"Uniroller motor base with my 3005 and 3010 tanks. Really more work than that motor wants to do. "
How heavy are those 3000 tanks? I've used the same sort of motor with the 2500 tanks and alot of developer. No problems. Nada. Not even a squeak of complaint.
Jim. After six months with the BTZS tubes years ago, I invested in a JOBO CPP2 with a lift (it came for free with the purchase) as I did not like the CPA2 and it has unquestionably been a trouble free system for me for over five years now and I use the hell out of it to process films from 4x5 to 12x20 and it has never let me down. Sorry to hear that you are having difficulty with yours.
As is the case with many decisions with ones photography, you need to find where you are in the costs/results relationship. I know guys that develop only in trays, others do brush development and yet others have the rather expensive automated JOBO systems where you push a button and put on a pot of coffee. I personally find that the least amount of my attention that I need to commit to the negative stage, the better. It is not wrong or right, only right for me. Plus I do not have to worry about spilling chemistry.
And not, I have absolutely no affiliation with JOBO whatsoever. I will tell you that as a business owner I have a particular fondness for good old fashioned "customer service" in a art form I participate in.
Cheers!
I used to use the 8x10 tank on a homemade roller stand. I made it for free from a scrap of pine board and some castoff wheels from a dolly.
I just poured the developer into the tank, turned it on its side, and rolled it manually. I never saw any evidence that the fifteen or so seconds spent in a vertical position caused uneven development. I even developed a sheet of uniformly exposed film to see if there was a problem. I know this goes against conventional wisdom, but those are my results.
Using the Jobo 3005 Expert drum on the manual roller base I don't add chemistry while rotating the drum. I remove the drum, dump and pour in new chemistry. I know you're thinking "streaked negatives", but I haven't had any problem. And I only need two hands to do it.
As well as using Unicolor drums on a Unicolor base (4 x 4x5 or up to two 8x10 depending on the drum) I also use a Jobo 3005 tank for 5 x 8x10.
It seems to work great. The only problem I had was with HP5 - which I never seemed to be able to process without edge density problems. Eventually I tried DD-X for the HP5 - which is great and no more problems.
I got a couple of funnels from the auto store - the sort for changing oil or lubricants, which come with an attached flexible tube. Set the roller base going then pour the chems in via the funnel/tube. One even has a tap on it, so I can fill the (marked) funnel up then just open the tap. You just have to be careful not to let it all go in too quickly or it overflows (the Unicolor drums are designed for hand filling and work better in that respect).
There are details on the Unicolor drum system on this website.
I have two roller bases (one came free with a Unicolor drum I bought...). On one I've put a couple of little lumps of plasticene under the rubber roller wheel in a different spot on each - it gives a very slight, randomish left to right rock that seemed to help with the edge density - I figure it introduces a slight "random" swirl into the process...
You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn
www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog
The 16x20 is a 'print' drum, meaning it has ridges on the inside. I use it to develop one 12x20 or two 7x17 negs. I'm sure you could use it at least down to 8x10, several at a time, if you figured out a way to keep them from overlapping.
Yes the drum will work itself out of kilter and fall off the roller if you turn your back. I'm gonna try rubber bands or something to stop it.
My buying a Jobo processor story is like my buying an Arca Swiss B1 story.
In both cases I took the long and expensive way (via a Foba and big Bogen heads before the Arca-Swiss ) and a whole bunch of trays, Unicolor tubes/roller, BTZS tubes and even an Agnekolor before I found a Jobo CPP-2 for one hundred Canadian in the basement of my local camera store. I've had to buy new bottles and the 3010 tank but now I'm all set.
You can buy the Jobo rollers, they're very cheap and work pretty well according to Jobo's excellent tech-support. But a processor has a tempered water bath, continuous agitation, and a clean method of chemistry handling. Although 90% of my work will be B&W, the processor will also allow me to run E-6, C-41 and RA-4.
Moral of the story: I wish I'd just bought the Arca B1 straight away. I wish I'd bought the Jobo straight away.
But that's just me .....
Just a thought:
The 3010 tank is designed to have the chemistry introduced while it is rotating. If you wanted to maintain as even development as possible then maybe the following method is worth a try:
Only load film into three adjacent cylinders (i.e six sheets). Then place the drum on the Jobo rollers. Ensure that you know where the two empty cylinders are in relation to the tank's label.
Orient the label such that the two empty cylinders are the low point of the drum. When you pour in the chemistry, you'll have filled the two empty cylinders with chemistry and thus when you start the manual rotations the flow of chemistry onto the film surface will be even.
Does this make sense ??
The 3010 tank is designed to have the chemistry introduced while it is rotating. If you wanted to maintain as even development as possible then maybe the following method is worth a try
Ron, even though that may be the case, not once have I introduced chemistry while the drum was rolling - even when filled with ten sheets. I have not had a single instance of uneven development. I'll likely continue with my method until an error convinces me otherwise.
Just curious for those that may have the answer: chemistry is never introduced into small roll film tanks (while rotating) and uneven development is not really a concern there, so why is it a concern with sheet film in a Jobo (or other rotaries)?
William - Thanks so much for recommending the Manual Roller. If many of us can roll a bunch of BTZS tubes, I ought to be able to roll a 3010 for a while. When I had a 2500, I rolled it on a towel, which was a royal pain.
Looks like a simple way to go. I'm just an amateur. It's much harder to keep open trays at the right temperature, than it is to keep a few containers of chemicals at the right temp until they're ready to be poured. All that takes is a big beer cooler.
Do you recommend the pump accessory to quickly open the lid ? Also, how long does it take to empty the tank ?
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