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washing film in trays?

olleorama

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When developing bulks of film (135 and 120) I need my tanks ASAP, so I had this idea of developing, fixing in the tank as usual (I mainly use diafine, so no need for stopping), and then transferring the spools with the films to a big tray with a siphon washer mounted, and just let them wash there for a period of time, and then rinsing and drying the tanks and use them again for another load. Then when the last batch is done I put the first batch in photo-flo in the tank again and hang them for drying. And the following batches get some photo-flo once they're washed.

Input? Any good? What washing times should I aim for, and what rate of water renewal?

Thanks.
 
Instead of a tray, just use a plastic container like the ones that can be used for refrigerating leftover food products.

Here is a photo to give you an idea, but these are fancier than you need.

I can go to the bulk food section of my local grocery store and buy suitable ones, with lids, for 25 cents each. I've also got inexpensive 1 liter size graduated measures that work well.

I just let a stream of the wash water flow down into the centre of the reels and then overflow out over the top

In some of its materials, Kodak recommends a minimum flow rate sufficient to change the water at least once every five minutes - that is quite slow.
 

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I use a similar system except I drilled a few very small holes in the bottom of the container. This helps fixer laidened water drain out the bottom. Works very well and I have never had any problems with underwashing even from reels at the bottom of the container. The size and number of holes should allow all the water to drain from the container in about 1 minute. So test before you add too many holes.
 
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