Old Unicolor system for developing sheet film

[Erik Ryberg]

Hello,

A few weeks ago a friend of mine dug out of his closet an old Unicolor Print Pro cessing thing. It basically is a motor that spins an enormous tank with a dayli ght lid on it, and is made for making color prints. I have been using it to dev elop 8x10 sheet film with wonderful success.

Given the trouble many of us have with open trays, the expense of BZTS tubes, th e inconvenience of dip and dunk, and the gross expense of Jobo, I am wondering w hy I never hear of this system for developing sheet film. It sure seems to work well. You can pick these things up for a song on ebay and elsewhere.

[Sean Billy Bob Boy yates]

I dunno Mr. Ryberg. I thought I had posted that here, but perhaps it was in the black & white froum, I discovered 'em in '95 and I'm sure others figured it out before that. There should be more about it in the popular press.

Doran, or someone makes a system a step between the Jobo and the Beseler/Unicolor drum system. B&H and Adorama sell 'em. The main advantage to it is that it has a tempering bath with a temperature control unit, so as the drum spins, the bath it spins in theoretically maintains a constant temperature ala' the Jobo but at much less cost. I have never used one but one of these years when I have a more disposal income.....

[Sean Billy Bob Boy yates]

Here it is, Adoram calls it the Adorama Roto Bath 100-B processor

[John Hicks]

I've mentioned the Unicolor print drums about 5,000 times hither and yon... Anyway, it works fine. Check the top edge for any rought spots and if you find any, smooth them off using an emery board. Also, new drums came with a little r ubber divider that's slid into place to separate sheets of film put on the same side of the tank; chances are a used drum doesn't have that, so before you put t wo sheets on the same side you'll need to make such a thing.

[David Grandy]

I've been using the Unicolor drum and motorized roller for a number of years. Without those rubber stops I've found that I can't develope more than two sheets of 4X5 film at a time for fear that they'll overlap.

Does anyone know if these rubber stops are sold by anyone?