Unicolor drums

[Richard Aroner]

Help me, I'm mildly confused. New to 4x5, I purchased an 8x10 unicolor PAPER drum and motor base for developing my negatives following a number of recommendations here and elsewhere. In use the drum leaked, an annoyance at best. Searching the web this is apparently a common problem and a number of respondents talked about a plastic ring and underlying gasket which caused the problem. Also there was discussion about a locking arrangement on their drums. However my drum does not have these features. The head does not lock, it only has a locator pin and a press fit onto the drum. There is apparently no gasket, just what looks like a plastic "o" ring I think molded right to the head. Also, the ends are not externally smooth as seen in some photographs but have a crinkly finish. So what do I have here? Is this an older or newer version and where is the seal to prevent leakage? Otherwise it has the separator, internal ridges and works OK.

Richard

[Jim Noel]

That does not sound like a Unicolor drum, but a Beseler or Omega drum. I have owned all three and have had Unicolors from the time they were white, version 1. All of the Unicolor had twist on caps which locked.

[Don Wilkes]

Not entirely true, Jim. I have (and use) an old Unicolor drum, which has the press-fit cap with locater pin on the drum. Mine is black, and I don't recall ever seeing a white one. Perhaps we Canadians received slightly different stock.

[Don Wilkes]

Sorry—hit send before I was quite done. I believe the tank Richard has is quite an old one, as it sounds identical to mine, complete with leak problem, alas. I believe I bought mine in the summer of 1973. Anyone remember the old Agfa kits for colour paper?

[Nathan Smith]

There's a lot of info on the Unicolor leak topic, here's one on APUG:
http://www.apug.org/forums/forum44/53176-final-unicolor-unidrum-gasket-repair.html

I know I saw a full-scale scan of the original Unicolor seal somewhere. Folks often cut them out of various types of rubber material.

[Pawlowski6132]

Picture is worth 1,000 words.

[Daniel Unkefer]

Haven't used it for a bit, I'm cleaning it up to use this winter. Here's my Old-Style (original) 8x10 Unidrum on a Uniroller. All of these leak, from time to time, seems like no matter what you do. My permanant solution to this issue, is to put everything into a Rubbermaid Dishwashing Tub, and place 5x7 Patterson Developing Trays on both sides of the UniRoller. I just rinse out the small trays, when I am cleaning up. Very easy to move around, and store.