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New Jobo plastic reel will not fully load

Sirius Glass

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Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
50,933
Location
Southern California
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I have a new plastic Jobo reel tht will not let a full roll of 135-36 or 120 load completely. Yes the reel is dry and I tried it in day light and the film at a certain point will not advance for both sizes of film. I have tried to push the film further in but it will not move. The film corner binds up. I tried cutting the corners at a 45 degree angle and the problem is still there.

I do not have this problem with the other three reels.

Suggestions?
 
You have disengaged the red guide divider (if mounted)?

Disassemble the reel and look with a loupe at both flanges if there is something spoiled or mis-moulded at the guides.
 
You have disengaged the red guide divider (if mounted)?

Yes the red guide was disengaged. The reel has never been used.

Disassemble the reel and look with a loupe at both flanges if there is something spoiled or mis-moulded at the guides.

Good idea, I will try that.
 
Have you tried chamfering the edges of the film? If this works, then it sounds like something is a bit rough in the moulding that probably could do with a quick sand or file.

I tried cutting the corners at a 45 degree angle and the problem is still there.

No joy.
 
I'm learning to like (or at least tolerate) the Jobo 2502n plastic reels. This, coming from a long-time stainless steel reel user. But it's still a challenge to surmount, getting from submit to to enjoy. I was having a similar problem with loading plastic reels, but clipping the corners of the 120 roll helped, and most 35mm is rounded at the shoulders of the loading end of the roll anyway, so I've not had 35mm issues. Part of the trick to clipping the corners is knowing how much to clip - it's a small amount - too much and the roll wants to curl off the tracks of the reel, not enough and it still jams.
 
It's a plastic reel.
I have over a dozen of them and I hate them all.

Hewes 120 stainless reels are wonderful to load..... Plastic not so much IMHO. There are even Jobo specific ones that take the black plastic center tube.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
FreeStyle exchanged the reel without a problem.

Will the Hewes 135 and 120 reels work in the 1500 series Jobo Tanks.
 
I wouldn't want to bet on that one Ron... I love and hate the plastic reels... I find the biggest problem these days with clients using
old film they have bought from the commercial shooters who all switched to digital...
Sometimes I have to try three reels, damp mop my face from the sweat dripping , and just calm down.. the film is so damm curly that there is no way it
has a easy road to follow.

Usually with fresh film , the loading is a breeze.

moral of the story , buy fresh film preferably Ilford.

I do! And I probably have used them more than most here!

PE
 
Sometimes I have to try three reels, damp mop my face from the sweat dripping , and just calm down.. the film is so damm curly that there is no way it has a easy road to follow.

Whatever, you suck!
 
Bob, try fitting an 8x10 or even a 4x5 sheet of PAPER into any reel. Especially when wet! Now that is fun.

When you come down this way, bring Dinesh and we will all gang up on him!

PE
 
I found that sometimes what I have to do is bring my fingers to the portion of the real that is lower than the other parts, it seems to catch there, run your fingers over the edges of the film and kind of wiggling back-and-forth on that depressed part of the real on the outside, if you wiggling back-and-forth and then tried again sometimes that gets it past some kind of sticking point, good luck!
 
Ron he is too big and too ugly to get close to. I would not wish him on my worst enemy.

wet paper no way .. that would be a trial.

Bob, try fitting an 8x10 or even a 4x5 sheet of PAPER into any reel. Especially when wet! Now that is fun.

When you come down this way, bring Dinesh and we will all gang up on him!

PE
 
FreeStyle exchanged the reel without a problem.

Will the Hewes 135 and 120 reels work in the 1500 series Jobo Tanks.

I don't think so - Although there is a special core rod for mounting stainless reels in the 1500 series tanks, I think it still requires Jobo-specific reels made to fit the core. They're larger in diameter both at the hub and the periphery. I'd go in to Freestyle and see if you can check it out to be sure.
 
The most frequent problem with film is memory ie curl.

For example most 35mm cameras reverse curl film and if the film has been in camera 6 months it is not going to load on plastic unless you load inside out.

If you have left it at 18 exposures for 6 months and then shoot of 18 more and attempt to load it the next day, loading inside out or from wrong end won't work.

tut tut tut tut. Dont ask.

Now Ron (PE) won't ever have done any of this.

Lastly you need to remove the leader ~ snip with scissors ~ one poster on this thread was not!

In 120/220 some camera have similar problems.

YMMV but these are big problems, for some.
 
The most frequent problem with film is memory ie curl.

The first roll of film that I used on the problem reel had been in a Hasselblad back for five years. After the film dried it still had the kinky curl several days after it dried.

I have preferred the Hewes reels in the past, but now almost all my processing involves the Jobo processors so I am using plastic reels. Once I replaced the defective reel the plastic reels have not been a problem.
 

I have done all of the "bad" things while learning! And, I have had all of the "problems" due to the film with curl, slight width variations, and oddball reels.

PE
 
I have done all of the "bad" things while learning! And, I have had all of the "problems" due to the film with curl, slight width variations, and oddball reels.

PE

Thank you for setting the perfection threshold to a level that the rest of us can attain.