Jobo 3063 on roller base?

michaelbsc

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I have an offer for a Jobo 3063 NIB cheap.

Can I use this properly on a non reversing roller base? How does it fill and drain?

I know nothing about Jobo tanks.
 
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michaelbsc

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Forgot to mention that the objective is to do 20x24 FB prints. But a set of trays is expensive. I'm thinking just one test as a wash basin.

The drum can have many uses beyond the prints.
 
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michaelbsc

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The FB paper doesn't work well in drums. It gets too floppy when wet and won't stay against the drum wall.

OK, so trays work better even thought they're not cheap?

I've never done anything larger than 11x14 so far. This big stuff is new to me.
 

GeorgesGiralt

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Hello,
In a documentary about and with James Natchway, one can see the photographer supervising a darkroom work of one of it's iconic images.
The point is that the prints are huge. And the guy in the lab (sorry I can't remember it's name) use trays that are not the size of the prints.
He has a tray which has for longest dimension the smallest of the print and looks like a tubing cut in two in the length. He constantly rolls and unroll the print in the developer, then in the stop and last in fix. This is to say that you can do very large prints by rolling them in the chemicals and not having huge trays to ruin yourself or eat all the darkroom space !
 

Ian C

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Drum Developing FB: Possible, But Not Reccomended

Although FB paper can be developed, stopped, and fixed in Jobo drums I recommend that you avoid doing so. FB paper increases size significantly as the mass of paper absorbs water in processing.

The paper is rolled into a cylinder shape in the drum with the paper end-to-end. There’s no place for the paper to go as it expands, so the paper begins to buckle taking on the shape of the pressed steel walls of a Quonset Hut or the corrugated layer of cardboard shipping boxes . The longer the paper is left in the drum with the solutions, the more the paper increases size. The length of a Jobo drum is generous enough that the ends of the paper don’t exert buckling force lengthwise.

If you simply develop, stop, and fix the paper in the drum, the buckling due to water absorption isn’t too bad, but will need considerable flattening later. But washing, toning, or anything that increases the wet time constrained inside the drum is likely to expand the paper so much that it buckles the paper with sharp folds, ruining it.

By limiting the wet time in the drum to just enough to develop, stop, and fix, followed by washing and further steps carried out in trays it’s possible to make a decent print. As you might expect, you have be especially careful to slowly scroll a soggy FB print away from the drum walls to remove it without damage.

Using trays or troughs is much less likely to hurt the print that you’ve invested your time, effort, and money in making.
 
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michaelbsc

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Sal, thanks for all the info.

I have another friend who also recommended that the 3063 drum wasn't suited to use on a roller base, which seems to be confirmed with the comments in the threads on the LF forum.

I think it's best just to let this idea fade away.

Hey, anybody got some 20x24 trays they want to give away?
 

Martin Aislabie

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Handling wet paper becomes significantly more difficult as paper size goes up

With either FB or RC paper at 20x24 I would avoid print tongs.

A decent pair of rubber gloves is the order of the day with large prints

Even then it is remarkably easy to crease the paper during handling when wet - and those marks don't come out

I have found that printing plans which seem good for 12x16 paper need another small tweak at 20x24 size.

I am not sure if that is just me or others have had similar experiences

I cannot explain why this is so

There is something impressive about producing large prints but I found it quite hard work to produce something I was happy with

Good luck

Martin
 
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