Cibachrome drums for film processing

[photosailor]

This probably has been answered somewhere else, so my apologies for asking again. I know that Jobo is a common processing method for negatives, but what about Cibachrome equipment? I am not familiar with either; I know that the film (or paper) is put in the drum, then the chemicals, then the drum goes on the motor-roller for processing. I have an opportunity to get a complete Cibachrome system for a song and I would like to know if this is a viable method for processing my 8x10 negatives. Thanks for the input.

[bsimison]

I used one for 4x5 negatives for a short time. I had to glue two pieces of tubing running the length of the interior of the tube to hold the film against the cylinder wall. It works fine, except that there's so little chemistry in the tube that temperature control is nonexistent. As long as you mix and time everything at ambient temperature, you're good.

I switched to the multi-tank method described by Eugene Singer on the front page of this site so that I could process more sheets at once.

[Nathan Potter]

As Brett says, the problem is temperature control. When I run Ciba drums I immerse the drum in temperature controlled water bath with the rollers turning the drum from above. But Ciba design has the pour outlets fairly close to the perimeter of the drum so one must be pretty careful to not allow the temperature controlled bath water to enter the drum while it is turning. If you set the darkroom ambient temperature and processing chemistry to the correct processing temperature you should be OK.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[willwilson]

It works great with unicolor drums. I process 4x5 and 8x10 BW with very consistent results. If you pre-warm the drums with water the temperature will stay within a few degrees during processing.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/unicolor/
http://willwilson.com/unicolorinstructions.html

[Drew Wiley]

You just have to test specific drums; but the faster the filling and draining, the better.
I've done negatives in the same CPI and simple DevTec drums as Ciba. Don't particularly like Jobo drums - too complicated. If you're doing a single sheet at a time,
a simple drum is fine, but if there's a bunch of dividers or clips inside you've potentially
got things to disrupt the eveness of the flow. The nature of the motor base, RPM, and
temp control are all issues too. I personally quit doing negs this way a long time ago,
but it certainly can be done without too much fuss.

[Iga]

Hi !
I'm using Ilford 8x10 Cibachrome A drums at motor base for developing b/w whole plate film. Works fine. They are very cheap now, I got a pair ( new ) for 25 Euros last year.
Best wishes,
Igor.