation is unique in that my L184 was totally broken, I had no interest in preserving the springs, and I had free access to the inside of my Column Hood. If your L184 was sitll intact, and you wanted to get hte springs out, I would not be the person to talk too, nor would my webiste be useful, at all.

Finally I cleaned everyhting up, woped out the old grease and replaced the pullys, and their outer covers. I used a healthy dose of JB Weld to reattach the broken hood parts. Since the fracture occured on the very top, you would never know the repair occured. Since the head/camera assembly is fairly light (less than 50 pounds) you really don't feel the difference. So there you have it, the story of how to loose the springs and still have a functioning L184.