Roller Transport RA-4 Processing

[nickandre]

I've been doing tray work for 2 years now and it's getting tedious. How do other people run their processes? Is it worth looking for a roller transport processor? Where would I find a good one and how much am I looking to spend?

 

[Richard Harris]

Durst printo on flea bay. Look at completed sales listings to check out prices paid in previous auctions. Beware what isn't said.
With the printo being modular you should be able to keep your system up and running for many years yet, courtesy of ebay.

 

[RellikJM]

I batch process using a Kreonite. When I'm not processing the chemicals are stored in stainless steel beer kegs with an argon blanket. My current chemicals were mixed a year ago this month, and the only addition has been replenisher when I batch process. The Kreonite replenishes when the chemistry is in the processor and I mix the replenisher fresh for each processing session normally using a gallon of replenisher each processing session but I can't seem to keep the remaining developer replenisher from going really dark even with Argon in the glass bottle.

I would recommend the Kreonite over a machine with hard rubber rollers if the machine isn't in current production. The Kreonite uses a sock material against a stainless steel or plastic roller so there is no rubber to go bad in the processor.

I paid ~$1000 for the machine with stand, mixing panel, and some extra transports so I can process both color and black & white. The machine was in perfect shape with very low hours when I purchased it so I paid ~$500 more than what the normal going rate is.

 

[DanielStone]

I've heard great things about the Durst Printo, and the fujimoto processors. Check em out. Getting em' serviced, might be a hit or miss. There seems to be plenty out there, and with people flocking to d!g1+@l more every day, people are letting them go for cheap. so there's your parts.

definitely check evil-bay for pricing and spare machines to salvage from. but when properly maintained and cleaned regularly, these machines can be used for many years

-Dan

 

[Mick Fagan]

I've been running a Durst Printo for about 15 years (I think), great machine.

I ran it exclusively for RA4 for about 6 years then I had a huge B&W print run of a few thousand prints, so I did them in the Printo and have been switching between both processes over the years with no apparent ill effects.

One thing to look out for is the exit rollers on each roller rack, they are a soft rubber type of stuff and they are kept under pressure by a spring arrangement. They are meant to be stored with a small bit of plastic between the steel centres of the rollers to keep the roller apart.

Many Printo machines I have seen, have terminally damaged exit rollers as they were not stored correctly. This is about the only real problem I have found.

For minimum work you will need the intro module, plus two more modules with the Heating element as well as the motor (obviously). You do not need any more than that.

This is what I have and my prints just exit into a dish of room temperature water, I then wash these in another dish, then run them through an RC paper dryer.

For test prints I really push the wash part, I can have a dry print within 3½ minutes from putting the paper in.

Mick.