Advanced daylight tank for sheet film - survey

[Andrew O'Neill]

Tray is perfect for stand and semi-stand development so your system should be okay.

I have to partly disagree, Rod. In my experience (using Pyrocat-hd and Obsidian Aqua), trays are okay for semi-stand but not for stand development. A vertical configuration is the way to go for stand.

[Regular Rod]

But if you lay the sheets emulsion side down...?

RR

[Andrew O'Neill]

Interesting. I've never tried that, always being an emulsion side up guy. Now you've given me something to do today...! Thanks Rod.

[rcmartins]

That has the danger of promoting scratches, as I stated previously, and that is why I suggested the use of lateral rails to help prevent the emulsion to touch the bottom of the tray. The rails could be slightly slanted as Bob mentioned. Nevertheless, I brought this subject because I would definetely buy a tank that is appropriate for stand and semi-stand development while allowing the development of a single sheet or a small number of sheets without wasting too much chemicals, or water for that matter. The OP seems to be confident his design will allow this. I sure hope so.
raul

But if you lay the sheets emulsion side down...?

RR

[Regular Rod]

The bottom of my Patterson Orbital is dotted with soft, smooth beads of epoxy resin. Combined with stand development the agitation is so minimal I seem to get away with it. Lots of old timers used to develop their films in trays emulsion side down. I prefer the emulsion side up for semi-stand but not if using stand.

RR

[JoeV]

The first thing I'd want to know about this new system before promising to pony up some cash is how quickly chemicals can be poured in & out. If it's as slow as a Yankee tank, then it's pretty useless. I'm assuming from the OP's description that, once loaded into the system, complete processing from developer through fixer can be achieved in room light? Quick dumping and repouring of chemistry is crucial to consistent processing. I'd need to know more information, first.

~Joe

PS: After four pages of responses, no one thought of asking about repour capacity? Isn't that the main gripe people have with the Yankee tank? (And also unevenness of developement.)

[Leigh]

no one thought of asking about repour capacity?

I assume you're talking about the time it takes to fill the tank with solution.
That's because it's irrelevant, as long as your technique is uniform.

If it takes 10 seconds to fill the tank...
The upper area of the film will start developing 10 seconds later than the bottom.
Of course, the same is true for the stop bath, so developing stops 10 seconds later.

The entire film develops for exactly the same amount of time.

- Leigh

[koh303]

Isn't that the main gripe people have with the Yankee tank? (And also unevenness of developement.)

That, and being impossibly hard to load, they leak, break easily, require a huge amount of chemistry... am i forgetting something else?

[Gary Samson]

I would be very interested in this tank for myself and for the college I teach for. How about a Kickstarter project to make this a reality?

[Geraldine Powell]

It is interesting, but I don't like that it takes a liter. I love my orbital processor that only takes 120ml for four 4 x 5 sheets. I also like my BTZ tubes, but of course they are not daylight. I would definitely buy it to try it out.
Geraldine