RA-4 Processing Options w/o a Sink

cbphoto · Jan 10, 2010

I have another thread going about making a homemade slot processor for color (I already have a Trimate for b/w, and I want to be able to switch back and forth without dumping chems. So I need two processors). I thought I'd ask here what people are doing for room temp RA-4 without running water.

Thinking also of tubes, but I do not want to dump and refill a tube. Too much time washing and drying the things between prints. I'm thinking I might just get three tubes, fill them up all the way, and use them as I would a slot processor. Has anyone tried this, and was it easy to load and unload the prints with chemistry in the tubes? What is the volume of a typical 11x14 or 16x20 tube? Can they be air-sealed between sessions to preserve the chemistry?

Any other (cheap) workarounds people have come up with for this situation?

perkeleellinen · Jan 10, 2010

I bought a second Nova slot processor on ebay for £40 (heated, so I no longer do room temp colour). I have no running water in my closet darkroom, I just use a bucket of water and bring the print out to the sink in the kitchen. Colour is much slower than B&W for me - I rarely make more than one print without going into the kitchen to check the colour in natural light.

cbphoto · Jan 10, 2010

The likelihood of coming across a deal like that again seems rather slim.

perkeleellinen · Jan 10, 2010

Are you in the UK? Novas come up quite often on UK ebay, although £40 was a good deal. There's a 4-slot Nova finishing today.

cbphoto · Jan 10, 2010

No, I'm in New York. Most of those on UK ebay are pick-up only, and don't look to be that cheap. Unfortunate that more companies don't make these. Seems so simple.

perkeleellinen · Jan 10, 2010

It is unfortunate - I think they're a God-send for people with small / temporary darkrooms. I wonder why they weren't better distributed overseas.

Bob-D659 · Jan 10, 2010

Beseler drum volumes: 8x10 1.5 liter, 11x14 4.5 liter, 16x20 7.4 liter. Plus getting a print to slide down in a full drum just might be impossible. It can be awkward in a 16x20 drum at best when dry in the dark. You don't need running water with drums except to rinse them. A 16x20 drum only needs 300ml of chems to process a print, and you can either use part of that for a couple or three 4x5 test prints in a smaller 8x10 drum, and process two 16x20 prints. If you have three drums, just rotate them, a final rise with hot water and a quick wipe and they are ready to go in about 15 min.

PHOTOTONE · Jan 10, 2010

Just process in trays at room temp. With Kodak chems it works just fine. You extend the time. P.E. has posted here extensively about this.

cbphoto · Jan 10, 2010

PHOTOTONE said:
Just process in trays at room temp. With Kodak chems it works just fine. You extend the time. P.E. has posted here extensively about this.

That's what i did in the past... when I had three times the space. Need a compact solution.

Bob-D659 · Jan 10, 2010

Drums are compact use very little chemistry and work in subdued lighting as well. Just don't have an overhead light shining directly on the fill spout on a Beseler drum while it's rotating.
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RA-4 Processing Options w/o a Sink

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