film drum dividers

[Doug Paramore]

I just got a couple of Uniroller film drums and base, and I need to know how the film seperators were shaped that keep the sheets apart when developing four she ets of 4x5. I found in the archives of this forum where they were made of rubber and that they can be made from an eraser. Does anyone know how they are shaped? According to the old posts, a slit was cut into the rubber that slid over the d ividers. I think I can build some o.k., but it would be nice to know how the fac tory one were shaped.

Thanks,

[John Hicks]

5/8" high, 1" wide, 1/4" thick, with a V cut into one of the long sides.

[Doug Paramore]

John, thank you very much. A couple of minutes with a razor blade and an eraser and I was in business. The measurements really helped. I have been running the drums with some old negs for about 10 minutes with water in the tank and everything is working great. It's nice when you don't have to re-invent the wheel everytime you try to do something. Great thing about this forum...no matter what, someone has been there and done that.

Regards,

[James Phillips]

Hi Doug, I also heard about these pieces but never received any with my original purchase of my drum years ago. I decided to build them myself and here is what I created. I found a clothes hanger with plastic clips to hold pants or other articles and found that they were removable. I then just took a fine tooth saw and trimed the edges so that 2 sheets would comfortably fit on each side. These clips are plastic so they do not react with the chemicals and are rather easy to put in place in the dark. Also they are spring loaded and will NOT come off during use.

Good Luck.

[Doug Paramore]

Thanks, Grey Wolf. I will try your method also. The rubber clips are working fine, but your method may be easier. I found a couple of the clips in the closet. Time to get out the fine tooth saw.

[sully75]

To clarify this post from a long time ago, do the seperators touch the film itself? Or do they just rest on the rail and prevent the film from shifting?

Thanks!
Paul

[Jim Noel]

They rest on the rail, actullly they are tight enough to grip the rail.

[sully75]

I ended up going a different route today. I found some rubber O-Rings at home depot, not sure what kind of faucet they were for, but they were some of the thicker ones available. I laid out where the film would lie in the drum and drilled holes a little smaller than the o-ring diameter along the edge of where the film would be.

I trimmed the end of the o-ring to a point and then from the inside pushed it through the hole and pulled it from the other side with pliers. I left maybe 3/8-1/2 inch inside the tube.

I did two rows, one for the area between two sheets and one for the far sheet.

Just ran it through now, my first time with 4 sheets in the tube and they were really locked in there.