Help Identifying Plastic Reels

Hi, I've been rehabbing a community darkroom (White River Craft Center in Randolph, VT, if anyone's local) and am in the process of sorting through the developing reels.

This darkroom has gotten a lot of donations over the years, so things have gotten a bit jumbled.

We have Paterson tanks (system 4 and universal), Jobo 1500 series, Yankee Clippers, and a Unicolor drum. (We also have stainless, but those are pretty easy to tell apart.)

I have separated the known Paterson reels and the known Yankee reels, and am looking for help identifying some oddballs.

The ones grouped in the set of 3 each have a solid core that is not able to be removed. The one with the black core seems to be adjustable, but I can't disassemble it without risking damage. The white core one is solid. The 120 reel looks like it has an extender, but it's the only one that does, I don't have any loose extenders. Are these Unicolor or perhaps a discontinued Jobo style?

The two attached to the same tube are I think a Jobo reel jammed onto a Paterson tube. I can detach the top of the top reel, but I can't move the other part of it at all. The Paterson reel below moves freely. Any tips for getting this unstuck? I've tried soap and hot water, a blade to loosen the seal, and twisting. Nothing seems to work.

Any assistance or tips would be very helpful!

Thanks!
Albo

Of the unidentified reels, do any fit on Paterson posts/cores?
If so, they may be like the AP/Samigon/Arista 3rd party reels designed to fit into the Paterson tanks.

MattKing said:

Of the unidentified reels, do any fit on Paterson posts/cores?
If so, they may be like the AP/Samigon/Arista 3rd party reels designed to fit into the Paterson tanks.

Click to expand...

No, the attached cores are much smaller, the opening is probably only as wide as a pencil. They also stand too tall to be used in a Paterson tank without the tube (bump into the funnel). I am leaning toward unicolor based on some ebay results, but not entirely certain.

Unicolor for the Unicolor film drum. The Unicolor film drum does use the light tight tube that reels such as Patterson are fitted over, The Unicolor film drum has a plunger end that is adjustable to the number of reels in use and a fixed cap that is light tight, it is the end that chemister is pour in and out of. There is no hallow tube that the reels need to be fitter over.

Paul Howell said:

Unicolor for the Unicolor film drum. The Unicolor film drum does use the light tight tube that reels such as Patterson are fitted over, The Unicolor film drum has a plunger end that is adjustable to the number of reels in use and a fixed cap that is light tight, it is the end that chemister is pour in and out of. There is no hallow tube that the reels need to be fitter over.

Click to expand...

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense!

I agree, I think those are Unicolor reels. I think Paul missed a "not", as in the Unicolor drum does not use the light tight center tube. I believe that one cannot use a Paterson tank without the center tube, the funnel hole will allow light into the tank. I do not know if these were user-disassemblable with that black spacer for 120, or if the 120 reels came that way from the factory. The Unicolor 35mm reels that I touched did not seem to come apart.

The AP/Samigon/Arista plastic reels that are adjustable and Paterson compatible, IIRC, look very similar to a Paterson reel, with a large center hole, but they have big flanges at the film-loading end that extend across the width of a 35mm film.

reddesert said:

I agree, I think those are Unicolor reels. I think Paul missed a "not", as in the Unicolor drum does not use the light tight center tube. I believe that one cannot use a Paterson tank without the center tube, the funnel hole will allow light into the tank. I do not know if these were user-disassemblable with that black spacer for 120, or if the 120 reels came that way from the factory. The Unicolor 35mm reels that I touched did not seem to come apart.

The AP/Samigon/Arista plastic reels that are adjustable and Paterson compatible, IIRC, look very similar to a Paterson reel, with a large center hole, but they have big flanges at the film-loading end that extend across the width of a 35mm film.

Click to expand...

Ha yep, I gathered the implied "not."

I've only recently seen those big flange reels at a different darkroom. Apparently they make loading pretty easy and were favored by some people there, but I have no problem with Patersons.

This is very helpful info, and I'm going to toss these guys with that drum and make a photo reference page to save the next people this trouble.

Any thoughts on disconnecting that jammed-on jobo?

Sorry about the not. There were also 3rd party reels made for the Unicolor drum that do have a small central hole, but too small to fit onto the center tube of a Patterson tank. I both types, the Unicolor reels are a bit easier to load.