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Cap Getting stuck on Stainless Tank


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My local lab recently went out of business, and, as part of their going away

celebration, I was able to score a stainless tank along with a few reels plus a

few other unrelated goodies.

 

Anyway, I'm having a bit of a problem with the tank. It's an Omega brand tank

with a stainless lid and a stainless cap that fits over the pour spout at the

top of the tank.

 

Occasionally, the small stainless cap over the pour spout will get stuck and

will refuse to come off unless it is pried off. I've not had this happen yet

while I had chemicals in the tank, just after storing for a little while. I

realize that the easy solution to that is to store with the cap detached,

however I'm also afraid that at some point it will get stuck while I have

chemicals in the tank.

 

This little stainless cap bears the same Omega logo as the bottom of the tank,

so I don't think that it's an issue of a mis-matched part.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do to prevent the cap from

getting stuck?

 

By the way, I'm really enjoying my first experience with stainless steel. I was

able to load the 120 reel on my first try-I found it much easier than I ever did

loading 120 on plastic reels. I'm still a little uneasy on 35mm, but haven't

messed up a roll yet. It's great to not have to wait overnight for the plastic

reels to dry.

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The older Nikkor tanks supposedly had individually fitted caps and lids. The Kinderman, Accura, Spiratone, and Omega tanks don't, and they do seem to vary a bit. Perhaps another cap would be a better fit? My tanks, lids, and caps are all color coded with Dymo tape. That's been on them since perhaps 1970!

 

Have you tried lightly sanding the inside of the offending cap with some emory cloth? Or put a little valve grinding compound between the cap and lid and turn them back and forth by hand. This should lap them so they have a better fit. Another possibility is to wax them with automobile wax. That shouldn't readily disolve into your chemicals, if at all, and unless you wash your tanks with hot soapy water should last about forever.

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I find the tight fit keeps the leakage down. While stainless seems to last forever, seepage can be a problem. I keep a set of ss spoons in the darkroom (for moving chems) and always have one near when developing, for prying the cap off if it sticks.
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Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

 

As it so happens, I have a few sheets of very fine sandpaper lying around that I might just try to see if I can get things fitting a bit more smoothly. Failing that, I will try to see if I can get some grease or graphite onto it.

 

By the way, I might also add that despite the apparent age of the tank, I haven't yet had a bit of trouble others have reported with seepage and so forth. In fact, the other day, I even made a point of wiping the outside of the tank with a towel to get it completely dry, and there still wasn't a drop of water anywhere on the outside of it afterwards.

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Getting the cap off may require having a screwdriver handy, but getting the whole lid off is

easy. Just fill the tank up to overflowing with water (after your fixing step), and the water

will help you pull off the lid. Also, as mentioned above, you can get generic plastic lids

and caps that fit, even though the tank was designed for a stainless steel lid.

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