Washing 4x5 negs in Jobo 3010 Processor

[John Sizelove]

I just graduated to a jobo 3010 expert drum. I am planning on using it with a be seler motor base. I have been using FR tanks without much luck because of incons istent development. I have scoured the instruction sheets and have been looking over the threads here but have not found out how other people are washing their negs with this processor. Can you wash the negs in the drum the way you do with other tanks or do I need to tray wash them using a siphon or do I ned to bite th e bullet and purchase a specially designed sheet film washer. Any suggestions wo uld be appreciated. Thanks in advance !

[bob moulton]

You can wash the negatives in the drum. Load with water, rotate for a minute, and then repeat for about 5 minutes. The Calumet/Gravity Works film washer has a neat basket insert that allows you to place up to 12 4x5 sheet film in it, hook it up to water and simply time it. It uses water somewhat conservatively and washes quite wll. I use it also for photo flo. Bob

[Don Welch]

John,

Washing in the expert drum works fine. Have you looked at Jobo's website? (http://www.jobo-usa.com) It has extensive information on all aspects of using the drum, including washing. They recommend a five minute wash, made up of 10 wash periods of 30 seconds each, so that enough fresh water is used to produce an effective wash. They also say that the washing intervals may be longer than 30 seconds without harm, but that the number of water changes is important. Jobo definitely recommends NOT using Photo-Flo or similar product in the drum, because agitation causes it to foam and it doesn't clean out easily. So do that in a separate tray or other container after washing is finished, if that's a normal step in your processing.