Roller Problem with Polaroid 550?

I am having what I think is a roller problem with my polaroid 550 and fp-10045 film.

The first shot i did came out of the rollers with the chemicals basically still intact. The positive and negative weren't attached to other. At first i thought there was a problem with the film.

Second shot more or less the same thing.

The third shot is what is shown below. Very uneven distribution of chemicals. do I need to lube the rollers with WD40? I cleaned them out of any dust but they are a little rigid, but I just assumed it needed to be that way.

davidave said:

I am having what I think is a roller problem with my polaroid 550 and fp-10045 film.

The first shot i did came out of the rollers with the chemicals basically still intact. The positive and negative weren't attached to other. At first i thought there was a problem with the film.

Second shot more or less the same thing.

The third shot is what is shown below. Very uneven distribution of chemicals. do I need to lube the rollers with WD40? I cleaned them out of any dust but they are a little rigid, but I just assumed it needed to be that way.

Click to expand...

You might need to remove the rollers and clean them thoroughly. They shouldn't be rigid, they need to roll to spread out the chemicals from the pod.

how do you disassemble the rollers?

Take out the film pack in a dark room or dark bag so you don't waste any film. Then grab hold of the ends of the arms that hold the rollers in place and lift. The whole assembly should pivot up and out; it should come out pretty easily. Use a soft cloth to clean the rollers and move them around until they roll smoothly. They will still roll a bit stiffly, but shouldn't bind. Some folks use isopropanol to wipe the rollers, I use just a damp cloth. The instructions are usually printed inside the holders, just under the rollers themselves.

Whitey,

I actually did that before I ended up with the bust pictures but I rinsed the roller assembly in warm water per some discussion I found on the photo.net. They seem to be rolling slightly better now. Is the white tab supposed to in the soft slot or between the two sides of the case? Does this impact the developing in any way?

I used isopropanol to clean my rollers. I put some on a Q-tip to get the little nooks and crannies. It seems to have worked pretty well.

The rollers roll much better now but there is still a streak down the center. Is it time for new rollers?

Are the rollers visibly out of round or warped? There isn't much to these contraptions, just two round pieces of metal held in bearings a fixed distance from one another. If the rollers are damaged, out of round or bent, you'll have to get new ones; otherwise, keep cleaning.

I'm not sure if the roller assembly is interchangeable between camera models, but I bet it is, given the production advantages of having one standard assembly. You might find a tired, old camera that has other problems and trade rollers. I may even have one. If I do, I'll send you a PM.

As for the tab position... I can't at the moment remember. As I recall, the pack pretty much sorts itself out when placed in the holder - no fiddling or inserting Tab A in Slot B required.

Your smudge down the center looks to be about the same width as the white tabs on the film pack- is this correct? If so, then you probably have the film loaded incorrectly. As Whiteymorange has said, the white tab does NOT go through the rollers. It just lies down and clamps between the two halves of the pack. Same with the dark slide paper- just put in the film pack and close it up, no threading anything through the rollers.

It looks like you have the white tab interfering with the chemical spreading in the above photo. Just a guess.

Good luck,

Matt

matt S said:

It looks like you have the white tab interfering with the chemical spreading in the above photo. Just a guess.

Click to expand...

... and may be pulling too fast. Just a guess, also.

Good Luck,

Brian