Topic: The Contraption 25: DIY Paterson Film Washer Hose

[SLVR]

So I saw these film washer hoses that plug into my patterson tank to force water through the tank reducing the need for me to flip and bother with such manual labor.

alas my tap in the basement where I soup wont accept such a hose.

So I came up with a solution. The common funnel to the rescue. I had this funnel for pouring chemistry in my darkroom box so I figured id trim the end down to see if it would fit in the top of my paterson tank. Sure enough it fits tight. when plugged into the tank it raises the height of the water being forced into the tank using gravity. With a steady supply of water it works quite well.

Probably terrible writeup but how hard can "stick a funnel in it" be!

[Francois]

Well, pressure does come from the height of the water column. So any container at a certain height with a bit of hose would work.

In my book, simple always wins

[mcduff]

I do the same thing except I use a long centre column (the black cylinder that the reels fit on) from a multireel tank. I can't remember how many reels this column could hold but it is about a foot long. So I just pop my reel(s) off the normal centre column and put them on this longer one and return it to the tank.

Also, remember gang, we do not need to have an insane amount of water flowing through the film for the wash time. Us oldtimers were trained to do it that way a) before folks cared about water consumption and b) when old films/fibrebased papers may have benefitted from it. After all even Ilford says you can safely wash film with only a few changes of water. I am sure that SLVR was a good boy and dialed the water down after taking his funnel photograph 

[SLVR]

the only solution to pollution is dilution!

in all seriousness though I usually run it a little less than this. I did need to try to illustrate flow. because when you have a little dribble going down the side of the tank it doesn't really show like its doing much.

[mcduff]

I know you do not blast it like that, I was just being an eco-pain-in-the-ass! Its my job 

But in all seriousness, I feel we generally use more water than we need for washing. I generally wash it for about half an hour with a fairly low flow of water, feeling that my setup (where all the water is entering the tank at the bottom and then flowing upwards and out) is doing a pretty good job (plus I walk by it every now and then and agitate it). I did the math and I think I use a couple of gallons of water per washing. This is more than if I took the Ilford route but I can sleep at nite with that amount of wasting (and also feeling that I did a good wash).

We have some folks with some pretty good connections to the industry (and also some great chemistry nerds*) here so I would love to hear from them and whether they think ilford's concepts water reduction are malarky.

Now I (and Hungry Mike, SLVR, and Francois) live nearby to about 20% of the world's supply of fresh water, so we have enough for ourselves, but I dont want the rest of North America getting thirsty and diverting it! 

*I mean that in a good way as we are all nerds, but some of us (such as me) are not great chem nerds.

[Bryan]

I work in the Hazardous Waste Cleanup industry where there's a thing called Triple Rinsing for cleaning tanks and removing residue from empty containers.  This process can remove 99.99% of the contaminant in the container.  I use this method for rinsing my film unless I'm still seeing color in the water from the anti-halation layer. 

[mcduff]

Interesting Bryan as that is what ilford is basically suggesting in their modern* technique. Cool to think of three washes being good enough in the hazardous waste industry. That 99.99% is pretty amazing from three washes. I am ashamed to say that despite being an Eco-nerd I don't follow this technique (but my own process is inspired by it and only uses a few gallons). Their technique is

• After fixing, fill the spiral tank with water at the same temperature, +/- 5ºC (9ºF), as the processing solutions. Invert the tank 5 times. 
• Drain the water away and Invert the tank 10 times.
• Once more, drain the water. Invert the tank twenty times and drain the water away.

Wow a supernerdy but interesting explanation that 'maths out' how we overwash is here. This might result in me being 'flowerbombed' but before you flower lovers do that remember that flowers need water and I am just trying to help us save it. But go ahead and flowerbomb if you want, I deserve it and kind of like it haha 



*I.E., for the last few decades, haha

[Francois]

I've been using a film washer for a couple of years now and haven't calculated the water consumption. But previously I had made a special tank from a tupperware juice pitcher that was just the right size. I put a sieve on which I had removed the handle on the bottom to keep the reels off the bottom. I tried both bottom filling and top filling with water coming out the bottom and both seem to work just as fine.

[Pete_R]

I've always used the Ilford method. That's for about 35 years now and none of my negatives have ever shown any 'negative' affect from it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jharr]

Wow a supernerdy but interesting explanation that 'maths out' how we overwash is here. This might result in me being 'flowerbombed' but before you flower lovers do that remember that flowers need water and I am just trying to help us save it. But go ahead and flowerbomb if you want, I deserve it and kind of like it haha 

Well, it's just a link and there aren't really any accompanying $13 words, so...

Half a Flower Foul to Don (it just happens to be on the Aerecon II that I believe you have also).


N2020-AereconII-009 by James Harr, on Flickr

[mhcfires]

I discovered the funnel in the center column a few years ago. I bought a funnel assortment from Harbor Freight for a few dollars and one funnel fit my Paterson tank perfectly. There was another funnel that fit into the center of my Nikor SS reels, so I can successfully wash those films without effort.

m