About 8 years ago I bought a Durst Laborator L184 from Midwest Photo in Columbus, OH.  We drove all day from Washington, D.C. and found out the store had closed. Lucky for us, someone was in the store working late, and he let us in since we drove so far. When I picked it out, there were two to choose from. I don't remember why I choose this one, but I do remember that both had a cover plate on top which looked bent out of place (see Damaged Durst L184). That didn't matter to me. I wanted my dream enlarger! It came with an Aristo T12 cold light head, a negative carrier (no inserts) and a few lensboards. My wife, April, son Matthew and I loaded it into my pickup and began the long drive home. We ate dinner at the Kahiki resteraunt (a real treat for all of us, especially my 3 year old son, Matthew). Once back home, we lugged it up three flights of stairs and I installed it into our apartment. I had a bedroom dedicated as a lab (if the landlords ever knew just how I pulled this off, they would come get me now!). We eventually moved back to Tucson, and hauled the Durst with us. I used it constantly until about 2 years ago.  I wanted to get fully into digital, so I sold the enlarger to a guy in California for exactly what I had in it - $1500.  Thing is, he only wanted the "Camera" which some would call the "Head". He wanted everything from the light source to the lens mount. Nothing else. So I obliged.  That left me with an entire L184 chassis.  I debated what to do for more than two years.  I am fully into digital (love my Epson 4800 with Piezography inks - very nice!), but I still wanted to do film. Specifically I own a Sinar Norma 4X5 and a black enamel Leicaflex SL.

The process of properly removing the camera was unknown to me. I gave everything a good look and found that the Bearing Shaft (XC33131) needed to be released from it's mount. Once that was out, the entire camera would go too. For some reason I cannot recall right now, I had to remove the Tension Cables (AB33714). I did not know at the time anything about the coil springs, except that they were there. I think I ended up removing the washers and screws used for fixing the cables to their mounts. That, of course let the coil springs uncoil, rapidly. One actually did nothing, because it was already broken. The other uncoiled but caused no damage. That's ok - because several years later I would finish the job of really breaking it.There is a keyway cut into the Bearing Shaft which allows the Lead Screw Shaft to pass thru the Bearing Shaft. That would be an important thing for me to remember when it came time to design a replacment shaft for mounting my Beseler CB7.

I couldn't bring myself to sell or discard the Durst body. Finding just the camera assembly for the L184 would be impossible. I knew Durst-Pro-USA wouldn't sell me just a head, that is a part they would need for the enlargers they refurbish and sell. Glennview only had complete L184's - no head assemblies for sale. I missed having an 8X10 enlarger. I bought a Beseler 45MXT with the 810 head adapter for a song ($600), but was never happy with the performance of my 45 series enlarger (I've had three of them).  They all were nice, but had back-lash in focusing, the negative stage moved around allot when inserting carriers and they were limited when it came to alignment. 
 
Last summer I started thinking about fabricating an 8X10 enlarger that would have all the features I've always wanted. 1) A fully adjustable lens / negative / head stage.  2) Motorized focus.  3) Have ZERO back lash when focusing. 4) A 12X12 inch cold light source. 5) Be VERY sturdy and stable. 6). Use commonly available negative carriers 7) Use common and inexpensive lens boards.   I studied the construction of other 10X10 enlargers like the Saltzman and the Durst, even the Devere and Fotar enlargers.  Made some rough drawings. Thought a worm gear drive would be a cool way to focus, but that would only allow for fine focusing. It would be hard to shift gears for a faster speed.
 
Then recently I read on a website about the Beseler CB-7.  It had a fully worm-gear-adjustable lens / head stage, uses all Beseler 45 series negative carriers, and has a motor driven TWO speed focus with nearly ZERO backlash.  They are also oversized (actually built to 5X7 dimensions, but only print 4X5) and are heavily built.  I right away decided that this is just the enlarger for me.  I looked on eBay and found one in Phoenix (2 hour drive for me) and ended up buying it for $200.  It also came with three Rodenstock lenses and 3 negative carriers (one was a 4X5 Nega-Flat which normally goes for $125 on eBay!). I have since been watching eBay for others and haven't seen any. They really must be uncommon.
 
Got it home and did a little soldering and repair work on the focus drive motor (a resistor had broken loose) and gave it a lube job. Works like a champ.  These are a truly beautiful piece of machinery.  Everything is either cast or milled. Hammertone gray paint has always been a favorite color of mine (Garrard 301, Leica MP and the Durst L184 are all painted Hammertone!). 
 
Now there is the matter of getting the Beseler CB7 mounted onto the Durst chassis. Also - I had to figure out how to mount the Beseler 810 adapter onto the CB7. It was not made for that enlarger. Several calls to Beseler were unproductive. I guess no one had ever asked that question before. I have the final answer - YES - it can be mounted, but it requires WORK!