Loading 8X10 in Beseler Drum

[Steve_3850]

I bought a Beseler tube and agitator to develop 8X10, but I'm not sure how to load the film into the tank since it came used with no directions. Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated.

[John Kasaian]

Steve, if it is like the unicolor drum, go into your dark room, make sure your work surface in clean and dry, take the lid off the drum and stand it on it's closed end. Have your holder within reach. Turn off the lights(after a few practice runs) and remove the exposed film from the holder, being careful not to touch the emulsion. Form a semi circle by drawing the two 8" sides closer together. The emulsion side of the film---the side you want to avoid touching--- is on the inside of the semi circle while the back(uncoated) side is on the outside. place it over the open end of the tube and push it in. Avoid having the film drag along the inside of the tube by making the film slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the tube and let it expand to the fit the inside of the tube once you have it nearly all the way in to avoid any possibility of scratches. Replace the lid and you're in business. Practice with a sacrificial piece of film with the lights on, then try it with your eyes closed before attempting the real deal. Its easier done than said, really!---Good luck!

[Leonard Evens]

I have a Beseler 8 x 10 drum, which I use all the time. I already had such a drum from my color printing days long ago, together with the motorized base. The drum comes with an intsert that fits in a slot on one side of the drum. There are built-in stops on the other side. In addition, there is a separator that attaches to the insert. With the drum sitting vertically on end, two sheets fit between the stops and the insert on top and two sheets fit similarly in the bottom. The separator on the insert keeps the top sheets from the bottom sheets on one side. If the sheets are properly placed, friction keeps them apart on the other side, but it is certainly possible with faulty placement for sheets on top and bottom to overlap, in which case you will get incomplete development or fixation. But with a little practice, one learns to avoid that. It also possible to load the sheets so they don't fit in slots on either side, and then they can overlap horizontally.

To fully load the tank, you have to remove both ends. They fit pretty tightly, so this can involved some pushing and pulling, but it is best to be patient and avoid forcing anything. Load one end, turn the drum over, and load the other end. The film gets loaded with the emulsion facing inward. Then reattach the ends. They are not interchangeable, so you have to be careful you get the right one in the right place. When putting the ends back on, in the dark, you need to line up the outer slots with the protrusions which fit in them. Again you have to be careful not to force them, but you need to get them firmly in place to avoid light leaks. You should start by practicing in the light.

I did at one point force the top in place and broke off a piece of plastic. I managed to epoxy it back, but it kept coming off with use and needed to be reglued. So I bought another Beseler drum I found on ebay. This came without the insert and separator, which are essential to its use with 4 x 5 sheets. I went to my local hobby shop and got a plastic strut. It has a H shaped cross section and comes in different sizes. I don't off hand remember what the right size was, but I measured the side of the slot and chose accordingly. There was one additional problem. The slot in the drum doesn't extend the full length of the drum, so I had to trim one side of the strut for some distance up from the end. I also cut out a separator from some sheet plastic and glued it to my improvised insert, using waterproof epoxy. My insert works a bit better than the original one that came with the drum.

If you need pictures to help you visualize all this, let me know, and I will mail some to you.