Tray washing RA-4?

[robert_davis2]

I process in drums and that goes just fine but the wash step slows me

down. If I could drop the prints in a tray of running water that would

speed me up quite a bit. So is there any reason not to? I'm not

talking about hours and risking the paper sucking up too much water.

Just the amount of time until the next batch of prints is ready. Say

less then 10 minutes.

[don_cooper]

I've tray washed RA-4 for years with no apparent problems. As you mentioned just don't leave them sit too long.

[robert_davis2]

Thanks that'll make my life much easier.

[rowland_mowrey]

Except for one thing, I agree.

 

The RA wash step also washes out the drum and my Jobo processor, preparing it for the next step. If you wash off the processor, as I have tried, you stand a greater chance of getting stains from blix retained in the equipment somewhere.

 

You have to wash the equipment well before the next print goes in. Why not combine the wash steps and save time and water?

 

I put all of my prints into a standing tray of water until the entire session is done, and then give them an extra rinse anyhow.

 

Ron Mowrey

[robert_davis2]

I thought about that after posting. But I figure I can fill and dump the tank a few times and still save time. Plus I've got a few tanks now so unless I'm making alot of prints I can avoid reusing tanks too much. I'm just trying to save a little time. Right now I can expose two prints in less then 30 seconds total but by the time I'm back at the enlarger it's more then five minutes of basically standing around. The steps before the wash I can't change but I'm hoping the prints can wash themselves -)

[rowland_mowrey]

Robert;

 

The problem is any blix that is entrained in the corrugated tube from the funnel down to the gasket / cog. If this isn't washed, you are going to have problems. You can wash the drum out all you want to, but if you don't run water through the entire Jobo fluid transport apparatus, you may have problems.

 

I use the wash step to my advantage to clear the pipes so to speak. I even dump an extra 500 ml of hot water down the pipe and wash off the cog after each process.

 

I run 4 prints at a time or 5 prints at a time depending on the drum I use, or I do 2. This is 8x10. And, when I'm doing 11x14 or 16x20, it is hard to do a tray wash anyhow, due to space limitations.

 

So, I wash for about 1 minute to clean the pipes and clean off the paper, and then hold the paper in a tray of water, then I wash again after a session, sometimes up to 40+ 8x10 prints. If it larger than 8x10, I wash completely in the drum for convenience and then go directly to drying.

 

Ron Mowrey

[robert_davis2]

Ron I'm using Jobo tanks but not a Jobo processor. Really all I have is the tanks. Right now my process is

 

1) Prewash

 

2) Developer

 

3) Stop

 

4) Blix

 

5) Wash

 

6) Wash

 

7) Wash

 

8) Wash

 

9) Wipe tank dry.

 

 

I'm hoping to dump the paper into the tray after the blix. Then fill the tank and dump it. If I do that a few times I'm hoping the whole tank will end up clean.

[rowland_mowrey]

Robert;

 

Sorry about the misunderstanding then. You are certainly better off washing in a tray!

 

You can use any temperature for the wash and you can hold all of your prints wet for up to about 2 hours in water at room temp. Then wash all of them just like B&W prints in a wash tray.

 

I use a siphon for this and I use either 10 mins at 75 deg, 5 mins at 85 deg or 2 mins at 100. That is my rough sliding wash scale. The higher the temp, the more fragile the emulsion layers and the more scratches you might get.

 

Hope you have as much fun printing as I do.

 

Regards.

 

Ron Mowrey

[robert_davis2]

I've gone from not being able to get one good print an hour to being able to almost do good prints in my sleep. It's relaxing if I remember to not inhale the blix-)))

[rowland_mowrey]

The ammonia in the blix will act like smelling salts and wake you up right quick.

 

Fun stuff, go ahead and inhale. Everybody says they don't inhale. I don't believe them. I also liked the smell of benzyl alcohol and miss it in RA developer. I keep a bottle on my shelf and inhale it from time to time.

 

Hehehe. JK.

 

Ron Mowrey

[robert_davis2]

A while back I was in a hurry to see a print. So I popped the tank lid before any wash and stuck my head in the tank. Warm blix that had been spinning in a tank sure can wake you up. Not quite the same sort of stun that I got when I accidently fired my flash about 4" from my face but memorable-)

[rowland_mowrey]

A guy that worked for me was carrying about 2 dozen old flash bulbs (this was in 1959) on an airfield. He walked in front of a plane just as they started up the radar to test it and all the bulbs fired at once.

 

He was slighly burned from the flash, and he lit up pretty good. Oh, he also failed to get the assignment because he had no bulbs.

 

I set my strobe off once face down on a wooden stepladder. When I picked it up, the wood was steaming. Fortunately that isn't as hot as a CO2 1 gw laser. I think that was the wattage of the one I saw cut a meat cleaver in half at a demo.

 

So, there are worse things under heaven that smelling ammonia.

 

Ron Mowrey

[James G. Dainis]

Ah, but benzyl alcohol, (as well as grain alcohol) ammonia, blix et al in an unventilated darkroom can lead to some very interesting solarizations, posterizations and reticulation results.

[rowland_mowrey]

James;

 

Only in your imagination if you inhale.

 

Ron Mowrey

[robert_davis2]

Every time I hear a story about flash bulbs I'm glad not to have dealt with them. I get the impression they're only a little safer then flash powder-)

[rowland_mowrey]

Nah. They are safe.

 

I have a couple of boxes of assorted types around the house.

 

Many things happen if you walk in front of an active radar setup too close. A guy leaned against a radar housing and cooked his hand like a tight beam microwave. Blasting caps can be detonated by radar. Lots of unnice things.

 

That was a freak accident. Flashbulbs are/were safe.

 

Ron Mowrey