Jobo Not Producing Print Drums and Accessories for Printing

[AgX]

Concerning the clips to hold paper or film in the drums. One may try to mill such oneself out of a plastic tube.

Slicing a PVC tube might work too.

 

[mshchem]

I have the 3004, 3005, 3006, 3010, 3062 and 3063. When I bought my 3062 and 3063 years ago, they most definitely were sold as print drums. Jobo used to offer an optional, custom-made insert mat for those who wanted to use those drums for ULF sheet film, to keep the film off the ribs. See this Jobo profile of Burkhardt Kiegeland, the Lotus guy:

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/059fdc02-f8c5-4493-829d-bd516896d654/downloads/Issue _20 – JQ9804 - User Profile- Burkhardt K.pdf?ver=1626884389281

I discussed this with Sam Proud, then of Jobo USA, at the time.

Some of us eventually figured out that we could get away with jamming film in between the ribs without the insert - but not with all developers. Some users of pyro developers have run into trouble with markings attributable to the ribs; my results with D-76 have been fine.

The capacity sheet below, still available via the Jobo USA site, dates from the period when I got my 3062/3063 - scroll down to the "Print Drums" table on the next-to-last page.

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/059fdc02-f8c5-4493-829d-bd516896d654/downloads/Tank and Drum Capacities.pdf?ver=1626884388425

Also, the CPA-2 and CPP-2 instruction manuals from the era when I bought my CPA-2, when Jobo Fototechnic in Ann Arbor was the distributor, describe the 3062 and 3063 as "Paper Drums" and refer to their "Print Capacity".

All that said, I haven't seen what instructions they're putting in the box now.

Yes I understand about the format holder inserts. Still if Jobo is offering the 3062 and 3063 as print drums there should be print clips available. I will figure out something.
It would be nice if Jobo had resources to make these parts available

 

[mshchem]

Concerning the clips to hold paper or film in the drums. One may try to mill such oneself out of a plastic tube.

Slicing a PVC tube might work too.

This is what I am going to try. I have some ABS tubing coming from China, with the latest lockdowns no telling when this will arrive. No big deal. I will get by.

 

[Oren Grad]

Yes I understand about the format holder inserts. Still if Jobo is offering the 3062 and 3063 as print drums there should be print clips available. I will figure out something.
It would be nice if Jobo had resources to make these parts available

As of this moment, CatLABS is showing print clips in stock:

https://www.catlabs.info/product/95522

 

[mshchem]

As of this moment, CatLABS is showing print clips in stock:

https://www.catlabs.info/product/95522

This is a new development. When I've checked last few days showed sold out. Just now I tried ordering, I can add to cart but can't check out.
I will call Omer. He did confirm by email that the beaker light traps are no longer made.

 

[Oren Grad]

This is a new development. When I've checked last few days showed sold out. Just now I tried ordering, I can add to cart but can't check out.
I will call Omer. He did confirm by email that the beaker light traps are no longer made.

Good luck - hope this is real rather than just a bug in their inventory system, and that you'll actually be able to get some.

 

[mshchem]

Good luck - hope this is real rather than just a bug in their inventory system, and that you'll actually be able to get some.

I talked with Omer, I now have some of these clips on order. Also, Owen, you are correct that there is no information on my old instruction sheet for developing 11x14 inch or any other sheet film in the 3063/3062 tank.

I think it will be OK. I have learned to never get rid of darkroom equipment.
Best Regards Mike

 

[mshchem]

I talked with Omer, I now have some of these clips on order. Also, Owen, you are correct that there is no information on my old instruction sheet for developing 11x14 inch or any other sheet film in the 3063/3062 tank.

I think it will be OK. I have learned to never get rid of darkroom equipment.
Best Regards Mike

Sorry Oren spell check likes Owen

 

[Oren Grad]

I talked with Omer, I now have some of these clips on order.

Excellent! Really glad that it worked out. Enjoy!

 

[dkonigs]

When gearing up for RA-4 printing myself, I just went on eBay and stocked up on all the 2800-series components I'd need. That might be the best way to get some of this stuff today.

One tip... If you want a tiny drum for doing test strips, the "TestDrum 2820" is identical to the 2520 film processing drum, except for the column and lid. And of course the lids are interchangeable between all of these things.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Rolling devices and drums are easy enough to make yourself with a bit of shop skill and equipment. Or you can buy just about any old drum of proper size and simply gently roll it back and forth on the bed of your darkroom sink. My own largest capacity drums accept 30X40 inch paper, but even bigger could easily be made if I was interested. Jobo never had a monopoly on that. They have been a convenient popular brand for smaller size work, and it's sad to see certain availability issues. The market is nowhere near as big as it once was, and the cost of materials is going way way up fast.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Any industrial piping or agricultural irrigation supplier can sell you plastic pipe in large sizes. For smaller sizes, up to six inches in diameter, ordinary black ABS DWV pipe can be used.

 

[tommyfilmist]

its a cost thing. look at jobo printing drums, cheapest is the 20x24 drum at b and h for 500$

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/25421-REG/Jobo_3063_20x24_Print_Drum.html

retail spots dont want to actually have them in physical inventory thus special ordering them can take, according to the retailers when you question them, up to 3 months for a "happy ending" scenario. the current stock of the multi sheet processors at b and h were on backorder for 9 months before they got any..
Do YOU want to tie up 5-900$ like that

 

[dkonigs]

its a cost thing. look at jobo printing drums, cheapest is the 20x24 drum at b and h for 500$

Jobo doesn't make the normal printing drums anymore. The one you linked is basically made with repurposed components from the Expert Drum line. The Expert Drum line has always been much more expensive than their regular drums. Whether that expense is justified or not, very much depends on which specific model you're looking at and how much you accept the effects of niche pricing.

The normal drum product line, from which all of their now-discontinued print drums come from, really has no reason to be expensive. Any high prices there are entirely niche-product markup. Unless they've lost the tooling (which at this point I suppose is possible), simply churning out more should have a very low incremental cost.

 

[mshchem]

I have plenty of drums, accumulated when reasonable. I was surprised is all. If you use a center column a film drum can be used. No one prints color anymore, I do just to stay competent at printing.
The Expert drums are amazing, I have several 3005 8x10 drums I've used for black and white, and color prints, as well as black and white sheet film.

 

[tommyfilmist]

the sad part is it costs slightly more to get the parts to build the drum i linked to on your own..

if you know the inner diameter of the modern drums, find a means to attach the ends to a modern pvc pipe...