dmmartindale (04/17/83)
Comments on developing tanks: The best tanks are indeed stainless steel. You can keep them in a water bath during processing if you are very fussy about processing temperature, they fill and empty very rapidly, and they use less solution than other tanks. But they are expensive, and there are reasonable alternatives. For example, my reels are all stainless but my single-reel tank is a stainless tank with a plastic top. It doesn't go on an off quite as easily as a stainless top, but it doesn't have to be matched to the tank like stainless tops are, and it fills and drains just as fast. For processing two reels at once, I have a two-reel tank which is made of plastic but takes the same top as the one-reeler. It isn't nearly as thermally conductive as the stainless tank but otherwise works just as well. All of the above equipment is made by Kindermann. There are also wholly-plastic systems which are DESIGNED like the stainless tanks - reels which load from the centre out, and fast-pour tanks - which look like they might work well, but use a bit more of the solutions. At all costs, avoid the plastic reels which load from the outer edge. These never work when the slightest bit wet, and are at best marginal when dry. Dave Martindale, decvax!watmath!dmmartindale