Russian mf developing tank

[manfromh]

The Russian 35mm tank I've been using for a year is very easy to load and is almost foolproof. I also have a Russian medium format tank, which I haven't used before. Since I finally shot my first roll of 120 film, I had a better look at the tank and realised that there is no place to attach the film. Only way seems to use the tape, which holds film to it's backing paper, and attach it to the center of the spiral. There are no vertical slots or spikes to hold the film still. There is nothing on the outer ring of the spiral as well. I can turn the upper half of the spiral no more than about 2 or 3cm. Maybe there is something missing, I dont know. There are no modern mf tanks available in Estonia either. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Maybe someone has seen or used one of these Russian tanks before? I havent found anything about them in the internet, and I dont currently have a digital camera to take a picture of it.

Matis

 

[varjag]

There were several types of tanks, and many indeed did not have a clamp on a reel. You just spool your film on it and process. My favorite was universal 2x35/1x120 tank, which was just like you describe. Never had a problem.

 

[EmilGil]

You could always find yourself a Paterson tank on Ebay.

 

[manfromh]

There were several types of tanks, and many indeed did not have a clamp on a reel. You just spool your film on it and process. My favorite was universal 2x35/1x120 tank, which was just like you describe. Never had a problem.

So I attach the film with the sticky tape, that holds it to the backing paper? I read somewhere that the glue might come loose during developing and "land" on the film.
Mine is mf only with "dlja pljonki 6x9" written on it.

 

[MartinP]

Are these the tanks with the semi-floating lid, and the turn-in-one-direction agitation ? Clearly they have worked millions of times, but be careful not to use shortish developing times, as getting the chemicals in and out will then be a significant part of the total time and you may find uneven development.

Wasn't there also a soviet-era tank that needed a separate plastic strip (an "apron" I think they called it) behind the film with 120 ?

 

[manfromh]

My mf tank has a proper lid, which I need to turn to lock it in place. Though my 35mm tank has a floating lid, which is held in place by gravity only.

Wasn't there also a soviet-era tank that needed a separate plastic strip (an "apron" I think they called it) behind the film with 120 ?

If so, then I fear I got one of those, but without the apron.

Also, has it happened to anybody that the sticky tape, which is used to keep the exposed roll from unrolling, is not sticky at all? Luckily I had ducktape at hand. This was with HP5.

EDIT: My mistake. This video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_TVFlilOJM) tells me to lick that sticky tape. Is this true?

 

[MartinP]

The gummed-tape, seen in the video, is the tape attached to the backing-paper at the end of the roll and is the only thing that stops the roll unravelling itself when you have finished the roll. The tape is gummed, instead of being self-adhesive, because otherwise it would be more complicated to somehow "un-peel" the tape from whatever it was stuck to before sealing the roll.

From your descriptions, it seems that the tank I found in a jumble-sale was a 35mm tank. I ended up buying a Paterson tank instead of using the soviet one - but this was "several" decades ago.

I do recall seeing some pictures of loading a soviet dev-tank, but I can't recall where and also I can't find the pages by Google either :-/
Good luck

 

[manfromh]

I finally figured out how to do this. I have to start loading from the outside of the reel and push the film in. Actualy I think I'm supposed to twist the reel back and forth to get the film in, but just pushing it is easier and faster. Are Paterson reels constructed this way aswell? This system seems strange to me.

 

[varjag]

If your tank has reels, it needs no arpon/correx.

I did not attach film with anything, it was on the spool freely. From a hundred or so rolls done with my tank never had a problem.

Remember, there was no sticky tape in USSR 🙂

 

[manfromh]

I think I misunderstood something about the tank you used. Anyway, I've been loading the reel with a test film for a while now, and its getting easier every time. The hardest part was getting the beginning of the film into the reel, so I made a "guide" out of cardboard and its a lot easier now 🙂