Achilles' Arm -or- The Curse of the Jobo Lift

[Oren Grad]

Well, the inevitable happened this evening - the arm broke off my Jobo Lift in the middle of a processing run with the big 3005 drum. Fortunately, it was during the wash phase, and the film came out fine.

I'll call OmegaSatter tomorrow to see whether they have replacement parts in stock yet as they accept the distribution handover from Jobo USA. Meanwhile, the design of this plastic part seems so inherently flawed that I have to wonder - has anyone ever tried to have a machine shop make an all-metal lift arm? Or some kind of bracket that would allow lifting the drum by grabbing the rails underneath?

[John Flavell]

We once used a JOBO for processing transparancy film. Our solution to the problem was to take the Jobo up to the roof and drop it three stories into the huge garbage can out behind the building.

[Paul Butzi]

Someone, I don't remember who, made a handle they called 'lift-assist' or something along those lines. It was a handle that attached to the rails at the end away from the pivot, allowing you to lift the drum and rails by grabbing the handle and swinging it up.

Not very helpful, I know, but at least it lets you know that someone has tried that and found it to be a marketable solution.

[Donald Hutton]

Where did it break? - I have broken the end of the handle before and now just always use my right hand to help the lifting of big drums. I would try the number for Jobo in Ann Arbor - there were still a few folks in there two weeks ago.

[Oren Grad]

It broke right at the base of the arm, at the point where it joins the round base part that screws into the body of the lift. I could epoxy it back together, but even if it holds I suspect the plastic will just fracture somewhere else.

I've always used my hand to help the lift, but I still needed to use the handle just to get the tank up an inch or so to leave room for me to grab the rails underneath. In the end that, alas, was enough stress to do the trick.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... The wise thing would have been to order a replacement arm a long time ago to have on hand, since it was obvious this was going to happen. Oh, well. The Jobo USA website says the official handover was earlier this week, so I'll try OmegaSatter tomorrow and see what they have to say. But I'd still be happy to hear of any ideas for a more robust substitute part, since the replacement is bound to break eventually too.

[Donald Hutton]

I've broken that horrible little thing - it's about $5 for a replacement and takes all of 5 seconds to instal, if you can get one! You should easily be able to drill a little pilot into each end of the break and epoxy a little steel pin in there - should work just fine until Omega get set up. FWIW, I have had very good service from Omega Satter in he past. It is definitely a stressed point on the lift, but I would guess that a new one should be good for a couple of years...

[David R Munson]

Where did it break?



In the darkroom! *rimshot* (my apologies - I couldn't resist)

[Michael Kadillak]

Mine broke a couple of years ago and I went ahead and ordered the replacement. After using it without the arm with my expert drums for the time it took to arrive, I left the replacement in the darkroom drawer. It is completely unnecessary and a complete waste ot time. If you have to you can use both arms to grab a hold under the drive mechanism to empty.

Even if you could machine a metal one, you would only be moving the design flaw to the next weak point - the plastic pivot.

Cheers!

[ronald moravec]

I always, from day one, pick up the rails with my right hand. It just seemed flimsey to me.

I also break the vise grip jaws that hold the cog lid with a stem from an old thermometer. I have not gotten a broken plastic gripper since. Just release the right or rear one while pulling the drum towards yourself. The remaining one releases without the loud snap.

For the cost, it could be better engineered.

It`s use is limited to 4x5 color neg in the expert drum now so it is semi-retired. Black and white goes in the 4x5 Nikor tank or on hangars, hangar rack, and sink line.

Get a NOVA slot processor for color prints.

[Oren Grad]

Thanks all, for the various comments.

Paul - sounds like a good idea. I was able to find just one trace of such a thing on the web - a single PN message posted by Spiros Polemis in 2002, about a "Jobo Lift Helper", said to be "from an outfit in San Diego".

Don - thanks for the steel pin suggestion. I have a bit of trouble handling a drill just now, but will keep that in mind.

David - minus two points for that one. ;-)

Michael - I'll do a bit of fiddling over the weekend to see whether I can get comfortable with just grabbing the rails. I think I need thinner fingers, but if it comes to that, I'll find a way to make it work, because the advantages of the Jobo overall are just too great. My thought re machining a replacement part would be for a single part that includes the hub that screws into the lift body. No doubt it would be frightfully expensive to get a single piece like that fabricated. The same Google search that turned up Spiros Polemis' posting also turned up a message on the alt-photo-process list by William Laven, who may have done just that.

Ronald - I use my CPA-2 strictly for B&W sheet film, in sizes from really small to really large.