Yankee tank success, using vibration as agitation

[hansning]

Despite hearing horrible things about this 4x5 tank, I decided to give it a shot.
I tried two methods, and one of them always works. The other one failed horribly.

I use ERA 100 in PMK, and the results are very nice.
The method that works is by agitating the tank from left to right for 5 seconds (about 5 times back and forth for 10 tilts total) every 30 seconds. Regular times, regular dilution.

I also tried the same method, but agitated continuously. The infamous mottling effect appeared 4 times on 1 sheet. Never trying that again.

Tonight, after developing 1 tank load, I decided that I was too tired to spend another 30 mins developing. I don't know how I thought of it, but I attached my wife's facial massager (home microdermabrassion tool, which essentially vibrates) to the side of the tank with think rubber bands (I put thick bands on the head too, to reduce the noise as it was late, but when noise isn't an issue, I'll try it without), and let it run for the regular development time. I fixed using manual agitation, just in case the development didn't work, and out came perfectly looking negatives.

Just thought I'd share. Has this been done before? Someone should create an elegant version of this product. I'm guessing it would work for Patterson tanks too.

The only problem with this right now is that it's batter powered. I'm gonna visit a sex store tomorrow and see if I can find a waterproof and ac powered vibrator so I don't have to put PMK on my wife's face.

[sun of sand]

Yeah, I need a vi
Yeah, what we're looking for is a pretty pow, long lasting
..really interested in something AC current an and uh waterproof so I don't have to rig with rubber bands um
I basically want ...something.. whose vibrations can
See I have this tank.. for photography

..oh, I do pastoral landscapes mainly


I think you could find a vibrating piece of lab equipment or something but hey maybe the vibe works
I wouldn't want a d* in my developing box but

[Doug Howk]

I had a graphics pen vibrating cleaner but unfortunately threw it out couple of weeks ago. I suspect an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner could also be used. Sounds like an interesting concept. I do all my neg processing in tubes, except for 4X5 in open tanks; so this would be of benefit for the latter.

[hansning]

Yeah, right now I'm think of a hitachi magic wand type of product, and covering it with a bag. I looked into a supersonic jewelry cleaner, but I think the vibrations are really small, and it would not vibrate the film holder enough (vibrating just the case does nothing as it's not the water you want to vibrate).

Then there's a concrete vibrator...


Yeah, I need a vi
Yeah, what we're looking for is a pretty pow, long lasting
..really interested in something AC current an and uh waterproof so I don't have to rig with rubber bands um
I basically want ...something.. whose vibrations can
See I have this tank.. for photography

..oh, I do pastoral landscapes mainly


I think you could find a vibrating piece of lab equipment or something but hey maybe the vibe works
I wouldn't want a d* in my developing box but

[Neil_4793]

Unit from a vibrating bed. I have one in a box around here somewhere.

[d.s.]

Or the unit off of a vibrating lazy boy kind of chair. It's a small elect. motor with an eccentric mounted on the motor shaft. It it vibs too much then grind some off of the eccentric to tame it.

Wow, if you could hook it up to a repeating timer, say 5 sec's. every min......

dee

[catshaver]

I like this idea. I use a Yankee tank and use the dip and dunk technique with it. I'm going to try the vibrator method.

[catshaver]

There are numerous dentist type vibrators out there on the auction site, I guess they use them to vibrate the bubbles out of dental castings. I'm going to try one, and use it intermittently for my pyro developing. I think this is going to work.

[Darin Boville]

Aren't there lab tools (plates) that swirl sort of, rather than vibrate?

--Darin

[Wallace_Billingham]

actually just go to a petshop, or a discount store with an aquarium dept. and get an airpump. These work by vibrating a small rubber diaphram. The cheap ones vibrate like crazy. While they are not submersable they are built into plastic boxes with very flat sides so it should be easy to attach to the side of the tank.

[Kevin M Bourque]

I never had any luck with those tanks, so my hat's off to you for making it work.

As the ultimate test, expose a sheet of film to a uniform background. A white card slightly defocused works great. If there's any streaks or mottling, this will show it. This very test showed me that the Yankee tanks were worse than I thought. The detail in "real" negatives can hide some flaws.

[jon.oman]

Interesting, I'll have to try this.