john_miller16 Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 I'm about to finish my homemade BTZS film tubes. Before making too many of these, kind of "too wrong" (e.g right size of the cap that hold the chemicals?), I want to check back with you first. So, is there anybody out there who develops T-Max 100 in BTZS tubes (homemade or not)? Two questions are here to answer for folks who are experienced with tube developing: 1. Did you ever have the situation with your tubes (film/developer dilution combination)in which you ran into problems of having a too small cap volume to hold the desired volume of developer? So what is the best/your cap vs. whole tube volume in your opinion? 2. Since I use T-Max 100, what developer dilution combination do you usually use when you develop T-Max 100 in tubes? Many thanks in advance for your invaluable experience, and... ...Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian_ellis3 Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 I don't know what you mean when you ask "what is the best/your cap vs. whole tube volume." The BTZS caps hold two ounces of working solution if they are filled to the bottom of the threads. I use D76 diluted 1-1 (i.e. one ounce D76, one ounce water) with T Max 100 film in the BTZS tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy_king Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 You don't mention what size film you are developing, nor the design of your end cap, nor how much developer your end cap will hold? If you are developing 4X5 film you need approximately 2 ounces of a diluted developer, say D76 1:1 or PMK 1:2:100. The typical end cap made for ABS plastic tubes of the size (1" diameter) you probably used will not hold 2 ounces so you will need to make it longer by connecting a cap to a coupling with a small piece of tube serving to join the two parts togeether. Sandy King Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_miller16 Posted March 1, 2003 Author Share Posted March 1, 2003 Brian, the question is, if the 2 floz (60 ml) is enough. I could imagine that one wants to use for a special situation a developer in a very high dilution which would mean (as a consequence) that a larger amount of working solution must be used in order not to reach the exhaustion limit of the developer. This large volume would then not fit into the cap. However, such a situation with a very highly diluted developer is maybe absurd or anyway not useful with tube development. Sandy, I was thinking of 4x5 inch T-Max 100, which I didn't mention. I make the tubes from electrical conduit tube (HFPR) which is very stiff and black. It has an inner diameter of 1 3/8 inch (3.6 mm)so a 4x5 neg fits perfectly in there and so far very similar to the BTZS tubes commercially available. Each tubes is made of two parts: a longer one where the film will be placed, and a shorter "cap" part, which holds the developer, stop, fix (one for each, of course). The volume of the shorter "cap" is defined by its length, as you have noticed...AND THAT IS exactly why i am asking, before cutting the tube into caps with an unusefull length: Are you happy with the 2 floz? Is that a good volume for the reagents or have you ever had the situation in which you wished to have a bigger or smaller volume? If 2 floz is OK for T-Max 100 then I will not reinvent the weel and do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy_king Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 Rick, In my opinion 2 ounces of developers is plenty for a 4X5 sheet of film unless you happen to be using some very highly dilute developers, say something like D76 1:4 or higher. Sandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry_breault Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 My home made tubes were very simple. Black plastic pipe cut to about 5.5 inches. Black plastic push on caps, only place I could find these was True Value. Chemicals in Dixie cups. Jerry Breault Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip_sweeney Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 Rick: my 4 x 5 tubes are made to use 4 ozs, see: <html> <a href="http://home.att.net/~shipale/index.html">phil sweeney's website</a> </body> </html> Fours ozs works well with highly diluted developers such as PMK or HC110 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric_pederson Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 I made homemade tubes which hold 60-65ml of developer. The film holding portion is about 4 cm too long (sometimes I accidently push the film further in and have difficulty extracting it, so that reduces the volume to area ratio more than it should if you make the tubes correctly shorter. That said, I have found that it is difficult to get the full range of development (to N+2) with Tmax100 and Xtol 1:1, so all my formulae are with Xtol full strength (which is fine and faster). For what it's worth here are my times with (old) TMX at full strength Xtol and constant agitation @20C. No times for the new TMX: N-2 5 min EI 50 / N-1 6 min EI 64 / N 7.5min EI 100 / N+1 9 min EI 125 / N+2 10.5 min EI 160 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_miller16 Posted March 4, 2003 Author Share Posted March 4, 2003 OK, that's great information. It seems that TMax-100 can be developed in film tubes. If some additional persons have experience (good or bad ones) with TMax 100 and film tubes, please post your procedure, developer, times etc., I will still check back on this thread. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kymtman Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 Just completed a 4x5 T max in a crafted stainless steel tube. I bought a soup Thermos at Wal-Mart ($16). The lid is a sealed plastic insulated lid. On top of the lid is a circle that I cut through and removed. I removed the styrofoam and noticed there was two steps with two different size circles. I cut a piece of plastic from an old Texaco antifreeze jug to fit in the top circle with a notch out of one side. Drilled a 1/2" hole in the center of the lid and placed the light baffle piece that I had just made where the styrofoam was. this allowed the fluid to pass into the jug without light entering. I found a lid to a can of black spray paint and cut out the center and it just fit into where the styrofoam was, holding down my light baffle and further insuring no light to enter. It takes 16 fl.oz. to fill. I used Microdol-x 1:2 for 14 minutes to dev. the drain stopbath and fixed for 5 minutes. While I was at wall marts I got a gallon of de-icer fluid which I mixed 1 part with 2 parts of water to final rinse my neg. Used it before and works fine with no ill effect to the neg. I had a little problem with the negative touching its back side to the wall of the tube, causing the blue streak not to come off the back of the neg., no prob just let sit in sodium sulfite for five min. and looks great. I will work on the neg touching back prob and let ya know how it turned out. if you like this Idea email me and I will send the plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kymtman Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Had some trouble at first with antihalation dye streaks on film back, but took a fellows advice on one thread and dried my tube before inserting the film. Now everything is O.K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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