How does a Nova Fibre Based Print Processor/Slot processor work?

[thedancefloor]

How does a Nova Fibre Based Print Processor/Slot processor work? And is there a way to use a roller transport processor and FB paper? How long would it take to process each print?

 

[Bill Burk]

It's not at all like a graphic arts Rapid Access automatic processor with belt paths travelling serpentine through several deep tanks.

Instead the Nova processors are sets of narrow deep tanks that you dip the prints into manually.

So processing takes the same time as it would in regular trays, depending on temperature.

 

[thedancefloor]

Hmm... I see. Thanks. Is there such thing as a roller transport for FB paper?

 

[Mike Wilde]

I have processed fb prints in a fujimoto roller processor, with a bit of a work around. You needa to have a lot of prints that need to be procesed to make this worth the effort. I was printing 40 8x10's, and the ra-4 procesor was empty.

I have a stock of fogged RC paper, 8.5x11. I fixed the silver out and washed them to create 'carrier sheets'

I drop the exposed FB print up to 8x10 into a water bath, to soften the print, and flop it face up onto the RCcarrier sheet, to which it sticks.

I feed them into the processor. I loaded the processor with Ansco 130 at 1:1. I picked it due to its glycin's resistance to aerial oxidation.
Fixer was film strength TF-3 rapid fixer.

I disabled the heater drive signals which usually make the baths 38C. My processor runs at 24C without the actual inline heaters turned on, mostly from pump waste heat.
Drive speed was left at the RA-4 rate, which gave 45 seconds per bath. I ran tank 1 developer, tank 2 water bath, and tank three fixer.

I collected the prints from the fixer output, disconnecting the wash/dry unit. I left them in a water holding bath, and then manually ran a fix 2 bath, rinse, hypo clear, and washed them in a tray and my rack washer.

Rinse the carrier sheets, or fixer carry over will prevent the edges of your next print from properly developing, and also screw the pH of the developer.

Al

 

[kraker]

Very interesting, Mike, thanks for sharing.

I've got a Cibachrome processor standing, doing nothing. Haven't used it for its original goal (developing Ilfochrome prints) yet; even if I use it for that, the end date of that process seems to be in the very near future (sad but true).

So I was doing some thinking on how/if I could put it to another good use, and your post tells me that it should be possible.

Have you ever tried it without the stop/waterbath after the developer? I'm thinking that because of the rollers, there's very little transfer of chemistry to the next bath, making the stop bath not absolutely necessary in order to prolong the life of the fixer. Moving the fix to the second bath, one could have either a second fix or a first rinse as 3rd bath. Just a thought.

(But first, I'd like to give Ilfochrome a try before it is gone forever.)

 

[thedancefloor]

Ah cool. Thanks Mike. You've mentioned how to do this before, but I really appreciate the more detailed description this time around (a short while ago I was able to subscribe to poster's threads, but now I'm not. Could somebody explain this to me also!?). So would your method work in other processors?

I've got a pal who's becoming a bit of a famous wedding photographer, and she's asked me if I'd print her B&W shots. So I'm considering a system to make 5x7 FB proofs.

 

[Mike Wilde]

As to the solution without the water bath between dev and fix, well that is , as hammy the hampstrer loved to say, 'well that's another story'.

My roller came to me in sorry shape, at the right price. The first tank uses a high precision electronic thermostat; I think a capacitor has dried in it or something, becasue it is flaky. So I fed tank 1 an alternate control signal, that is not as precise. I have described this in apst post about bringing my cp31 back to life.

So usually I feed the processor RA4 chemistry with water bath in tank 1, and developer in tank 2, and fix in tank 3.

With the B&W carrier sheet option though, I was concerned about the liquid arond the edge of the print next to the carrier sheet, as well as what might have soaked into the FB paper edges.
That had the potential to increase developer carry over, and thus raise the pH of the fixer until it was out of spec.
I thought a water bath would help this situation, alothough i never got rigorous about measuring the solution pH's.

Hope these ideas get you thinking about new options.

 

[grahamp]

[...], as hammy the hampstrer loved to say, 'well that's another story'.
[...]

Tales from the Riverbank?

 

[Mike Wilde]

I was a little guy when the series would air . It might be called 'tales from the riverbank'; the series title never sank in, but I do remember hammy the hampster and GP the guinea pig by name.

The series would be re-run when I was a teen and I would always roll my eyes when seeing how lame it looked 10 years on, but in the heart of the little guy in me they were always great stories about how friends helped each other.

I don't think there is enough of that sort of message in today's mass media; it has been supplanted with the thought that everyone is going to become famous, based ont he programs that my tween watch. There was hope back when they still watched Arthur.