Printing drums??

Bullseye · May 23, 2010

We're making steps to building a darkroom but we're limited to what space we have available, I was wondering if printing drums are good to use, I read in the 'Ilford printing guide' and it would appear thats what they always use in the illustrations, the only time I see them use a tray was when they were washing the print, also what sizes do printing drums come in?

Thanks in advance.

~John~

Rick A · May 23, 2010

Many people swear by them, especially for large prints(above 8x10). They do take less space than trays. I have a 24" drum that when on the motor base takes up as much space as three 8x10 trays.

pentaxuser · May 23, 2010

Consider the Nova Quad Processor( 4 slots in upright positions) with a thermostatically controlled temp gauge. You can get 12x16 slots. It also allows you to print RA4 as you can set the temp accordingly. Occupies remarkably little space.

pentaxuser

Bob-D659 · May 23, 2010

I use drums for colour work up to 16x20 prints, mostly trays for black and white. Moving an 11x14 print from d to s to f in the dark without slopping chems around is a tad difficult, plus you need a whole lot of chems in 11x14 trays compared to the 150ml of each for drums.

Bob-D659 · May 23, 2010

Rick (rainphot) who made that 24" drum?

Rick A · May 23, 2010

I have Unicolor drums, and as luck would have it, they are for sale--Motor base a 12" and a 24" drum. Send a PM if you are interested.

Bob-D659 · May 23, 2010

I was just curious as I haven't see one for a looong time and couldn't remember the brand. I don't really need one at the moment, although the local store wouldn't mind selling me the paper, an easel to match and even more chemistry.

srs5694 · May 23, 2010

Another couple of options for space-limited setups:

An orbital processor -- This is basically a covered tray that's built in such a way that it can wobble around. You pour processing chemicals in and out like you do with a drum or with a film developing tank, and wobble it for agitation. They seem to be fairly rare, but I've seen them on eBay from time to time. I'm sure you could make your own, sans cover, by gluing something small and hemispherical to the bottom of a regular tray.
A vertical stack of trays -- You can build a shelf/drawer type system to hold your trays vertically, then use them normally. Some people seem to really like this type of setup.

I've not used either of these methods (or the vertical slot processors others have mentioned), so I can't comment on how well they work in practice. Personally, I dislike drums. They can't be used to process small scraps of paper (which I often want to do to test exposure and filtration settings without wasting a whole sheet), and they slow me down because of the need to dry them between runs (this might not be much of a factor with B&W, but with color, I found that even one stray drop of water can produce a discolored streak on my prints). Of course, this is a personal preference issue; I've seen posts from people who prefer drums, even for B&W.

Bullseye · May 23, 2010

Cheers for the input everyone,

I am very much tempted to use the drums, I'm ok with drying them out between runs also.

So from the posts in this thread, am I to believe that using drums is a wise move?

Cheers,

John

Bob-D659 · May 24, 2010

You can process 4x5 test strips in a Beseler 8x10 drum, but 3x5 and 2x5 are usually ok. I've found you only need the drums really dry for full size sheets in an 8x10 or larger drum. A few drops of water in the bottom doesn't seem to make a difference when doing a prewet with water for RA4.

If you are going to do black and white processing, it's easy to use 5x7 trays or tupperware type things for test strips, then pour the required amt of dev from a tray to a measuring cup for the tank, do the same for the stop and fixer. Use dollar store measuring cups and LABEL them. That way you won't fix the print first.

ic-racer · May 24, 2010

Bullseye said:
am I to believe that using drums is a wise move?

Cheers,

John

For color yes.
What size are you considering? Three 8x10 trays fit in the footprint of a Jobo processor. You will need a 4th tray to wash in both cases.

fschifano · May 24, 2010

I agree with the responders who recommend one for color (RA4) work, but to me they don't seem to make much sense for B&W work unless you're really hard up for space. Temperature control for B&W printing isn't really much of an issue. If the temperature is comfortable for a human, it's comfortable for the process. Development for prints is done to completion and is easily done by inspection under normal safelights. With RA4 prints, time and temperature are more critical variables, and using a drum can make controlling them easier. If you don't have room for enough trays to accommodate really large B&W prints, you might consider using a single tray and modifying it with a valve to make draining easier.

MattKing · May 24, 2010

I use drums for B & W when I don't want to set up and take down the wet side of my bathroom/darkroom. I expose the paper and load the drums in the dark, and then develop in my sunlit kitchen.

It is a great way to work through my backlog of contact sheets.

By the way, you can use the drums for smaller sheets, as long as they are the full length of the paper - e.g. 2" x 10".

There are 4x5 mini-drums out there (Cibachrome) but they are rare.

steelneck · May 24, 2010

I have made drums of plastic pipe with a thread in one end, then i have short cans of the same pipe fitting this thread, holding the chemistry. So i load the drum, screw on developer can, agitate, screw off and switch to the stop can and then the fix can. Very easy and i do not even need a wet bench. Now i am thinking about some removable light trap that still lets the chemistry through from the can to the drum, so i can use them for C-41 in daylight without turning off the light while switching can. The threaded cans holding the chemistry can of course also be used for test strips.

Edit. A snapshot of my drums:

Bullseye · May 24, 2010

Again thanks for all the useful info

ic-racer said:
For color yes.
What size are you considering? Three 8x10 trays fit in the footprint of a Jobo processor. You will need a 4th tray to wash in both cases.

I was wondering what different sizes they come in, I mainly shoot colour...

Steelneck - what sort of plastic pipe are you using to make them with the threads in the top and can you use them for colour?

steelneck · May 24, 2010

Bullseye said:
Steelneck - what sort of plastic pipe are you using to make them with the threads in the top and can you use them for colour?

It is 110mm sewage pipe. Yes i use them for color, but since i have not made a light trap at the bottom where the threads are, it is lights out changing the chem-container. (sorry, i wrote C-41 when i meant RA4)

There are basically three kinds of sewage pipes, those made for being dug into the ground (usually in some dull ugly color), the ones made to be built in (often gray as mine example), and those you see under sinks and such (usually white). Do not use the latter ones, they do not block out light enough.

Then there are two kinds of plastic sewage pipes are made from, PVC and PP. PVC is a little easier to find glue (adeshive?) for, epoxi works OK, the PP variant is very hard to get anything to stick to, it is almost as Teflon. But there are glues for that too, but _very_ expensive, like $60 for a tiiiny set of two part bottles.

Bullseye · May 24, 2010

Ok then, I'll have a look around, since I'm new to it, I'll practice with 8x10, I've found a place online where I can order paper from at a reasonable price

http://www.thedarkroom.co.uk/products_class.php?getCategory=222&getBrand=9

I order my neg developing chems from there also

ac12 · May 27, 2010

I used the Chibachrome drums when I did Chibachome a LONG time ago.
Worked just fine.

Currently I do not have space for a permanent darkroom, so it will be drum or rocking print tray to develop paper. I plan to use a Unidrum to develop 4x5 film.

Printing drums??

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Rick A

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