RA4 printing with Cibachrome drum

[ac123]

I recently acquired this 20" Cibachrome drum and was hoping to use it to process 16x20" RA4 prints by hand-rolling the tube on a tabletop.

I was looking for help in recognizing what type of lid this is? It looks somewhat like a light trap (which I use on my JOBO drums to process ra4 prints) but I wasn't sure exactly. Is this a light trap and/or would I need any other kind of lid insert to process RA4 chems?

Thanks!

 

[Paul Howell]

I have the same drum, it is a light trap for daylight processing. The only issue I've had with Cibachrome drums is that lids can be very tight and takes some effort to get them off.

 

[MattKing]

Typo/autocorrect from @Paul Howell 's post edited to remove no doubt inadvertent backhanded political comment - after I first chuckled
I've developed a few techniques for dealing with those lids - but that is with black and white developing, and nothing larger than 12x16.
The reservoir cup in the light trap lid limits your maximum solution volume. I doubt that that is an issue with a 16x20 RA4 print, but I would check whether the capacity numbers work out.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Should work fine. With RA4 you might want to standardize on 83F, 2 min per DEV and BLIX chem steps. Doing it faster makes it harder to factor the fill and drain times consistently. One of my drum styles has a similar fill cap. Be sure to rinse out everything well between prints.

 

[ac123]

Thanks for all the help here. I was successfully able to make a 16x20 with this drum and 230ml of solution.

One thing I noticed compared to the Jobo drums (which I usually use for smaller prints) is that this drum drains out of the bottom of the tube? Since I'm hand-rolling the drum on a table after I fill with solution, it's extremely messy to then transfer the tube to the sink without spilling any solution out of the bottom during movement. It's also a quite slow draining process compared to the JOBO lids, takes about 10 seconds to drain once it's placed in sink vertically.

Has anyone had any experience with draining drums out the bottom and is there a proper handling procedure so as to not let the solution puddle up at the bottom of the print during the ~10s draining?

 

[Paul Howell]

When I use mine I turn off the lights and take the lib off so it will drain without puddling. If you plan of printing a lot of 16X20 I would think about a motor base, my Unicolor motor base will work with my 16X20 drum.

 

[MattKing]

Thanks for all the help here. I was successfully able to make a 16x20 with this drum and 230ml of solution.

One thing I noticed compared to the Jobo drums (which I usually use for smaller prints) is that this drum drains out of the bottom of the tube? Since I'm hand-rolling the drum on a table after I fill with solution, it's extremely messy to then transfer the tube to the sink without spilling any solution out of the bottom during movement. It's also a quite slow draining process compared to the JOBO lids, takes about 10 seconds to drain once it's placed in sink vertically.

Has anyone had any experience with draining drums out the bottom and is there a proper handling procedure so as to not let the solution puddle up at the bottom of the print during the ~10s draining?

I have a largish plastic container which sits in the sink, and which is large enough to put the end of the tube into. An old fashioned household pail would do the job well.
I drain the tube into that container, and then pour from that container into wherever I intend the fluid to go.
I'm doing that with B&W chemicals, and no larger than a 12x16 tube, but I think that the idea is clear.
Don't worry about pooling on the print - most of the 230 ml goes into the lid anyways, and at the end of the development time the remainder isn't likely to make much difference.

 

[Randy Stewart]

Just use the Cibachrome drum as it was intended. Stand it on its bottom to fill the cap reservoir. Tip it horizontal to drain the chems into the drum t start processing. Tilt it back to a vertical to drain. I own them in all sizes. I've used them for Cibachrme and negative prints. The caps fit tight so you should get no leaks. They drain fast enough to meet any need. Once you tilt the drum back to vertical to drain, you are committed to complete that step. Their advantage over other print drum of their era is that they fully disassemble for a quick wash and dry for immediate reuse. Many others open just at the cap/fill end, which makes them difficult to dry. Tip: If you print using test tests to determine exposure and color balance, there was a 4x5 inch print size of Ciba drum. It uses very little chemistry