PF Slosher Trays

[Trenchleton]

Howdy! I learned the hard way recently why the square daylight tanks are so frowned upon. I have a nasty sensitivity to some chemistry though, so shuffling is still out. Has anyone tried the Photographer's Formulary slosher trays for 4x5? I'm leaning towards that right now since it's cheaper than a mod54 or combiplan. Anyone gotten good results? Or bad for that matter.

[gleaf]

Pro I met in Nashville cut the extremities off Kodak 4 x 5 hangers and could do four at a time in a 11 x 14 tray. Works well.

[jeroldharter]

I have them but have really not used them much. For low budget, I prefer BTZS tubes. The slosher gave me some increased edge density, but I did not give it much chance. The slosher development was not foolproof but i would say worth trying for your purposes.

By the way, you could still try shuffling using nitrile gloves but I assume you are trying to avoid any potential for problems. I would still use gloves with the slosher.

[Trenchleton]

Little burns aren't a big deal, just don't know if my hands could deal with a soak. Isn't the BTZS more than 60 for the kit? I already have 11x14 trays. I also have a yankee tank I could try. I'm inclined to think that it'd be a waste to try agitating it in the light, but I've heard of people having luck dipping and dunking in the dark. Could probably pop the lid on to pour out/in chemistry.

[Richard Wasserman]

I use a slosher tray that I made myself and it works quite well. I wear Nitrile gloves when using it.

[Nathan Potter]

I use 4X5 hangers in a 5X7 tray. I bend the upper part up at about 45 degrees so I can agitate in the tray without getting my hands wet. Perfect for special one at a time development jobs. Have even done single E6 color this way.

Nate Potter, Austin TX., Holliston MA.

[Trenchleton]

Well, does anyone know the dangers of over-stop-bathing? I'm wondering if I can just tray develop one by one, then slide them into the FR tank with SB in it. Then I could finish processing them all together. The first negatives would be stuck in there for like an hour though and I'm not sure what effect that would have. After 35 and 120 came to me instantly, I'm really starting to see the learning curve with LF. A good thing!

[Doremus Scudder]

Well, does anyone know the dangers of over-stop-bathing? I'm wondering if I can just tray develop one by one, then slide them into the FR tank with SB in it. Then I could finish processing them all together. The first negatives would be stuck in there for like an hour though and I'm not sure what effect that would have. After 35 and 120 came to me instantly, I'm really starting to see the learning curve with LF. A good thing!

I can't see why an extended stop bath should hurt the negs with the exception of the extended wet time... That said, I've never tried it. However, you could easily add a water tray as a holding tray between stop and fix and avoid the problem altogether. I'd probably try keep the holding time down to under 30 minutes or so; an hour plus fix and then wash seems like a lot of wet time.

Back to the trays, though. Is your allergy so bad that wearing nitrile gloves is still too risky? I use pyro developers and wear nitrile gloves from unloading the filmholders through to putting the negatives into the washer. I often do several batches and simply wash and dry my gloved hands as normal (making sure to get the gloves really dry before unloading the next films from the holders). Never a problem and zero chemical exposure.

Also, there are many developers that contain less allergenic ingredients. Metol is usually the main culprit when it comes to contact dermatitis. Have your tried one of the ascorbic acid/phenidone developers?

Best,

Doremus

[arthur berger]

I agree totally with Richard's position. I started using a slosher tray after seeing an add for one in a camera magazine in 1977. I have since made some myself and still have the original. Once you have a design you can go to a plastic store and have it cut and bent and you then would just need to drill the holes and place the "fence" to separate the negatives. I cut and folded a piece of heavy paper to the size and design and took it to a plastic store on canal street (NYC) where it was then made in acrylic. I purchased acrylic dowels and cemented a number of them between where the negative go to separate them. I unload the film holders and place the negatives on the slosher bare handed and then in the dark put on a pair of nitrile gloves which I keep in my pocket. I think it was John Sexton who called it a slosher, and uses one for minus developments.

[gleaf]

You might look at Graham Peterson's data on using black abs plastic pipe and fittings to make low cost daylight developing tubes. On your Sloan or tray hold.. I would use a water bath hold after the stop bath. Long term hold in the acidic stop might be detrimental on a long hold.

[Trenchleton]

I've never been able to determine which chem I'm reacting to. It is an issue both with paper and film though, so I suppose it may not be the developer. As for gloves, I'm just concerned about the lost tactile sense leading to error.

[Bill_4606]

I guess you could add me to the the list of those that have tried the slosher trays but opted to go with other methods. There's nothing wrong with sloshers, tray shuffling, or film hangers... I just decided a long time ago that I would rather develop with a daylight system (I went with the Jobo tank system -- just personal preference).

Occasionally, if I just have a couple of sheets, I might still use the tray method. But if I have several sheets to run, I like having the lights on so I can stage the next step and monitor the overall process a little easier... I just make less mistakes that way.

There is one cool thing that is easier to do with a slosher than other methods. If you have a few sheets that need different development times -- say you exposed them at N, N-, and N++. You stage them and add the sheets at different times during the development process. It's easy to do that with the slosher. That's not a compelling reason to buy a slosher tray but it is a little trick that is made more convenient by using one.

[Peter Lewin]

Just one more vote for nitrile gloves. The only difference between the process Doremus described and my own is that I unload my holders with bare hands and put the negatives in an empty film box prior to processing. I wear the gloves from mixing the PMK through putting the negs into the washer. There is certainly enough sensitivity though the thin nitrile to feel the film notches which I use for orientation, and for shuffle processing the negatives in trays.

[welly]

I've got a PF slosher and it's brilliant. That in conjunction with hangers and a rubber tank means my negatives never touch each other from start to finish which means no scratches. The slosher is brilliant but note that it does result in needing a bit extra chemistry. I have to go with around a litre of developer/stop/fix otherwise there isn't enough chemistry to cover the negatives.

[Trenchleton]

Well the FR tank called for 1.5 liters. I forced my way through 4.5 liters of Mountain Dew to reuse the bottles. A little wired after that. Good to hear that someone actually has the PF slosher. Not a lot of info out there.

[aruns]

Hi,
I was recently looking for a slosher tray.
After going through the schematics available on the net and the PF tray, I recently made a DIY tray.

In a nutshell, I..
a) Picked up a 8.5x10.5x3/8 (inches) acrylic sheet at the local Tap Plastics store, asked them to make 5 holes with 2-2.5 inches diameter as shown (If you have the tools you could make the holes yourself). I did not remove the blue wrapper on both sides of the acrylic sheet.
b) Also picked up a long strip of acrylic - 30 inches by 1 inch, 3/8 inch thick, and a tube of cement.
c) Sanded the edges of the circular holes on both sides, as i didn't want the sharp edges scratching the sheet film's back.
d) Removed all the wrapping sheets off of the acrylic sheet, cut the long strip into smaller pieces (to serve as the divider in the center and retainer at the edges), and cemented them in place.
f) let it stand for a day.

See attached pics.

A couple points if you are going down this way:
- Previously I used to hold the film sheets in place (in 8x10 trays) with my fingers. This would raise the temperature of the chemicals over some time.
Now I touch the film may be twice - once when I drop the sheet in place (when I touch them on the edges and push the sheet down to submerge it under chemicals), and mid way through the developing to make sure it stays there. Gloves should be fine in this case.
- I have developed 4 sheets at a time with this "tray" and they have come out very well. No scratches, no uneven development, no overlapping, etc.
- When I want to move the sheets from one tray to another, I basically move the whole slosher tray.
- It does need more chemicals than if you were developing one or two loose sheets in a 8x10 tray. However I find it is quite efficient, and I typically use around 750 ml (or about 3/4th quart) in a 8x10 tray, and it seems to be fine. I have used about 1 quart (1000 ml) and it seemed fine for mild agitation (no overflows).
- The acrylic is heavier so it stays submerged.

So overall, I find this thing more efficient and easy to use. And the only situation when I did not use this tray was when I wanted to develop only 1 sheet.

Hope this helps. Cheers.
Arun
103743103744

[aruns]

Oh - Once I got the holes drilled, it took about 60-75 minutes to complete the whole thing. And I used bookends to hold the vertical pieces in place as they dried.

In terms of cost, the 8.5x10.5 board and 1" wide long strip cost about 12 or 13 bucks. The cement was about 6 bucks.
The drilling was more expensive and I spent about $20 or $25 for that. Overall, not more than $45-50.

Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Arun