Ilfochrome: help using CAP 40 needed!

[tor_kviljo1]

By accident (and use of a little money), I have become the owner of a

CAP - 40 processor for developing Ilfochrome/Cibachrome material as

well as some material (dev. kit & paper). I hope to put the machine

into service soon, but have a little trouble as the machine did not

come with a manual, and the seller have not used it personally. Since

the machine is well known (?) to some of the older MF/LF

photographers, I hope that some of You might help me. What I need is

to know how to volume of chemicals required, control of repenishment

(chemistry & final wash) etc. Is the paper put in emulsion side up or

down and is there any tricks in maintanence?

 

Any info appreciated!

[alpshiker]

Since mine has been packed into a container for some years now I am not certain of what I am saying but if my memory doesn't fail, you use two liters of solution in each compartment, insert the papers emulsion side down. If no one else comes with better information, I will try get hold of the manual where temperatures, process run time and surfaces of paper that can be processed before exhaustion are mentioned. There were two versions of the CAP40. One has stepped base plastic plates and the other had plastic spikes instead where the bath is flowing to the emulsion. If you have the stepped version, you are lucky. One thing to look at right now is for signs of corrosion inside the machinery.

[steve_swinehart]

Each tank takes 2 liters of chemicals. Starting from the end at which you load the paper: tank #1 is developer, tank #2 is bleach, tank #3 is fixer.

 

You really don't replenish using this machine. You process an equivalent of 32 sheets of 8x10 inch material (eight 16 x20's - you get the idea). Then put in a batch of fresh chemicals.

 

Paper goes in emulsion side down - against the chemicals. The turbulator plates with the spikes can cause processing marks. These are usually seen as unevenly developed streaks (very light - but noticable in areas of constant tone like a blue sky). The stepped turbulator plates cure this problem.

 

Since the machine is a constant transport speed, the only control you have over processing is temperature. I like to run the temperature about 3 degrees warmer than recommended (88 F instead of 85 F). The colors seem better, with less color crossover in the shadows.

 

The temperature control for the machine is under the little rubber cap on the top of the machine next to the loading door. Put a small screw driver in it and turn clockwise to increase, the opposite to decrease. It will take about 30 minutes for the machine to stabilize in temperature after you have made an adjustment.

 

I also add 30ml of DEZ additive to the developer. This also seems to help with cleaner colors and less color crossover.

 

Mix the chemicals fresh at 88 F and put them in the machine immediately. The fastest way to do this is to take the cover off of the machine, pull the rollers, and turbulator plates. Pour the chemicals carefully into the appropriate tank. Install the turbulators, rollers, cover, and turn on the machine.

 

Let the machine run for at least 30 minutes prior to use. This will stabilize the chemical temperatures, and the temperature and humidity of the inside of the processing portion of the machine. Much, much more consistent prints from batch to batch if you do this.

 

One of the things you will notice, is that the chemicals need to be "seasoned" somewhat by running prints through the machine. In my work flow, I do test prints at the beginning of the run of chemicals. Mostly basic exposure tests and color correction for several prints (4-6 8x10's). I then do final prints in the middle of the run (up to print #20 - 24 or equivalent), and more exposure tests at the end of the run (no color correction) until print #32 is reached.

 

As the chemicals become depleted through use, the color balance of the prints will go slightly red (about 5cc) starting at the #20 - #24 print point. That's why I do color correction tests and final prints early in the chemical run.

 

Cleaning: Drain the chemicals out through the hoses into individual containers. I have three separate 2000 ml mixing beakers that are labeled and dedicated to each chemical. Mix the fixer with the developer, then pour in the bleach to the mixture. I use a standard 3 gallon bucket for this.

 

Now you have to decide what to do with the chemicals. They are organic and can be digested by a sewer treatment plant. However, many people don't like to do this.

 

(Please, no lectures on heavy metals, silver, etc. - I know all about that and don't want to get into that discussion again. <soapbox on> Frankly, when the allowable silver level in waste water is lower than what I get from the amalgam fillings in my mouth when rinsing my mouth after brushing my teeth - AND the environmental departments have NO way to test to the 50 ppb level - I have to question the reality of the requirement. <soapbox off> Thank you.)

 

If you are a ecologically minded type, pour the mixture into gallon milk cartons and take them to a hazardous chemical disposal firm. If you do this, you may want to keep all of them separate as the silver can be recycled out of the fixer. If you are a secret eco-nazi - pour the stuff down the drain with a lot of water.

 

Then clean the machine thoroughly. Get out a 16 x 20 photo tray. Fill it with warm water and a small amount of PhotoFlo. Take out all of the rollers first and lay them in the tray. Pull out the drain hoses, open them, and dump 2 liters of water through each tank with the turbulator plates in place. Cap the hoses, and then fill the tanks with 2 liters of 88 F water. Run the machine for 30 minutes. During the 30 minutes, gently wash each roller in the solution (I have a special soft nylon brush I use on them), pat dry with a lintless towel, and set aside to for final air dry.

 

At the end of the 30 minutes, drain the machine. Take out the turbulator plates and wash in the PhotoFlo solution. Rinse, drain set aside to dry.

 

Pour more water through the tanks to rinse out any residue. Use paper towels to wipe the inside of the tanks dry. That's it. Sounds like a lot of work, but, once you get a system down it's really about 50 minutes to clean it.

 

If you want to leave the machine over night with chemicals in it, take out the rollers and tubulator plates. Wash them thoroughly and set them aside - don't put them back into the machine until you want to use it again. If you let them stay inside the machine over night, you will get the most interesting "goo" on the first prints the next day - and may have continued processing problems for an extended period as the machine cleans itself on your prints.

 

 

[alpshiker]

Well done Steve! As Tor mentioned to me that he's got the spikes

version, this design does not hold up well with aging. The spikes

will start to break and missing spikes can cause paper jam. Paper jam

can cause contamination of the chemicals by one another

which is very annoying. I have had that version and I could not use

Ilfochrome rolls in it because the slight curl would cause

jamming. I inquired at the time about replacement with the newer

model parts but it would have cost much. I'm not sure parts

would still be available now, the builder for Ilford was Meteor in

Germany but are they still running this part of their business? Sometimes the

transport nylon

pinions break, but if yours has seen little use, it should be okay for a

while. In addition to the temperature control, there is also a

small potentiometer screw inside the machine to adjust the transport

speed if it needs to. Good luck! http://www.meteor-siegen.de/

[steve_swinehart]

Forgot a couple of other little tips....

 

Washing: I like to wash the prints in 80 F water for 10 minutes after processing. Since the "paper" base material is really a polyester, it doesn't absorb chemicals.

 

The only thing you're really doing is washing the fixer out of the emulsion. There is no need to use a hypo-clearing agent as there has been no absorbtion of the chemicals into a paper base. Plus, (unlike RC black and white materials) there can be no chemical absorbtion at the edges of the paper since it's not paper.

 

Drying: I have a piece of 1/4-inch thick Lexan that's about 20x24 inches (I mostly do 16x20 prints) that I rest against a shelf that overhangs the sink. I put the paper on the Lexan with the emulsion side against the Lexan. Squeegee the back of the print. Remove the print, and squeegee the Lexan as dry as possible. Put the print back on the Lexan and carefully squeegee the front side of the print.

 

For test prints: Pull the print off of the Lexan. Dry both the front AND backside of the print using a portable hair dryer. I have one in my darkroom dedicated for this purpose. You must dry the backside if you are trying to judge color correction. If you don't, the moist backside of the print will give about a 3-5cc magenta color shift to the image. Really!! I know it sound weird, but if you dry the emulsion side, then dry the backside, you can watch the color change slightly as areas of the back of the print become dry.

 

Final print: Do the squeegee routine. Now, what I like to do is use a very fine grain photo sponge soaked in distilled water with a little tiny, tiny (like 1-2 drops in 2 liters)of PhotoFlo. Rinse the sponge in the water and squeeze the sponge as dry as possible.

 

(Hint - if you don't already know this, never, never, never twist a sponge to get out the excess water. This will break the edges of the sponge and you'll start leaving "sponge crumbs" on the surface of the print. Always squeeze a sponge to get out excess water.)

 

Once you have the sponge as dry as possible, gently go over the emulsion to remove any water drops or streaks from the squeegee and to leave the emulsion with as even a moisture coating as possible. Put the print on a screen and let it dry.

[_________1]

Parts are still available for the CAP 40, believe it or not. Thermaphot is the manufacturer of the Ilford CAP 40 and the machine that followed it, the ICP 42. In fact, Thermaphot still makes an Ilfochrome machine today called <a href="http://www.thermaphot.de/us/ucp/ucp403.html">UCP 403</a>. Looks familiar, huh?

 

<p>Replacement stepped turbulator plates cost about DEM780,00 or Euro400,00, if memory serves me. Pretty expensive. Or they could be Euro 780,00!

 

<p>I know that you can convert the CAP 40 to run RA 4 or Black and White with a change of a few gears. If you check out Google's Groups, you will find the solution there somewhere.

 

<p>Oh well, good luck with it.</p>

[tor_kviljo1]

This is terriffic! I think I have got all info I wanted + then some. Who needs a manual when there is firendly people in Photo.net!

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Tor Kviljo

[alpshiker]

Glad someone corrected my mistake about the builder. Yes, Thermaphot was the builder of the Ilford processors. Incidentally, when Ilford stopped selling the processors and Thermaphot continued on it's own, the price was almost multiplied by a factor two!