Slosher tray agitation

BarryWilkinson · Feb 15, 2007

I have just got a PF Slosher tray. Would any users please advise me as to the best method of agitation with one of these devices?

I ran a test in a water bath and observed chemical 'swirling' in the compartments when I gently rock the holding tray. Does this cause any uneven development?

TIA

Barry

Tom Hoskinson · Feb 15, 2007

BarryWilkinson said:
I have just got a PF Slosher tray. Would any users please advise me as to the best method of agitation with one of these devices?

I ran a test in a water bath and observed chemical 'swirling' in the compartments when I gently rock the holding tray. Does this cause any uneven development?

TIA

Barry

I don't agitate by rocking the holding tray - I found it too hard to control agitation that way.

I develop with the film's emulsion facing up after a 5 min. tempered water presoak. I agitate with my slosher trays by gently lifting alternate corners of my 8x10 PF Slosher (or my 4x5 & 5x7 Summitek Cradles). I get very uniform development using this agitation technique.

Allen Friday · Feb 15, 2007

John Sexton demonstrated the slosher in one of his workshops. He was using it for compensating development. He agitated by grabing the middle tab between his thumb and finger and wiggling it back and forth very rapidly. Little ripples appeared in each comparrtment, but chemical movement from compartment to compartment was pretty minimal.

Monophoto · Feb 15, 2007

I generally agitate by rocking the slosher in the tray, alternating between the northeast- southwest axis, and the northwest-southeast axis. I tend to agitate for 5 sec out of each 30, and at the end of each agitation cycle, I will wiggle the tray just a little. Development is even as far as I can detect.

Curt · Feb 15, 2007

Can you stand, sit, or lay develop with a slosher tray. What I really am interested in is semi-stand. I don't have one but it sounds interesting.

Tom Hoskinson · Feb 15, 2007

Curt said:
Can you stand, sit, or lay develop with a slosher tray. What I really am interested in is semi-stand. I don't have one but it sounds interesting.

Yes, Curt! Most of my slosher development these days is semi-stand development of 8x10 and 5x7 TMY and Efke 100 with Pyrocat-MC.

Curt · Feb 16, 2007

This might be a better solution than hangers and tanks and plain old trays. Who makes slosher trays; is Formulary the only source or best?

Curt · Feb 16, 2007

As a second thought I did a search and found about all the information needed to make one or more. While searching I found some examples that looked like what I have done using a heat gun. A piece of plexi is put on a board and the edge joint is heated and allowed to fold down, softening, forming a "side". It's easy to drill the holes and then bent the sides. Any internal partitions can be cemented in with the plexi cement.

Thanks for bringing up the topic again. A tank takes a lot of chemistry for just a couple of films and the tray method can scratch while the slosher tray appears to be a good method, especially for semi stand.

BarryWilkinson · Feb 16, 2007

Thanks everyone, I did not think of lifting/moving the slosher, Doh!

Barry

Monophoto · Feb 16, 2007

Curt said:
This might be a better solution than hangers and tanks and plain old trays. Who makes slosher trays; is Formulary the only source or best?

Sumitek is one commercial brand that I have seen advertised. Formulary carries it, but I think that other dealers may as well.

But every shlosher that I have ever seen in cold blood has been DIY.

Tom Hoskinson · Feb 16, 2007

Steve Peterson makes the Summitek Cradles (aka sloshers) and sells the directly from his web site.

http://www.summitek.com/cradle.html

I have two of Steve's Summitek Cradles and I reccomend them.

Curt · Feb 16, 2007

Tom, for the price Steve Perterson's cradles are better than making my own.

Slosher tray agitation

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