Jobo ATL-1000

[Trond]

Hello!

I´ve just acquired a Jobo atl-1000 from a newspaper here in Oslo (actually the last piece of analog equipment they had left).

It hasn´t been used for several years, and I wonder how I best can clean out old dried up chemicals inside it. It suspect a normal cleaning program won´t do the trick.

The unit needs a tempered water supply, a water mixing panel is preferable I guess if I can get such such a thing, but I´ve also read about using a large container with tempered water and a pump. How well does this solution work?

Thanks,
Trond

 

[Baxter Bradford]

Hi Trond

I bought an ATL-1000 a few months ago and have opted for the water tank, heater element and an aquarium pump to circulate the water for even temp. This works very well indeed for both E6 and B+W. I have posted info on this tank here if you do a search for it.

In terms of cleaning the machine, I am half way through cleaning out an ATL-2300 which is in a similar condition to yours by the sound of it. It is not yet plumbed in, so I have used hot water and a steam cleaner to get rid of some of the chemical deposits. There is still some carbonate around which I might remove using household water descaling solution and have also found the same stuff in a gel. I feel that this ought to be good for hard to reach places before washing off.
Some of the bottles have the darkroom 'tar' stain on them and I bought something from Retro-photograhic (Silver Skivvy cleaner) to remove this. However it sounds like a very active compound and am therefore loathe to use it in the tanks which have the heater probes.

I shall be using the Jobo mixing panel with the ATL-2300 since it came with one.

 

[Trond]

Thanks Baxter!

Thanks for the cleaning advice, I suppose there is a bit of work ahead.

I´ve now read the earlier posts. Does the water heater have a thermostat? And where do I get one (preferably on the internet)?

Thanks,
Trond

 

[Baxter Bradford]

Trond

I bought the thermostatically controlled heater from Nova Darkroom, http://www.novadarkroom.com/ now called The Imaging Warehouse. The part number is ARHSS4 Stainless stell powerstat 375W which they recalibrated for me so that it would reach 38 deg C for the E6. This goes through the side of the container at the bottom, sealed by a rubber grommet and the thermostat is on the plug.

If you order and say that you want the same as myself, then it is a small company and so I think that they ought to have the records and check their end. That said, I have just copied all of the above from my invoice.

The water is pumped in via the submersible caravan Whale pump, which is controlled by the 1/4 inch jack plug power lead (centre pin is positive) into the back of the unit.

 

[Trond]

I called the Norwegian distributor of Jobo, and they recommended a normal thermostatic shower mixer. So I´ve just been out buying a high quality shower mixer. It even has a safety switch which stops the temperature selector at 38 ℃! I´ll inform you on how it performs.

Trond

 

[Baxter Bradford]

I hope that it goes ok for you. You might want to arrange a bypass flow, to get it up to temp and keep the pipe length short from mixer to ATL-1000 to save it cooling down. The Jobo panel has this trickle feed to ensure that it is at correct temp. Also suggest calibrating that the unit is a true 38 deg C.

I will be interested to hear how you get on.

 

[Ted Harris]

Before you go to the expense and effort of any sort of water temping device try running it without any external temperature controls. The unit has its own internal temperature controls but it could take a lot longer to get up to temperature. Once there it will maintain the temperatures. If you are primarily interested in processing black and white film then you will likely not miss the external temping controls ... a different story for color. I used to use one of these, sometimes in the field battery powered without any external temperature control and never ruined any negs or trannies.

 

[Trond]

The ATL-1000 doesn´t heat the rinsing water, so some kind of temperature controlled water supply is necessary. Otherwise the film would be rinsed in cold water.

Trond

 

[Trond]

I´ve installed a bypass valve on the Jobo machine itself. It should, in theory, help to insure that the water going into the machine has the right temperature if I let the water trickle through the valve.

I´ll process some sheets of B/W today.

Trond

 

[Trond]

I've developed the first batch of E-6 today. I used the Jobo E-6 kit, and it worked like a charm. The shower mixer is very good at maintaining the right temperature for E-6 (38C), but is relatively unreliabe for lower temperatures. So when I develop B/W I have to monitor the temperature more closely.

I thought I had done something really stupid when saw the slides in wet condition, and was very relieved to see them turn out normal when they had dried!

Trond

 

[Changeling1]

Jobo makes a special concoction called "Processor Clean" which is specially formulated to get rid of all the various residues that accumulate in their rotary processors. Jobo recommends cleaning your machine with this preferably after each use.

 

[Eirik Berger]

Hehe, I had the same reaction too when I saw my first slides from my ATL (3000). The slides looked green-blueish in wet condition but they turned out fine.

If you developed Fujifilm (E6) did you prolong the time in the first developer? A page on the jobo website said so.
http://www.jobo.com/jobo_service/us_analog/instructions/instructions_tetenal_e-6_three_bath.htm

My first batch of film looked at bit dark and when I set the time in the first developer to 7:30 instead of 6:30 the film looks great.

Eirik

 

[Ole]

Hehe, I had the same reaction too when I saw my first slides from my ATL (3000). The slides looked green-blueish in wet condition but they turned out fine.

Mine's a CPE-2 - same reaction. Looks horrible wet, and horrible dry too. But at least the colours were correct - it's just that I stink at colour photography.

Oddly enough I have two of my own pictures on the wall in my living room. Both colour. I think they are the exceptions that prove the rule.

 

[Trond]

If you developed Fujifilm (E6) did you prolong the time in the first developer? A page on the jobo website said so.
http://www.jobo.com/jobo_service/us_analog/instructions/instructions_tetenal_e-6_three_bath.htm

My first batch of film looked at bit dark and when I set the time in the first developer to 7:30 instead of 6:30 the film looks great.

Sorry for the late reply...

No, I developed Kodak film. The slides look about right to me. The instructions for the Jobo E-6 kit doesn´t mention anything about prolonged development for Fuji films.

Trond