aluminium tank ?

[F80p]

Does aluminum react with chemicals which developing BW films? (what about C-41 and E-6 chemicals?)
I wanted to use aluminum as it is light and longlasting instead of plastic. Stainless steel is costly

 

[Ian Grant]

Fixer eats Aluminium rather quickly so no chance, all process use fixer.

Ian

 

[Jesper]

If you stay with glass and plastic you should be ok.

I once tried fixer in a tank covered with zink.
Definitely not one of my best ideas.

 

[Ian Grant]

Fixer will also corrode some grades of stainless steel, I've seen it eat an almost microscopic hole overnight

Ian

 

[David Brown]

Does aluminum react with chemicals which developing BW films? (what about C-41 and E-6 chemicals?)

Yes. There are a number of very good reasons why no photo processing equip is made of aluminum.

I wanted to use aluminum as it is light and longlasting instead of plastic. Stainless steel is costly

Stainless steel tanks and reels will out last you if reasonably taken care of. So will proper plastic developing trays.

 

[bdial]

Aluminum is also sensitive to strong alkalies, such as in some developers. It's much too reactive for use in photo processing.
Most plastic tanks and such last for a very long time, if stainless is too much.

 

[F80p]

Thanks for the replies. I had almost madeup my mind to use aluminum. Yes i have noticed not much equipment is made using aluminum. I gues i have to find the right size plastic box/bowl to match the patterson reel.

 

[CBG]

For a broad answer:
Glass, many plastics, certain grades of stainless. Yes
Aluminum, brass, copper, lead, nickle, tin, magnesium, zinc, cadmium. No

For a better answer than I could give, you could start with Kodak's book, "Construction Materials for Photographic Processing Equipment" Kodak Publication No, K-12 CAT 101 8423 printed 1973. In it are discussed hundreds of metals, plastics, glasses, woods, their properties, and their suitability for contact with various photographic solutions and the engineering and testing for such uses.

For intermittent home use you can get away with most generally acceptable materials with no problems. For 24/7 continuous heavy usage, every material must be checked for compatibility with the basic chemistry, solvent resistance, corrosion, usable temperatures, photographic activity, leaching, pitting, mechanical properties, fabrication, cost, etc, i.e. engineered. The Kodak book is a good start.

 

[MartinP]

I gues i have to find the right size plastic box/bowl to match the patterson reel.

It might be a silly question, but why not just use a developing-tank ? Then you can develop film in daylight, without leaks and splashes, for the price of maybe three or four rolls of film.

 

[Terrence Brennan]

PVC tanks

I gues i have to find the right size plastic box/bowl to match the patterson reel.

I made processing tanks out of 4-inch PVC pipe. You can buy it, along with end caps, the primer and the solvent/cement, at any reasonably well equipped building supply company.

You will need the heavy PVC end caps to make the bottoms of your tank(s), and buy the light weight blue plastic caps to serve as lids, and as an anti-evaporation measure. You can also buy the same type of cap, in 3- or 3-1/2-inch size to serve as floating lids.

I buy most of my supplies at the local Home Depot, and they even cut the PVC pipe into two 5-foot lengths so I could fit it into my Corolla and get it home!

 

[George Collier]

Good stainless steel is a one time life time purchase, well worth it - and you can't (well, almost can't) damage it tapping to release air bells. It also conducts temperature well for water bath.