Hi all, this is not a question but a tip on using the Jobo expert drums with a r egular motor base. Allow me to bore you with the story on how I discovered this. I ordered a Jobo CPA2 with the Jobo lift and an expert drum (4x5) from a mayor m ail order company from NY ( you all know who I am talking about). These people i n their infinite wisdom decided to send me a unit that had been returned by some one else, it hasd obvious signs of usage, the thermostat did not work and it eve n had dried water marks all over. Any way, with the Jobo lift are included two c og lids to place on the other regular drums like the series 2500 etc. I noticed that the cog lid on the expert drum was exactly like those provided as extras with the Jobo lift, furthermore I saw that the cog lid on the Expert dru m was not an integral part of the drum lid, but just another little cog lid plac ed on the mouth of the drum lid. So I decided to put my money where my mouth is and got me a 15/16 box wrench to apply pressure from underneath the cog lid and try to get it out. My thinking was, if I was successful I could use the drum on a regular motor base with the red cap the other drums come with. So I proceeded to remove the cog lid and what do you know? it popped out after a little effort. When I tried the red cap that comes with the regular Jobo drums it fit perfectl y! Now if you talk to Jobo they will tell you it cannot be used like this because t he drum does not have a cup to hold the chemical, well duh! of course not, but i t does have a light tight opening where you can pour in chemicals. For the last week I have been running tests with my new expert drums, both 8x10 and 4x5, on a beseler motor base and have been obtaining beautiful even negatives with no pro blems! If you are going to try this I have two tips or observations to provide: 1.- Don't used a unicolor motor base that reverses rotation, the reversal interv al is too short and the drum does not complete a rotation since it is too wide. 2.- Don't get scared if you hear a loud crack when you are removing the cog lid from the drum lid. This is just the O ring on the cog lid that is really tight. You might mess up the lip on the cog lid, but who cares, you are not going to us e it anyway! BTW I did not mess mine and was able to attach it back. 3- You defenitly need to get the foot pump to open the drums, and you will have to modify the pump to fit the new wider mouth. From Jobo the foot pump comes wit h a rubber stopper to fit the opening of the cog lid, obviously this will not fi t the wide mouth once you have removed the cog lid. Go to a lab supply store and buy a #12 rubber stopper, drill a hole in the middle and place the hose from th e foot pump into this hole. Once you see it you will know what I am talking abou t. What are the advantages of working this way? 1 you do not spend about $2000 to have the entire kit(which IMO the Jobo unit is a very cheaply made item). $1230 for CPA2, $233 for Jobo lift, $246 for Expert drum 4x5, $246 for expert drum 8x10. my cost $530. Two expert drums, foot pump a nd beseler motor base. Noth cheap but a lot better than $2000. 2.- you can put more chemical in the drum, the Jobo units have a problem with th e motors if you overload the drum, they even sell replacements! a sure sign thes e motors burn up. With the motor base you can put all the chemical you want and there is no problem, heck if you burn up the motor base, go get another one used for $20 bucks, a lot cheaper than a replacemet motor for the Jobo unit. 3.- no space concerns, I keep all this equipment in a much smaller space than a Jobo unit would have taken. 4.- No fighting to make sure the drum is leveled. If you have worked with the ex pert drums, you know is almost impossible to place the lid so that the drum does not wobble when rotating. This wobbling might be good to insure even developmen t, but it stresses the motor unit and eventually it will burn it up. 5- Slower rotation speed. This is not an advantage unless you are using easily o xidized developers like PMK or catechol.

What are the disadvantages? 1- no temperature adjustment ( I standarized my process to work at room temperat ure, so for me this is not a disadvantage).

Ok, I hope this information is usefull for those of you who had been wanting to use the expert drums but did not want to shell out the bucks to buy the whole se t up. Good luck and many beautiful negs!