tips/tricks to splice two 120s in a Paterson type plastic reel

In my eternal quest to increase throughput in my home C41 or E-6 development, I am bent on perfecting my skill to splice two 120 rolls together to fit on one Paterson plastic spool. I am here to ask you gurus here about what techniques or tricks you use to do that.

I am interested only in the plastic reels that fit Paterson type tank. I personally use those Arista types with wide mouths. I know of Jobo reels that allow two 120s. But they don't work for me. I have found that fitting 2 220s or 4 120s in the Paterson tank that takes 1 liter of soup works best for my throughput. I have searched and I did not find any Jobo drum that takes 4 120s using 1 liter of soup by inversion method. Correct me if I am wrong.

Previously I have tried using the tape at the end of one film to splice two together. Not much success with that after repeated tries as the curl of the film makes it hard to align the ends together while I am groping inside the changing bag.

Rolling up one film all the way to the end of the reel and then fitting the second one in was a disaster for me. The films overlapped and the development was a fiasco.

Last night for the first time I was successful fitting two 120s in one spool by stapling the ends in the middle (width-wise). There was a slight jump and hiccup when the spliced end was going in the roll and I started thinking uh oh. But once the spliced end started moving inside the feeding mouth, everything seemed ok and at the end both rolls fit in fine . The C41 development finished ok as well. Nothing came apart. However, there was a spot where the developer couldn't get in. I am assuming the joint had buckled and touched the next layer in the spiral. I checked the spliced end. It looked pretty darn good except a tiny bit of mismatch width-wise.

I think practice will make it perfect. But I am all ears for any other tricks or gizmos that you use to keep the end of the 120 rolls aligned and joined when splicing.

I feed the first roll past the mouth, then start the second roll. When I feel the second roll bump the first roll, I affix a section of 1x1" 'blue max' tape, made specifically for joining film bases, to the back of the films. The second roll continues, and pushes the first roll to the centre of the spiral.

I have also had sicess in winding the first roll on, and hand winding it all the way to the center of the reel, and then starting the second roll. I don't advance the second roll past the mouth of the reel at the end of the second reel so they don't run into each other.

I load with the films in a dark room. Wrestling with a changing bag would be too much for me in this 2x120's on a consistent basis.

Thanks for the "blue max" tape suggestion. I will give it a go. Where do I buy that from?

I have a large changing bag and usually I have no problem handling multiple 120s. Agreed however that a dark room would be easier.

I do this all the time. I advance the first roll most of the way on, then use it's own tape to splice it to the start of the next reel. Sometimes it's a little misaligned and getting past the bearings/mouth is tricky, but usually it feeds on smoothly. I use a darkroom, not a bag, btw.

I do it without tape whatsoever.
I never had any problems and I always wait til I have 2 /120s before I run my Patterson tank.

brucemuir said:

I do it without tape whatsoever.
I never had any problems and I always wait til I have 2 /120s before I run my Patterson tank.

Click to expand...

Same for me (with B & W).

But I use inversion agitation for the development stage. I would be concerned if I used rotary.

I just fold the tape that holds the film to the backing paper over the ends of each roll. Then load one roll with the non-taped end first and push it all the way to he center. Then load the other end with taped-over end first. That way they don't overlap each other.

Jon

I found a roll of blue max at a camera store back in the day when they ran a big in store lab. It was $20, but it will last a lifetime, and is much better than masking tape or vinyl electrical tape to affix film to the spindle when bulk loading 35mm cassettes.

kmallick said:

Thanks for the "blue max" tape suggestion. I will give it a go. Where do I buy that from?

I have a large changing bag and usually I have no problem handling multiple 120s. Agreed however that a dark room would be easier.

Click to expand...

After reading this thread, I wondered where to purchase "blue max" as well. Here's my search result:

http://www.libertyphotoproducts.com/product/blue-max-splice-tape,68,1160.htm

I haven't purchased from this company, but $10 for a 72 yd. roll sounds like a deal...

Griz

MattKing said:

Same for me (with B & W).

But I use inversion agitation for the development stage. I would be concerned if I used rotary.

Click to expand...

Same for me.

You simply wind the first roll to the center of the spiral and then load the second one.

No need for splicing together.

Best,

David
www.dsallen.de