Jobo reels in Jobo tanks, trying to figure things out

[Lionel1972]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to figure out how to use the Jobo CPE2 plus with lift that seats at my local club. We have a couple of Jobo tanks and several Jobo reels, but I'm not sure if everything is complete and in working order.
First question: We have a cog lid that seems to be adaptable on a couple of different tank sizes but I don't see any light trap on it, is that normal?
Second question: We do have a couple of cores that fit the reels but one the reels with core are inside the tank, they seems to be free to rotate at their own pace, not completely synchronised with the rotating pace of the tank itself. Is this a problem? Don't we need some device to secure the core's position in order for it not to rotate on its own?
Third question: We have a shorter tank that is wider than the longer one. The Jobo reels we have seem to fit exactly the longer tank wide wise, but for the shorter tank it seems that they would end up pretty loose in it. This along with the second question worries me.
Thanks for enlightening me here.

 

[ndrs]

First: The cog lid should have a detachable funnel inside. End of the funnel goes into the core which has to be right length for your tank. That's your light trap.

Second: Reels should not rotate on their own, neither alone nor with the core. The core should have four teeth under the bottom end collar that prevent it from rotating in the tank. It looks like you might have wrong core or only an extension to one. Does it have a wider collar at one end? Google image search for "Jobo core" will find you some photos of both.

Third: Jobo has made many different systems and parts, some interchangeable, some not. A photo or two of what you have there would be help to indentify problems. Or at least part numbers of tanks and reels.

 

[Lionel1972]

Thanks a lot ndrs, your answers make a lot of sense to me now. I'll go back to the club tomorrow and will try to post some pics of how our stuff look like.

 

[Lionel1972]

Ok, I've taken a few pics of what we have at the club regarding jobo tanks:

It seems we have the funnel for the 4106 and the light trap without the need od a core on the paper drum 4541, but none for the smaller tank.
I tried to fit the cog lid of the smaller tank to the expert drum 3010. It seems it almost fits but something prevents it from being easier clocked down.
Thanks for you help.

 

[garysamson]

You cannot use the 3010 tank on the CPE2 processor.

 

[Lionel1972]

Thanks garysamson, it looked like it could almost fit.

 

[Lionel1972]

Well I finally found some forgotten smaller Jobo tank in the bottom of an old cardbox at the club which fortunately for me still had its lighttrap on and the right sized core and which, even more fortunately, both fit perfectly the 2523 tank! I managed to screw the lift on the CPE2 Plus and friday I'll try to test the whole thing with B&W first, then if nothing goes wrong, I'll start processing my own color slides!!! So excited! Does anyone know the volume of chemicals needed to process 2 reels of 135mm (4 films) in the 2523 tank? Thanks to everyone.

 

[ndrs]

Good to know that you sorted it out.

Jobo has an article about tank capacities here:
http://www.jobo.com/jobo_service_analog/us_analog/instructions/instructions_misc_tank_and_drum_capacities.htm
They basically remind you that minimal volumes are really minimal and suggest using more if possible but warn about exceeding the 600 ml limit for CPE2's that would wear out the motor.
Be careful with the handle on the lift. It could break off if you apply too much force.

 

[Lionel1972]

Thanks a lot again ndrs! I'll try to restain my excitation and will be careful with the handle.

 

[Lionel1972]

Well, I did a first test with 2 reels in the shorter but wider tank that looks to me like a 2523 type of tank, loaded with one 36 exposures black and white film on each reel. I used 300 ml of developper as the Jobo minimal volume for covering seemed to be 270 ml (9 1/4 oz). I ended up with several frames not having enough developper near the axis of the reel. Will try 500 ml next time. I had a hard time finishing to load the 36 exposures long film in the jobo reel, so I wonder how people get to load 2 of them inside one of these reels. Anyone has done this before? How much developper do you use for the 2523 type of tanks? Thanks.

 

[Роберт]

For the Jobo 2523 you need a minimum of 270ml. It's working without any problem.

Here is an overview of the Jobo tank volumes you need:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3661/3382279003_6dd0e35f44_b.jpg

And the expert 3000 drums can be only connected to a Jobo CPA or CPP, not CPE. The first two have an elevator with two connections which one should be always closed.

Best regards,

Роберт

 

[d_c]

I think Jobo only quote two 35mm films per reel if they are both 12 exposures or less - they are loaded with a special separating clip in between. If you are using 36 exposure films I think you will only be able to get one film per reel.

If you look at the link ndrs posted above it has all the solution quantity figures from Jobo for the various tank and reel combinations.