Re: [Largeformat] homemade version of the BTZS

[Joshua Wein <jayelwin@yahoo.com>]

There, posted.

This is what I did:

I bought a long length of PVC electrical conduit 1.5
in wide. For each setup I cut a piece 7 inches long
and 4 pieces 3.5 inches long. On one end of each piece
I glued a black cap with PVC pipe glue. I needed to
paint the caps black as the white caps were not light
tight. All the electrical conduit and grey connectors
were light tight. 

The long piece got a male connector and each of the
short pieces got a female connector. I used steel wool
to smooth out the inside joints. Look at the photos.

To use I would unload the film holders in a dark bag
and slip the film emulsion side inward into the long
piece and cap it with one of the short pieces. Now it
is light tight. Standing in the laundry room with a
large basin of 68 degree water on the dryer I place 50
cc XTOL with 50 cc water in one cap, 100 CC stop in
another, and 100 cc rapid fix in the third. 

I shut out the lights and screw off the dry cap and
screw the long pipe onto the cap with the XTOL. I turn
on the lights and then shake the tube, and lie it on
its side in the water bath and roll it around. Of
course I've pre-tempered the developer. When time is
up I hold the tube with the cap down and turn off the
lights, then I switch to the stop cap, shake a while
and then switch to the fix cap. Then I turn on the
lights and roll the fix around. I usually open the
tube and let it fix more in a small tray, it is Tmax
and it takes a while to fix. 

The beauty is that for about $20 you can make dozens
of these tubes, I unload all my film into tubes and
keep them around until I get enough to have a little
session. And I can do a whole session with only one
cap full of stop, so you don't actually have to make 4
caps for every tube. Fix goes fast.

Hope this helps.

-Josh

Oh, the web site with the tube photos is photos.yahoo.com/jayelwin