Has anybody tried Simmard Drum rotator (shaker) for film development

[Fatih]

Hi all,

I have a Simmard drum rotator, the electrical motor and was thinking if I can use it as film processor. What I mean by that is, I have Paterson tanks, and with the full amount of chemistry, I am planning to use Simmard motor as agitator to cut down the developing 15%.

Would that work?

Cheers,
Fatih

[Ulophot]

Hi, Faith. I don't have one; in fact, never heard of it and am not finding it in a quick Google search, which is showing my rotators for 55-gal drums. (That's a lot of developer!)

What I can say, is that agitation can be a tricky business. As you may know, developer is chemically a reducer. In development, the silver halides release gas as the metallic silver is built up. The gas can form a barrier layer between the film and fresh developer. Constant agitation prevents this; intermittent agitation allows less exposed areas to continue developing while the more developed ones slow down as the gas builds up between agitations.

But agitation can move developer faster around parts of reels or other film holders, increasing density there. In general, this tends to be more a problem with intermittent agitation, but speed of rotation can also be a factor. In any case, without knowing more about your configuration and what this Simmard does, I can only suggest that it will be a matter of experimentation. Perhaps someone else knows the machine.

[Bob Salomon]

Hi, Faith. I don't have one; in fact, never heard of it and am not finding it in a quick Google search, which is showing my rotators for 55-gal drums. (That's a lot of developer!)

What I can say, is that agitation can be a tricky business. As you may know, developer is chemically a reducer. In development, the silver halides release gas as the metallic silver is built up. The gas can form a barrier layer between the film and fresh developer. Constant agitation prevents this; intermittent agitation allows less exposed areas to continue developing while the more developed ones slow down as the gas builds up between agitations.

But agitation can move developer faster around parts of reels or other film holders, increasing density there. In general, this tends to be more a problem with intermittent agitation, but speed of rotation can also be a factor. In any case, without knowing more about your configuration and what this Simmard does, I can only suggest that it will be a matter of experimentation. Perhaps someone else knows the machine.
Simmard invented the drum sold by Beseler, Omega, Unicolor and others. They also invented the roller base. The system sold in Canada used the corporate name, Simmard. In the states they were sold under the various distributor names.

[nolindan]

I have a Simmard drum rotator, the electrical motor and was thinking if I can use it as film processor.

I use a Unicolor (?) motor base with Jobo drums with good success. With Jobo drums the base reverses every 1.5 turns; I turn the drum end-for-end a few times during development. If your tanks are too short I have seen a setup where a length of PVC pipe is used to lengthen the tank with the tank rotating inside the pipe.

[Daniel Unkefer]

I also use the Uniroller for drum developing film 4x5/5x7/8x10 with great success for decades. I would imagine what you have is similar? Yes start by cutting development 15% and go from there. Does the drum have ribs? Unicolor drums have inner ribs

Paterson tanks also work on the Uniroller, but avoid using too much chemistry. It strains the motor

[Drew Wiley]

Rotating devices are super-easy to make yourself if necessary. The simplest (or most primitive) ones that routinely turn up for sale used are Uniroller or Beseler. But these were really designed for color paper, and might not provide an ideal agitation pattern with ordinary hand-inversion film drum. One problem in general, including with Jobo roller devices, is that they tend to run at too high an RPM, even on the low settings. I no longer develop film in drums at all, only paper; but back when I did do that, it involved a superior serious gear-motor capable of a wide range of RPM settings, plus a degree of 3-way agitation, and not just rotational. But all this was industrial component built, and to this day, can easily handle everything form 8X10 drums up to 30X40 inch capacity drums. Otherwise, I'd just roll a simple small drum back and forth on the bed of the darkroom sink instead.

[Rick A]

I use a Unicolor motor base and drums for all my LF film processing with no issues. Processing roll film on a motorized base has different issues to overcome, best to find a drum designed for roll film on a motor base.

[Ray Van Nes]

I have a couple. One held together with tape. I use it with Jobo drums. I flip the drum once every minute to simulate the Jobo processor. Generally works well , you have to pay attention as the drum sometimes will travel and fall off. I made my own tubes out plumbing pipe and cemented ring in the centre for processing large sheets of film for platinum printing. A workhorse.

[Fatih]

Yes I am planning to use Paterson tanks to develop 35/120 films and also 4x5 ones. While it rotates, it also does some sort of up and down movement as well. But good point on travelling drum, I'll watch out.

[Fred L]

the Simma roller base does have an eccentric which causes the slight rocking motion. Like Ray, I have an abs pipe for processing 7x17 film with the Simm base, and flip it now and then. The end caps for the Simma 8x10 drum fits perfectly on the abs pipe so I can take advantage of the pour spout. I did go through the interior of the abs pipe with fine steel wool to remove any possibility of burrs or other artifact.