Unicolor and Beselar drums

[doug_paramore]

This post is not a question but what has been for me a solution to a problem with using Unicolor and Beselar (and other) drums to develop sheet film. One of the problems with the drums is keeping the films apart when developing four sheets, as the little rubber seperators tend to fall off, are hard to use and easily misplaced. I solved the problem with one of my tanks by drilling a 1/8" hole through the drum on two sides and then inserted a very tight fitting piece of round neophrene in the hole so that it sticks out inside the drum where the rubber seperators fit. I marked the drum by sliding two trash negs into place and marked between the negs. I left about 3/8th of an inch sticking out inside. It is easy to slide the neg past the peg for the bottom sheet. It works great and there are no leaks from the tight fitting plug. I made the plugs by cutting an O-ring to about 3/4 inch in length and tapering the end a bit so it would start into the hole. Any round rubber or neophrene will do as long as it fits tight. I then pulled the plug through to the inside with needle nose pliers and trimmed it to length. The plug needs to be trimmed to about 1/8th long on the outside of the drum. This is not in the form of a question, just a tip and can be ignored or deleted if desired.

 

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Regards,

[miles_feigenbaum___dallas_]

thanks for the useful info Doug; i haven't been there yet , but

getting close.

miles

dallas, texas

[james phillips]

Hello Doug

 

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I must say that you have indeed devised an ingenius solution and one

that would be a total fix. I also had that problem a while back and

would like to contribute my solution. I bought at Wal-Mart a set of

plastic hangers that have the plastic "clothes-pins" already on the

bottom rung. The clothes pins come off just by expanding them and

each hanger has four clothes pins. Because the clothes pins were a

bit too wide to act as the spacer, I took a coping saw and cut a

little bit of the sides of them in the shape of an upside down "L".

 

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I now insert two films into the bottom of the drum and then while

squeezing the pin slightly open, I slide it down the "V" section in

the drum where the seperator normally goes. It is easy enough in the

dark to feel the clothes pin bump up against the film and then I

just release the tension and the pin remains in place throughout the

processing. For the past nine months I have been using the same

plastic pin with no adverse results. Because the pin and the spring

it uses are totatlly enclosed in plastic, I do not have to worry

about the chemicals causing any contamination.

 

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If this sounds confusing then just email me and I'll send you a

picture of the pin. This is one of those things that seems much

harder to explain than to demonstrate. I actually only spent about

fifteen minutes modifiying the pin till it worked properly.

 

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Regards,