Color Darkroom Set Up and Fujimoto CP-51

[RPNugent]

The machine automatically goes into Stand By mode after 45 minutes if no paper has been put into the system. Is that what you are seeing? Rather than slowing down the rollers stop and start periodically. With regular feeding of paper I have never had mine slow down even after several hours of use.

The inlet paper feed roller could be wet or dirty and be causing the streaks. Clean and dry it and see if that helps. Occasionally developer can splash up on it and it doesn't work quite right when wet.

Also the rollers in the two baths may have some kind of build up on them and could cause it. I don't know if you can still get Processor Clean from Omega, but running a batch of that and using a tuffy sponge to clean any gunk off at the end of the soak in PC may solve the problem. You can drain and save chemistry to run the cleaning.

The only other idea is the gears aren't meshing smoothly to feed things in. To see if that is happening take off the cover and with the lights on run a fully processed print through the system and watch the gears to make sure they turn and mesh smoothly.

It's great to see that you are getting close to having it fully up and running.

[EdSawyer]

Looking good, nice to hear it's up and running!

Streaking: I'd suspect something on the rollers. Did you take those all apart and clean them? If not, I would do so. Is it a physical streak (abrasion?) or light-based (e.g. a light leak?)?

slowdown: I'd suspect some friction or heating issue there. The drivetrain is complex with a lot of moving parts and inherent friction among the gears and bushings. On mine, I took everything apart (rollers/racks/gears/etc) and cleaned and lubed it. I used a waterproof silicone grease but there are other alternatives too probably. Is the slowdown gradual or abrupt? Is the reset immediate, e.g. just switching it fixes things? If so, then it may not be the friction issue I mentioned above, but more likely some sort of electrical gremlin. I am not sure what that would be. Maybe something with replenishment settings/timer or something? Hard to guess.

thanks for the update.
-Ed

[RPNugent]

One other thought along the lines of Ed's electrical concern. What type of 220 plug are you hooking it up to? The book requires a NEMA 6-20R style plug. The two times I have had to have this type of 220 plug installed the electrician has made comments about it being an unusual choice. Something about no neutral I think, but don't remember exactly. Anyway it's not your usual 220 so stretching for explanations that could be a factor.

[liweiping]

I'm sure I have the manual and will try to get it scanned in the next couple of days. DO NOT just fill it with water to test it, doing that wrong will burn out the heater according to the instructions. Have you found the long thin funnels that came with the machine? You need to use them to charge the system and get liquid deep in the reservoir below the visible level. It should have come with two funnels to avoid contamination of the developer with bleach fix. Also do you have the ceramic (or something like it) filters to go in the two holes at the back of the first two tanks. They are key and used to be hard to get.

Do you have the stabilizer version or the running water version, they made both. Less hassle with the stabilizer version as you won't need running temperature controlled water and a drain. Mine is running water, but the instructions deal with both I think, haven't read them in awhile.

You will need some ventilation unless you want a serious headache after a few hours running the machine. Tried it without at first and learned my mistake.

Again I'll try to scan it tomorrow if I get time. They are great machines, dry to dry in minutes. Wish I had time to run mine. Keep debating trying to sell it, but can't quite come around to doing it.

hi i want to know what different from WD and SD now i have a stabilizer version,but i think the last step of RA4 is need water wash,i don't know which stabilizer is need! thanks

[RPNugent]

The WD unit requires tempered running water with a drain to take the overflow water whereas the stabilizer unit doesn't as far as I know. It simply runs the print through the stabilizer bath after the bleach/fix bath without a wash. Unfortunately I have no idea where to get the stabilizer chemistry today. You can always wash and dry separately if you can't find it anywhere.

[EdSawyer]

There's no stabilizer version of RA4, but if you have the SD version for the Fujimoto, I'd say maybe just fill it with water, and change the water out regularly (after a certain number of prints). It's better than nothing, and RA4 washing needs are pretty minor (compared to B&W for example).

[liweiping]

The WD unit requires tempered running water with a drain to take the overflow water whereas the stabilizer unit doesn't as far as I know. It simply runs the print through the stabilizer bath after the bleach/fix bath without a wash. Unfortunately I have no idea where to get the stabilizer chemistry today. You can always wash and dry separately if you can't find it anywhere.

i have a CP51 with the SD, but i found the SD is similar with WD ,so you can watch the pic,i found i can add a pipe on the SD,then it will be changed
to WD.but i don't konw if i used the stabilizer better than water wash in the last step of ra4 ,
RPNugent would you like sent me a pic about the Water tap on the WD,i want to research it Thanks
The stabilizer is easy to get in China

[RPNugent]

CP51SD20181017_09451257.pdfCP51WD20181017_09435827.pdf

Here are some photos, sorry for the quality but it's a bit hard to get to the back of my machine. The pdfs are from the CP51 manual showing the back of the WD and SD machines. It looks like you could add an inlet water pipe, but you would need the gray piece at the top as well to allow water to flow from tank 1 to tank 2.

[liweiping]

CP51SD20181017_09451257.pdfCP51WD20181017_09435827.pdf

Here are some photos, sorry for the quality but it's a bit hard to get to the back of my machine. The pdfs are from the CP51 manual showing the back of the WD and SD machines. It looks like you could add an inlet water pipe, but you would need the gray piece at the top as well to allow water to flow from tank 1 to tank 2.

hi thanks for your photo,would u like help me take more photos from the top of the gray pipe, thanks

[RPNugent]

Here is the view from the top.

I think you could just go with the stabilizer if it is that easy to get in China. I'm not sure how much more archival a 30-45 second wash is than the stabilizer.