Beseler Print Drum: Rib Replacement

[yeknom02]

Hi everyone,

I'm very close to developing my own 4x5 negatives, but I was looking for an ultra cheap way to do it. Lo and behold, a friend came to the rescue with a free Beseler color print drum. I'm told I can fill it with about 200 mL of chemicals and rotary-process the film by rolling the drum back and forth. Sounds like a method for me! No JOBO-brand materials required.

The only problem is that there is a long channel for a removable divider or rib which will keep two negatives separate along the inner circumference of the drum. (I imagine that you remove it if you develop 8x10, and insert it if stepping down to 4x5.) I do not have this removable rib, and I need to know whether anyone has found a suitable replacement... Heck, even a picture of the original insert would be appreciated, so that I can maybe go to Lowe's and find something that would kinda/sorta replace it.

[Nathan Potter]

Try a piece of tygon tubing cut to a length to just span the inner circumference of the tube. Plug the cut ends to avoid trapping chemistry inside the tubing. If it is not stiff enough to stay in place use a piece of coat hanger wire inside; well I use a fancier piece of piano wire from Small Parts Inc.

I know about broke college students from memory.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[joselsgil]

Try this link to a sale on evilbay. It shows the thin plastic part that you are missing. I did a search for Beseler drum and this came up.
I have a drum like this and have not tried developing 4X5 film, for the same reason that you have. Seems this thin plastic guide, (for lack of a better word), gets lost or miss placed.
I also have an 11X14 drum. I got that one new and it has the plastic guides. However, they are not interchangeable with the 8X10 drum.
Hope this info helps.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Beseler-8-X-10-Processing-Drum-Calculator-Chemistry-/290559283112?

[sully75]

For the record, I have Beseler Drums, Unicolor Drums and most recently a Chromega drum. The Beseler Drums has a much better seal than the Unicolor drums, which at best are a little leaky, and at worst useless. But the Beseler drums I find hard to get the film into, the little ridges are so narrow it's hard to know if you are in the right place or not. At least I find that.

The Unicolor drums are really easy to load. So if you find one with a decent seal, they are pretty awesome.

I think the best might be the Chromega drum. The film divider is pretty sweet. I haven't used it yet but it looks awesome.

Paul

[sully75]

Unicolor 8x10 drums are relatively plentiful and pretty cheap, btw. The motor base is pretty cheap too. And pretty sweet. I like the Beseler motor base, has auto reverse on it. You want that.