Recent Paterson Quality?

I just bought a new Paterson Super System 4 tank and reels. I’ve owned Paterson tanks and reels in the past (1970s and 1980s), but sold it all when I went digital twenty years ago. I was surprised at how poorly made the new Paterson stuff seems to be. The reels are squeaky and seem to be made of softer plastic than my old ones. The ball bearings in the new reels are a dull grey and leave a powdery residue in the tracks they sit in. I seem to remember the balls being bright and shiny on my old reels—am I imagining this?

The lid on the tank doesn’t fit very well and it was hard to get it seated. Is this normal? All of my previous Paterson tanks were the pre-Super system style with the small cap. I prefer to agitate by inversion and getting this lid on quickly after pouring in the developer is going to be a pain.

Is it just my nostalgic fondness for Paterson equipment coloring my opinion, or has the quality of Paterson tanks and reels declined?

You will get used to the lid. I prefer it actually - just get into the habit of giving it the "Tupperware" burp.
The "new" tanks - as in since 1989 - fill and empty more quickly. And I rarely see any problem with leaks.
I've used the Super System IV tanks for years - sometimes heavily. I have had one used when I purchased it tank crack after I used it for a while. It was easy to repair with some generic "Crazy" glue. Otherwise the tanks I have had have performed without problems.
I have some Paterson reels of various vintages. I believe you are correct that the more recent ones are made of a more flexible material, which appears less likely to become "brittle" over a long time. That being said, I think all my Paterson reels appear to me to still be fully functional - I just rarely use them.
Almost all of my film is developed in the AP/Arista Premium/Samigon clone reels that are designed to work in the Paterson tanks. They appear to be made of the same material as the more recent Paterson ones. And the wider feed flanges make it far, far easier to load 120 film.

MattKing said:

Almost all of my film is developed in the AP/Arista Premium/Samigon clone reels that are designed to work in the Paterson tanks.

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I have a couple of these on order from Freestyle as I've read that the wider flanges on these reels make loading 120 film a lot easier compared to Paterson reels with their small flanges.

My method with the lid is to push down in the middle of the lid with the palm of my right hand, and burp it (as Matt said) with my left hand. This will create a kind of vacuum seal that won't leak. I can get the lid on and start agitations in <5 secs. Once you get the hang of it, I think you'll find it's fast and easy.

Alan9940 said:

My method with the lid is to push down in the middle of the lid with the palm of my right hand, and burp it (as Matt said) with my left hand. This will create a kind of vacuum seal that won't leak. I can get the lid on and start agitations in <5 secs. Once you get the hang of it, I think you'll find it's fast and easy.

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I can even do this single-handed!
Or is that one-handed?

SodaAnt said:

I have a couple of these on order from Freestyle as I've read that the wider flanges on these reels make loading 120 film a lot easier compared to Paterson reels with their small flanges.

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These are my preference. Matt encouraged me and I almost never use my Patterson reels anymore unless I'm doing several batches or as spacers when I'm only doing one or two reels in my 3 reel tank.

There's nothing wrong with the patterson reels, BTW. I just preferred the ones with the fat flange and now I'm used to them. And I've never had leak problems after burping the tank lid. Only had my patterson tank a year, though, so I can't vouch for longevity.

SodaAnt said:

I just bought a new Paterson Super System 4 tank and reels. I’ve owned Paterson tanks and reels in the past (1970s and 1980s), but sold it all when I went digital twenty years ago. I was surprised at how poorly made the new Paterson stuff seems to be. The reels are squeaky and seem to be made of softer plastic than my old ones. The ball bearings in the new reels are a dull grey and leave a powdery residue in the tracks they sit in. I seem to remember the balls being bright and shiny on my old reels—am I imagining this?

The lid on the tank doesn’t fit very well and it was hard to get it seated. Is this normal? All of my previous Paterson tanks were the pre-Super system style with the small cap. I prefer to agitate by inversion and getting this lid on quickly after pouring in the developer is going to be a pain.

Is it just my nostalgic fondness for Paterson equipment coloring my opinion, or has the quality of Paterson tanks and reels declined?

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& folks wonder why some of us prefer stainless steel reels & tanks...

GregY said:

& folks wonder why some of us prefer stainless steel reels & tanks...

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Well it wouldn't seem to the answer for the OP. He wrote about difficulties with stainless steel tanks recently in another thread on which you replied

pentaxuser

pentaxuser said:

Well it wouldn't seem to the answer for the OP. He wrote about difficulties with stainless steel tanks recently in another thread on which you replied

pentaxuser

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Apparently not.... but then you have to deal with whatever plastic tanks you can get... regardless of how much better you perceive they were made back in the day. There must be tons of them languishing unused....I can't imagine buying a new Patterson or stainless tank for that matter.

I would prefer stainless steel tanks and reels, but only if I can successfully load them in the dark. The better equipment won't do me a bit of good if I can't master its use.

In a large sense, the Paterson tank and reels (and hopefully the Arista reels I have on order are even better) are a backup in case I can't successfully load the SS reels. I have successfully developed hundreds of rolls of 35mm using Paterson tanks and reels, but never 120 format. It remains to be seen whether I ultimately end up using plastic or SS for 120 (I have a Hewes SS 120 reel and the Paterson and Arista reels can be set to work with 120 film).