Do Jobo tanks and reels go bad?

canuhead · May 2, 2008

Maybe do ONE last process the old way to see if the problem is back. This would at least give you some peace of mind and that it is indeed the agitation process. I still have no idea why you were getting those marks, especially the longer ones that run parallel to the film edge.

Could there have been some kind of vacuum lock that was popped when you took the lid off ? That might have keep any bubbles/aeration around longer ?

Uhner · May 3, 2008

Good thing you’ve got one agitation system to work.

david b · May 3, 2008

My guess is that something is causing bubbles in the initial agitation and they don't go away for the rest of the development.

So, I think I will do the first minute agitation, then pull the reels out to remove the bubbles, then put them back in and continue with the lights on.

I can't tell you how good it feels to think that I might have beaten this. For the last several weeks, I have been very depressed about this problem.

david b · May 3, 2008

okay...just did another tank.

this time, after the first minutes agitation, i killed the lights, pulled the lid off and then pulled the reels out.
i let it drain, then put them back in, put the lid back on, and turned the lights back on.

I continued the agitation the way I always do it, and the film came out great.

so, something is causing bubbles in the first minute. I have no frickin' idea what it is but
it appears solved and I am frickin' thrilled.

Arvee · May 4, 2008

David,

Don't know if you have seen this thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

There seems to be some similarities.....

Fred

david b · May 4, 2008

hey fred,
I did see that thread. My problem happened with xtol and then with rodinal. My issues look different. They appear to be something like air bubbles.

But now that I am doing things a little different, as stated above, the problem seems to have gone away.

Also, I just got a message via my blog from Suzanne Revy saying that she had the same problem, and cured it in the same way.

canuhead · May 4, 2008

what I don't get, and what drove you crazy is what happened between no problems and current problems. Be interesting to experiment to see if the amount of chemistry had anything to do with it. Less chems=more bubbles/aeration because there's more room to slosh around ? or vice versa

david b · May 4, 2008

Yes this drove me totally frickin' nuts.

But I changed developers while trying to figure out what was happening.

xtol 1+1, xtol 1+2 and rodinal 1+50

All of these combos had problems. I have no idea why this suddenly occurred.

I am just so frickin' happy that it is now fixed. It's like I just saw my first set of negatives. I am really really happy.

Kevin Caulfield · May 4, 2008

I'm really happy that you sorted it out, because it was clearly odd and it was obviously tormenting you.

david b · May 4, 2008

thank kevin.

It was really scary thinking that every roll of film was going to be screwed up. Kind of like, "what's the point?"

Bob F. · May 4, 2008

Did you get the Paterson tank and reel (I think you said you were getting one)? If you still have it, have you tried using the swizzle-stick that comes with it instead of using inversion agitation? From your reports of your final success, that might be another option.

There seems to be zero reason for the sudden onset of your troubles - looks like you covered all possible bases.

I'd blame Global Warming myself...

Cheers, Bob.

david b · May 4, 2008

I do think it has something to do with the low humidity, electric static, and my stainless steel sink.

Bob F. · May 4, 2008

Interesting... Earthed (grounded) metal will not hold a static charge so if the sink is not grounded, make it so (it should be in any case for safety's sake) and see if that helps at all.

Bob.

eclarke · May 5, 2008

My neighbor has been to John Sexton's darkroom workshop a couple of times and was told there that short presoaks can cause these problems and recommends 5 minutes. IIRC there are surfactants or flow agents in the coating on the modern films. Have you tried eliminating the pre soak??..EC

david b · May 5, 2008

ec,
I tried a two minute soak. same problem.
I tried no soak at all. same problem.

Uhner · May 28, 2008

For future reference:

My girlfriend recently changed our brand of washing up liquid; which proved to render my previous advice erroneous. After cleaning my reels in the new stuff I once again ran into the same problem as described by David. I solved it by scrubbing my reels with toothpaste as advised earlier in this thread.

Naturally, some time after this my tap water started to contain large amounts of small bubbles that introduced a new problem...

Do Jobo tanks and reels go bad?

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