Getting started with print drums

[cluttered]

I'm considering using print drums for some large B&W prints soon. But I'm wondering about how people do multiple prints with them? If I was to develop a print in a drum, and then I want to process a second one, does the drum need to be properly washed and dried before each subsequent print? Or is it ok to load the paper into a wet drum?

One obvious workaround is to have multiple drums, but that might get expensive!

 

[John Koehrer]

Just wipe the beaded water up with a towel. The only concern would be water droplets.

Living up to your name, having a bunch of drums around would be fitting.

 

[Jim Jones]

A water pre-rinse after the paper is loaded would even out any effect stray droplets of water might cause. The pre-rinse requires no change in developing time in my experience.

 

[MattKing]

I do this from time to time with RC paper and smaller (8x10 and 11x14) drums. I have a 16x20 drum as well.

You do need to have dry drums.

I wash in a tray, and am good at drying the drums promptly, but it is definitely easier if you have at least three drums, because some air drying time really helps.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Fiber-based papers will probably collapse in a drum. You'd have to use RC. Trying to do multiple prints at one time can be tricky unless the
drum is properly engineered for that. Mere dividers can induce laminar flow marks which require large solution volumes to overcome. It
helps if the drum isn't rotated too fast. Sometimes you can just gently roll a small drum back and forth along the bed of your darkroom sink.

 

[cluttered]

Fiber-based papers will probably collapse in a drum. You'd have to use RC. Trying to do multiple prints at one time can be tricky unless the
drum is properly engineered for that. Mere dividers can induce laminar flow marks which require large solution volumes to overcome. It
helps if the drum isn't rotated too fast. Sometimes you can just gently roll a small drum back and forth along the bed of your darkroom sink.

My plan is to only use RC when working with a drum; FB paper in large sizes gets expensive. Most likely it would be in a Jobo drum of some sort, in a Jobo processor. Just one sheet at a time, but producing multiple prints in a session (hence the original question).

 

[pentaxuser]

Some Jobo print drums have custom-made dividers allowing say 4 or more 5x7/10x8 prints to be developed at the same time. I think that Drew W excludes these from his warning about extra developer and laminar flow marks.

Jim Jones' comments on pre-rinse would seem to eliminate the adverse effects of water droplets and the need to dry the drums each time

If you needed to produce say a 5x7 print from each frame of a 36 exposure film there seem little doubt that the right drum would speed up the process considerably compared to trays or a Nova processor.

The extra throughput v time taken comes at a cost of course, namely the price of the drums and a Jobo Processor.

pentaxuser

 

[Xmas]

I've used a drum

Linen tea towels for drying
Spin in wash hand basin half full of tempered water you did need to keep then level...

Never had a processor.

 

[bvy]

Dry drums are easier to work with. Shake the loose water out and paper towel dry at a minimum. I've done 4 8x10 RC prints in a 16x20 drum, using makeshift spacers made from nylon tie straps.

 

[MattKing]

Two 5x7/5x8s in an 8x10 work great - just stagger the sheet ends.

I have an 11x14 tube as well. I can easily process four 4"x6" postcards (two to a 6"x8" sheet) for the postcard exchange.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Jobo had different styles of drums. The pro drums contain a nest of actual individual tubes, one per print, rather than just septum dividers.
The whole system never caught on with me, though some people love them.

 

[Роберт]

Paper drums from Jobo are very nice. I am using them for bigger formats, up from 24x30cm till 40x50cm which is the largest 28xx drum. You have to clean and dry them with a towel and you can do both PE/RC and fiber papers in them. I have a CPA-2 with elevator which makes it very easy in handling. Smaller formats I am doing in a Nova vertical paper processor. (8x10"/ 20x25cm).

 

[mklw1954]

The attached shows how multiple prints can be done in a Unicolor Unidrum that has inside notches.

I have a Unidrum but haven't used it as gasket leaks are common and a pain; however, there are APUG threads discussing how to remedy that.

 

[bvy]

That works fine -- where it gets tricky is trying to process multiple prints without the spacers. I fashioned some makeshift spacers from nylon ties. This works okay with prints, but as I also process 4x5 sheet film in an 8x10 drum, I need something a little more reliable. The original Unicolor spacers seem impossible to find. (For those unfamiliar, the spacers allow you to put two or more sheets of paper or film along the same channel in the drum without the risk of them overlapping during processing.)

 

[John51]

Just curious, why would a drum be better than a tray for B&W?

If it is for reasons of space or expense, then the 1 tray method could employed.

 

[Роберт]

A one tray method is terrible in fiber prints and 4 trays >50x60cm or >40x50cm is too much space in any smaller darkroom. Hence the paper drums.

 

[Sirius Glass]

A one tray method is terrible in fiber prints and 4 trays >50x60cm or >40x50cm is too much space in any smaller darkroom. Hence the paper drums.

+1

 

[bvy]

Just curious, why would a drum be better than a tray for B&W?

If it is for reasons of space or expense, then the 1 tray method could employed.

I can process 4 8x10's in a 16x20 drum. Yes, I know I can do some sort of shuffling act with trays, but I make a mess, and would probably splash stop or fixer somewhere that it shouldn't go.

 

[whojammyflip]

Jobo 2830 and 2840 drums have ridges in them, which means that you dont need to use their dividers. You can do 4x 5x7 in a 2830, or a couple of 8x10's at once. I dont think there is a huge advantage in speed with the Jobo drums once you factor in draining times, and cleaning times. Obviously, a significant advantage in drums is that you can process a print with the lights on, so you could have your enlarger under the stairs and then develop the print in the kitchen (for example).

 

[John51]

A one tray method is terrible in fiber prints

Why is that?

 

[kwm]

Have you ever heard about the Agnekolor "Color Wedge" ? It`s a 8 x10 daylight tray from the early 80s. I`m just building some kind of a "rocker" for it. It combines the advantages of drum- and tray development with only 100 ml of chemicals.

 

[MattKing]

Have you ever heard about the Agnekolor "Color Wedge" ? It`s a 8 x10 daylight tray from the early 80s. I`m just building some kind of a "rocker" for it. It combines the advantages of drum- and tray development with only 100 ml of chemicals.

Or the Heath Mitchell Color Canoe:

A local Craigslist listing: http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/nvn/pho/5317865220.html

If it wasn't at least a 45 minute drive across town .....