special made trays

[nasser1]

Do you (Ulf panoramic) people out there know of someone who sell special made

developing trays for 7x17? if not! would you guys tell me if it is ok to

make developing trays out of fiber glass smothed with a gell coating?

[albert_richardson1]

It's easier to make one out of a simple wooden frame hung with heavy plastic. 5 mil plastic sheeting sold for gardening is heavy enough to work nicely. If you really want metal pans, try looking in the housewares section of your store for baking pans. (I hope your pictures don't turn out to be turkeys! :-)) Anyway - Line the pans with plastic if you are concerned about your chemicals attacking the metal.

[leicaglow]

I've given up buying photo trays and using resealable-type tupperware-like plastic trays available in stores that sell household goods. There are all sizes available, and if you can't find the one you want at one store, go to another. The think I like about them is they have lids that can be sealed which helps save chemistry from oxidation. They're also a heck of a lot cheaper.

[ed_brock2]

I don't believe you are going to find panoramic trays off-the-shelf. I looked everywhere many years ago when I started shooting the 6x17 format. I eventually had a sheet-metal shop fabricate 10x24" stainless, nesting trays. They are wonderful, but also heavy and were very expensive. If I had it to do all over again I would go to the local plastics supply and get 1/4" ABS or Plexi. If you don't have access to a table saw, the plastics suppliers will typically cut pieces for a nominal cost. You then tape them together and introduce the appropriate ABS or Plexi cement (also available from the plastics suppliers) which wicks into the joints and gives you waterproof custom-sized trays in minutes. This will save you a lot of chemistry over the years and another bonus - will take up a fraction of space compared to standard trays. I also shoot 5x7 and have devised a way to use the same trays for that format. I place my exposed enlarging paper inside a 8" diameter ABS tube (avalable at Lowe's)which is open at both ends. This tube then goes in my panoramic trays and is rotated in a small amount of chemistry. This gives me prints up to 18x24". Good luck.

[donald_hutton]

Park Seed make some seed trays which work a treat for 7x17. And cheap. http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=6116&PrevMainPage=advsearchresults&scChannel=Seed%20Starting%20AS&SearchText=p10.v31&OfferCode=T1H

[donald_hutton]

I would also point out that if you are going to be shooting a lot of 7x17, a tray with tubes in it is a good idea. I find 7x17s are the easiest negatives to scratch - it's that corner which digs into the emulsion and 7x17s seem to have more potential than any other format I have developed regularly. Basically, you need 3inch tubes (ID) and you simply load the prewet film into the tubes which are then simply placed submerged into the developer - you need to have enough developer in the tray to cover them. You simply roll tubes for agitation and you really can't scratch the film. On APUG a while back, Sandy King posted some instructions and photos of a light proof arrangement like this which looked like a great idea if you were spending a bit of time with the format.