paterson developing tank 3 spiral question

[jasonbw]

hiya,

i have a paterson developing tank with two spirals, witch has space for 3 35mm spirals altogether,

my question is could i just develop one 35mm spiral ?? if so how much ml of developing solution i would guess about 300ml for one spool because i do not want to use all 3 spirals yet until i get the hang of developing properly .

thanks

[beejaybee]

my question is could i just develop one 35mm spiral ?? if so how much ml of developing solution i would guess about 300ml for one spool

Yes.

300ml is definitely in the right ball park but why not put a spool in the tank (threaded onto the centre bit) leave the top off & add water till the spool is covered. Now measure the volume of the liquid in the tank.

My two spool jobbie is actually marked 290ml/spool (for 35mm).

[Steve_F]

Hi there,
my Paterson too is marked on the underside of the base with 290 ml but I always add 300ml per 35mm film.
The other thing to bear in mind; if you don't have anything to 'lock' the bottom reel on the base of the column it could slide up and down during the inversions and end up out of the dev!
I always fit all three spirals on to the centre column to prevent this (even if the top two have no film loaded).

Thats all,

Best of luck and keep us posted.

Steve.

[jasonbw]

Thanks alot guys for your answers,

Good to know about putting all 3 spools in at once to stop the film from moving around.

Also that it is brilliant to know that i can just use a small quanity of developer.

But unfortuanately i thought i won the bid on ebay for it but i got out bidded at the last second.

[Manofolympus]

The odd number of mls quoted is because Paterson, being an old British company, calibrated it's tanks in fluid ounces. I agree with Steve that without the little locking ring on the column there is a good chance a single reel will gradually rise up the tank.

[Rhys]

Bd luck on loosing the bid, try car boot sales - I picked a brand new one up for 50p once as they hadn't a clue what it was

[Manofolympus]

Ditto-virtually all my darkroom stuff has been picked up for a song at car boot sales