Rolling and standing tubes

[Lee L]

First, thanks to Sandy King for putting me back into thinking mode with his posting on "Alternative tray development of sheet film".

Now for a bit of ancient history. A couple of decades ago I got tired of doing the agitation cycle for fixing with rollfilms in stainless steel tanks. I figured it was important to keep a consistent intermittent agitation pattern for development... but fix? All it needed was constant agitation, so one day I tried putting my standard stainless film tank on it's side on my Beseler motor base. Problem solved, and I've been doing it since. A tank with a good seal on the lid is all you need.

Then a few months ago, I thought up and built a setup to roll a 1.5 inch PVC or ABS pipe inside of a 4" PVC pipe on the roller base, similar to the Jobo expert drum (I think... I've never seen a Jobo expert drum). This came from thinking about an endless-loop tray concept, and involved a couple of pipe caps with holes drilled to allow the 1.5 inch pipe to slip in and out of the 4" pipe, but with enough of a "lip" to retain sufficient developer. This system was to be used in the dark. I had problems with incomplete sealing around the perimeter of the test cap on the pipe, but the concept worked and gave me even development on the two 4x5 sheets I ran. The leak was a problem and spring soccer season with two sons came on too fast to pursue the project.

Tonight as I was reading Sandy's thread, I got back to thinking about these things and then realized (and I'm sure you're way ahead of me at this point) that I should just roll 4x5 film in the 1.5 inch PVC/ABS tube inside of a stainless steel rollfilm tank with the lid on, using the Beseler motor base. DUH! as my kids say. If you do this with ABS, make sure not to float the tube away from the side of the stainless steel tank with too much developer, or the agitation will be inconsistent. You want the ABS pipe rolling on the bottom of the horizontal stainless steel rollfilm tank. I haven't tried this myself yet, but can't see that it would be effectively different from what I've already tried. Don't ask me for times with this, I've only done an even overall mid-scale exposure to test for even development in the 4" PVC setup. If you don't have a motor, you could use a Jobo manual roller base (I haven't checked to see if the diameter is correct for the manual Jobo roller base) or make up your own with something suitable from the hardware store.

If you use enough developer to cover, you can also do this with the tank on end and intermittent agitation, but this will will require a greater minimum amount of developer to cover. Also, if using ABS in this application, be careful, because it could float your film out of the developer.

In order to do vertical tube development for stand, semi-stand, or intermitten agitation with 1.5 inch ABS (we're back to about 4-5 months ago now), I made some 18cm lengths of 2 inch ABS with end caps on the bottom, and tried floating some 15.5cm lengths of 1.5 inch ABS inside them. You need to watch the position of the film within the 1.5 inch tube to make sure it's below the liquid level. I found that about 250ml of solution will float the 1.5 inch ABS so that you can tap it back down for a bobbing motion, and you can also make it spin with the right touch. You could either do this in the dark as I did, or use a covered tray similar to Sandy's design to hold multiple tubes, except vertically. After developing, you can just roll the 1.5 inch tubes with film in open trays of stop and fix.

Take these ideas and run/roll/stand with them. Let us all know what you come up with.

Lee

 

[noseoil]

My method for minimal agitation with the 1 1/2" abs tubes for 4x5 film is similar. I just use a regular ball type jar (spaghetti sauce, salsa, whatever) as the water bath. The 24 ounce size is just right to allow a tube to stand vertically and be perfectly supported, holds the water and keeps a constant temperature. With a 6" long tube, I use 240ml of 1:1:150 or 1.6 ml of A and B. Works for me. tim

 

[Lee L]

My method for minimal agitation with the 1 1/2" abs tubes for 4x5 film is similar. I just use a regular ball type jar (spaghetti sauce, salsa, whatever) as the water bath. The 24 ounce size is just right to allow a tube to stand vertically and be perfectly supported, holds the water and keeps a constant temperature. With a 6" long tube, I use 240ml of 1:1:150 or 1.6 ml of A and B. Works for me. tim

So your 1.5 inch tubes are closed at the bottom, or at both bottom and top, correct? 250ml in the 1.5 inc tub with the film and a water bath around it? Just wanted to clarify.

My 1.5 inch tubes are used with both ends open, floating inside 2 inch tubes with closed bottoms, filled with 250ml of solution to cover the film and float the smaller film tube. Of course this must be in the dark unless you use longer 2 inch tubes and opaque end caps, or a box arrangement like Sandy's.

I almost always process at ambient temps in the summer, as I would have to cool water to get to 20C. In the winter I use a water bath in a plastic storage tub with an aquarium pump and a thermostat controlled heater.

Thanks,
Lee