Color Darkroom Set Up and Fujimoto CP-51

[EdSawyer]

For drain overflow (which is where the "used" chemistry comes out), I just drain them all into a 5 gallon bucket. If you have a plumbed drain and don't mind dumping it, that's even better.

For supply of fresh chems, which are drawn up by the replenishment unit, I use 5 gallon (I think that is the size - will check - it might be 2.5 gals) Doran tanks with floating lids. It minimizes oxidation of the chemistry. For storing chems from the tanks between use, I use 2-liter coke bottles (PET plastic) with all the air squeezed out. I've been using those with the CP-31 since it has 2L tanks and those work well for the purpose. When I get the CP-51 online, I will probably use 3 2L bottles per solution (Blix and Dev.) for the same purpose.

Those tanks you linked to look nice. The upside of the Doran tanks I use with floating lids is it minimizes air exposure to the replenishment solutions.

These are the ones I use:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ge_Tank_5.html



Good luck!

[RPNugent]

Sorry for the delay, was on vacation with family with limited web availability.

The Adorama link you posted is the right 10 liter kit for developer.

The tanks you and Ed linked should both work fine. I used JOBO's 5 liter tanks they sold way back when they were operating in the US. I don't drain the chemistry since I used the floating lids from Fujimoto so 5 liter tanks were fine for me and I have a drain straight to the sewer for my system so didn't need a drain tank, but a bucket will work just fine as long as someone checks to make sure it doesn't overflow.

Replenisher for both developer and blix is just the leftover part of the 10 liter mix that you feed in via tubes from the back of the machine automatically with the CP51 at a rate you set via the instructions shown in one of the illustrations I sent you. Nothing special about it.

It's been quite a while since I mixed up a batch of chemistry but my recollection was you mixed up the batch of developer and added starter to the developer to season and simply drop the feed tube into the remaining chemistry to be your replenisher. With the blix it's just put the 6 liters in the machine and drop a tube in the remainder again.

[Baked]

Hi Ed,

I've finally gotten the processor running. I've been running water through it, but no chemicals yet. I'm trying to make sure everything is running properly before doing so. I've encountered two problems that I'm hoping you or Bob can advise me on. First, the temperature does not seem to be going to what I set it at. I set the high for both baths at 30.5 Celsius and the low at 30. Three times I've run water through the machine and haven't been able to get it to that temperature. I've left it running for over an hour each time. For the Bleach/Fix bath I actually have to keep adding water to it because water leaks out the replenishment take up hose in the back of the machine. I'm hoping that once I put that tube into the Bleach/Fix replenishment tank everything will be fine.

Another problem I noticed tonight is the speed of the machine. I tried loading a sheet of 8x10" paper tonight and it took well over ten minutes for the print to go through the machine. I adjusted the speed dial on the control panel and it didn't help much. I photographed the speed display on the panel and noticed that the speed output was fluctuating greatly. I'm going to attach photos to show you guys what I mean. The photos were taken in chronological order. You will see that the number display varies greatly within the span of five seconds. I'm worried that the motor is malfunctioning. Do either of you have any suggestions about all of this?

Many thanks,

Doug

[RPNugent]

I never had a problem of that sort so unfortunately don't have many ideas on how to fix it, both baths heat and stay there +/- 0.2 degrees. It does take a while to get up to temperature depending on how cold the original fluid was, but an hour seems like plenty. I doubt putting the hose in the replenishment tank will stop the leak. You're sure it's coming from the hose and not a leak at the top of the filter receptacle, that's more common as a problem if the filter is over sized or the lid not tight, which happened to me. If not you may have some dried up O rings or something that is allowing the leak.

An 8x10 using RA4 chemistry should feed in about 45 seconds if I remember correctly. That needs a speed setting of 347, which you never got close to. I thought I had a parts list brochure as well as the instruction manual but can't seem to find it. Will keep looking to see if it explains the seals around the replenishment tubes.

[Baked]

Thank you for replying, Bob. And thanks for the suggestions.

You may be right about the hose not leaking. It could be the filter receptacle as you suggested. I'll take a closer look Thursday night when I run the machine again. Another thing I forgot to mention is that the rubber paper guide on the racks probably need to be replaced. When the paper was coming out of the developer rack it was rubbing against the guide - which it looks like it should be doing - but was catching each time the roller rotated forward and pushed the paper out. The rubber guide looks pretty warped which I hadn't noticed before.

I'm adding a picture of how I have the machine set up in the darkroom. I also can send you a video I took last night of the machine running. From the video you can see that the motor seems to be running intermittently and too slowly.

Thanks again for your continued guidance.

[Baked]

Hi Bob and Ed,

I found out what the problem with the machine was. It was running on a 120 volt line. We've now converted the voltage to 240 and the machine is running properly. However, now we've encountered a new problem. The operation control panel doesn't work properly so I cannot set the temperature or see if the machine is warming up to the set temperature. I've looked on the Omegabrandess website for a spare part but they do not provide much information. I've called them and they're trying to find out if they have the part. Below is a link to the item that may be the correct part. Could you guys have a look and let me know what you think? Also, do you know where I could find a replacement operation control panel besides Omegabrandess? Many thanks.

http://www.omegabrandess.com/product...essors/FP65162

[EdSawyer]

Yeah, the 220-240v thing would be a real issue. Fortunately I haven't had to troubleshoot the boards on mine, really. Generally there is going to be a thermostat in each tank and it will cycle the heaters based on comparing that to the settings, but beyond that I am not really familiar with a more detailed analysis. Do you have the schematic? Let us know how it works out, I will have a look at mine when I get a chance. It mght require finding a parts unit to scavenge from. I have found spares on occasion but it usually things like rollers and racks, and not electronics.

[RPNugent]

You can send the video to my home email and I can see how it compares to my machine. My displays are a bit quirky, working off and on, though once I get the machine running they stay on. There are hard wired batteries on the panels that may have died and need replacing. You could try emailing Greg Blank who is a member though I'm not sure how active he is now. He used to do the CP51 repairs for Omega at their MD office and may be able to offer more advice. For some reason my browser won't show the picture of the panel, but that sound like the right price compared to what they used to run. Also search the for sale section for CP51. There is a group in Philly who were looking for a spare machine to support the one they got running and may be able to give you some advice based on their experience reviving a machine.

[EdSawyer]

2nd recommendation to get in touch with Greg. he's a good guy. Finding a whole machine to scavenge will be a better/cheaper solution than buying new parts, probably. You could likely find a whole CP51 for the price of that board.

[Baked]

Hi Bob and Ed,

The machine is up and running. I didn't have to buy the operation control panel (which I never found anyways). Last week I plugged it in, loaded it up with water, and turned it on. And everything was working fine. I've been running it with chemicals for three days now and it's working. I've noticed two issues that I'm wondering if you could advise me on. First, there seems to be a faint streaking. The streaks are hard to see but they're there, and they're spaced about a half inch apart. Do you have any idea what could be causing this? The other issue is that the machine will slow down after running for an hour. The rollers will start rotating very, very slowly. I've found that if I turn the machine off and turn it back on it works fine again. It's like the machine needs a reset. Any idea why that's happening? Other than that, we are getting it to work and the students have started printing on it.

I've included a picture so you guys can see a sample of one of the student's work from yesterday. Thanks for all your help with this.