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Thread: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

  1. #1

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    Unhappy Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    Well, it is official. As I put the drum on the table to pull the negatives, it spilled a significant amount of dark blue liquid from the bottom. I had suspected there was a leak somewhere, but now I am sure. The drum is about 4 months old, used for maybe 200 negatives (= maybe 35 times). It has been treated with care, never fell or banged, rinsed after use and air dried. I've looked the thing over and can not find the leak. Most likely in one of the tubes or where the tube is welded/glued to the tank. I've sent jobo an email but no response. Does anyone have similar experiences? I am very disappointed to say the least, particularly given the price of the drum. It works a treat, but with increasing amounts of liquid escaping through the bottom I can no longer use it without risking having chemicals everywhere or having too much come out so I get uneven development of my negatives.

    Please let me know what your experiences are and where the leak was. If at all possible, I will fix it, otherwise I will throw the drum and use my old stainless tanks which means I lose a lot of time as the only take 2 sheets of 4x5 or 1 of 13x18...

    Thanks

  2. #2

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    are you using the foot pump to remove the lid?
    too much pressure can crack the tubes.

  3. #3

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    Have you talked to Omer Hecht at CatLABS? I believe he is the Jobo rep for the US. In any case, he is very good and has been very helpful to me.

    Dark blue liquid sounds like the anti-halation layer. I am guessing that you noticed it because of the colour. If the drum is leaking, then other chemistry should wind up in the water jacket as well.

    I have no concrete advice to offer. I have several Jobo drums, including two of the very expensive Expert drums, like you, and your post makes me nervous!

  4. #4

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    I had picked up a used drum and when I received it, it looked in pretty dubious shape, and looked like it was re glued
    for what ever reason, the Expert drums are assembled with cylinder halves glued to each other and the cylinders
    glued to the cylinder face ( as I'm calling it ).

    I checked for leaks by filling one cylinder at a time with water up to the opening, fill it till you
    get a convex meniscus bulge and letting it sit for at least an hour. Each cylinder gets the same treatment.

    If the cylinders don't leak then check to see if the cylinder face is leaking where it's glued to the drum body,
    same method except fill all the cylinders till the water is up to the edge of the tank with a convex meniscus,
    of course all of this is done in a sink or tray large enough to hold all the water.

    I wound up repairing the leak with 3M Hot Glue, I would guess any hot glue would work.
    I did start a thread on getting the OEM adhesive used to assemble the tank -
    http://www.largeformatphotography.in...um-leak-repair

  5. #5

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim C. View Post
    I had picked up a used drum and when I received it, it looked in pretty dubious shape, and looked like it was re glued
    for what ever reason, the Expert drums are assembled with cylinder halves glued to each other and the cylinders
    glued to the cylinder face ( as I'm calling it ).

    I checked for leaks by filling one cylinder at a time with water up to the opening, fill it till you
    get a convex meniscus bulge and letting it sit for at least an hour. Each cylinder gets the same treatment.

    If the cylinders don't leak then check to see if the cylinder face is leaking where it's glued to the drum body,
    same method except fill all the cylinders till the water is up to the edge of the tank with a convex meniscus,
    of course all of this is done in a sink or tray large enough to hold all the water.

    I wound up repairing the leak with 3M Hot Glue, I would guess any hot glue would work.
    I did start a thread on getting the OEM adhesive used to assemble the tank -
    http://www.largeformatphotography.in...um-leak-repair

    Most of that Isarplast (all 10K tubes of it) were here at some point, but that is not what is used when making these drums. It is a compound material custom made for Jobo.

    Like Jim said - anything that stick will do the job.

  6. #6

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    Quote Originally Posted by koh303 View Post
    Most of that Isarplast (all 10K tubes of it) were here at some point, but that is not what is used when making these drums. It is a compound material custom made for Jobo.
    10K tubes !?!
    Guess they're gone ?

  7. #7

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim C. View Post
    10K tubes !?!
    Guess they're gone ?
    indeed most are now gone. Had no room for them. Even now i have more then i can ever imagine or hope to use. In fact in all the time i have had these i think i only opened one tube and its still not empty...

    I tried offering this stuff about a year ago, but no one wanted it and it went to the scrap collectors.

  8. #8

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    Thanks for all the replies. I do not use a pump to open the drum, just run it around in my hand pushing up with my thumbs till the lid comes off. A bit of a chore, but it always seemed safer than putting the drum under pressure. They are, after all, expensive things. Anyway, I guess that did not help. I've had a close look at daylight and it seems like I have 3 leaking tubes (all near te top in the seam at the corner) and one that is about to leak. Not sure how this is possible at all. There has never been any pressure on the tubes, the drum was never dropped, banged or otherwise abused. Will look for two component epoxy or some other glue that will dry without leaking chemicals into the liquids afterwards and try a fix. No word from Jobo. To say I'm a little disgruntled is an understatement. Coming up with plans for a more durable alternative. Will post them once they are more concrete.

  9. #9

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    Why don't you return it to Jobo (or the seller) if it's just 4 months old?

  10. #10

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    Re: Leaking jobo 3006 expert drum

    Quote Originally Posted by kleinbatavia View Post
    I do not use a pump to open the drum, just run it around in my hand pushing up with my thumbs till the lid comes off.
    Maybe putting pressure in one direction is the problem. The pump would fill the unit with pressure in all directions; and therefor no increase in pressure one to another.
    It is always a risk to not follow instructions; Still they must be fairly sturdy, with all the opinions how to avoid the manufacturers instructions.

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