Drying using Combiplan Rack - does it work?

I'm going to dev my first 5x4 sheets tomorrow and have bought a

combiplan tank to do the job.

 

I've read nothing about "squeegeing" the negs prior to drying and

looking at the internal rack of the combiplan tank, it looks as

though I could just leave the negs in the rack after the wash,

remove from the tank and just let them dry in situ.

 

I could remove the wet negs from the rack and hang them up, but that

means more handling.

 

I wondered if anyone has any experience in this area?

I would expect the film to stick to the rack if you did this.

Buy some single 4x5 or 4-up stainless steel sheet film holders

and dry the film in the holders. they do not stick to the holders.

I dry my negatives in the Combi racks, placing the rack above a hair dryer pointed up and set on low heat. Takes about 10 minutes max and I have never had a problem with dust or negatives sticking. For developing I use three Combi tanks and the "dip and dunk" method, never having to empty a tank. A lid is needed on the developing tank only if you want the lights on. Of course I cut the lights on transferring to the stop and fixer tanks. Can set up a sequential arrangement and develop 3 racks (18 sheets) in three different development periods, using N-1, N or N+1 times if needed. Works so great I wonder why everyone doesn't use this method?

How do you arrange the rack above the hair dryer? Hang it up?

The two potential dangers are having the emulsion side of the film permanently glue itself to the Combi plastic rack, and over time getting a build-up of photo-flo in the rack. Very difficult to scrub off of plastic hangers.

 

In 40 years of commercial photography, I have seen both happen. Although the sticking problem is worse with the thicker color film emulsions.

 

The best method is to use Kodak stainless dental clips to hang the film to dry. These leave only a tiny pinprick in the corner of the sheet film. Not the big footprint of a wooden clothespin. Still available, but it's going to take a pretty good websearch to find them. Try dental supply companies.

 

Violent arguments online about whether or not to squeegee. I have had excellent results on sheet film with a new, CLEAN auto windshield wiper blade. Dip in photo-flo and run your fingers over it to check for grit. Please note: I am fortunate in having very clean tap water in my city.

 

To squeegee roll film and 35mm, including color films, I have always used only (lint-free) Kim Wipes from Kimberly Clark Corp. Never scratched nor lost a roll since 1967. But that's another story.

I have never had any problem just hanging the 4x5 neg with a clothespin after soaking the neg in LFN wetting agent. I think the wetting agent is important here - use correct dilution and distilled water if your local water is bad. LFN seems to dry evenly across the big negative. I have never found it necessary to use sqeegie on 4x5, alto I do use windshield wiper as John said on roll film.

Many thanks for the responses. I've just finished the film processing today and it seems as though I'll have to work a little harder on the wash and dry. Using the rack was not a problem but I'll keep an eye out for some used hangers. I have managed to pick-up some fairly significant drying marks, which I think are probably due to the very hard water in my area. Next time I'll experiment by doing the final rinse with some purified water or similar (plus phot-flo).

I would <em>not</em> transfer wet negatives to stainless-steel holders. I'd just rinse the film in a bath of destilled water, Agfa Aegpon and Isopropanol using the film holder and then remove to hang to dry from sheet film clips-- Kindermann make some nice ones. When you let the water drain from the CombiPlan film holder it should dry down relatively quickly to be safe to remove. I would not let the film remain in the holder since there are too many places for moisture to remain and also allow for less than uniform drying. The dangers are more from dust and dirt than from handling so I hang my film in a DevAppa forced hot air drying cabinet (more or less identical in construction to the Jobo Mistral-II).

I give my negatives a final soak (thirty seconds to a minute) in distilled water with foto flo and then hang them to dry using wooden clothes pins. No squeegy. This simple method has served me well for over twenty years. I have even given up the stainless steel clips for 35mm in favor of the simple wooden clothes pins.

I use the commercial style paper clips I get from WalMart, the ones with the two floppy handles attached to the three sided spring steel clip. The smallest size is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide and is perfect for snagging the edge of film. I just run some 15-17 gauge wire through the handles and hang it up wherever, usually in the shower or tub stall-- great for travelling work.

 

This works especially well for sheet film sincxe it leads the water to a single corner where I wick off the excess using a paper towel or napkin, then let natural evaporation finish the job.