Feeding the TAS (tray acqquisition syndrome)

[John Kasaian]

I wanted to run some previously developed negs through Hypo Clear and give them a good wash just to be on the safe side so I thought to myself Hey Self, heres a good chance to simulate tray development So I got out the Pattersons and, low and behold they are 8x10s! Kinda cramped, to say the least.
So I had to order some 11x14s. I had to, I tellya! I just had to!

later last night:
How do I get out of this funny white jacket with all these buckles and no sleeves?
Shhhh! Here comes the night nurse!

[Roger Thoms]

So I just have to know, did you go smooth, ribbed, or dimpled?

Roger

[John Kasaian]

Dimpled. Hell yeah!

[Drew Wiley]

I picked up a set of lovely dimpled stainless trays years ago. They are the cat's meow for film development. But I also sell
pure silicone adhesive dimples to cabinetmakers as door bumpers. They aren't the cheapie felt or vinyl kind, and will last
seemingly forever in developer or on the septum dividers of print washers. For real fussy 8x10 work, I then took an 11x14
deep tray, dimpled it, they splayed out and polished the upper part of the walls into gentle wings, so I can rotate the films
a different point on the compass each time, with no risk of getting scratched or wild drip-off. It really reduced the slight
perimeter fogging typical of traditional thicker films. Yeah ... I'm a tray nut too. I picked up a whole bunch of them once
horse trading. I suspect they originally came from an old dye transfer lab. All the real thing - 316L stainless.

[ac12]

While not for film, does a pair of HM Color Canoes count as TAS?
11x14 and 16x20

[jp]

I'll sometimes pick up a tray or trays at a lawnsale if they are selling darkroom stuff cheap and it's a size or style I don't have. speed-ezles are sometimes almost given away too.

[Bill Burk]

One time at a camera show I bought a huge stainless steel tray because I wanted to do some 20x24. I thought I was so smart getting a tray that will last me a lifetime.

Damn previous owner had let the fixer corrode a pinhole in the bottom of the tray. I know I should have taken it to a welder to patch the spot. But I was so incensed that I threw the tray out.

Cured me for good.

[John Kasaian]

My trays arrived! They're so...so...so dimpley

[Dan Henderson]

I have SSS...stainless steel syndrome. I don't know what it is, but stainless steel just turns me on. It is a good thing that women don't come in stainless steel or my beloved would be in trouble (quickly looking over shoulder...) As I write I am excitedly anticipating the delivery of 3 used stainless steel trays that someone here offered for sale. Do I need them? No. There are 7 perfectly usable 11x14 and 7 or 8 really nice 16x20 trays down in the darkroom. But you know, the terms "wants" and "needs" are just so easily confused...