Paterson Tank

Uran238 · 2021-08-11T12:02:19+00:00

Hallo zusammen! Seit einigen Jahren bin ich mit meiner Praktica FX unterwegs und versuche die Welt in...

Uran238

Hello everyone! I’ve been out and about with my Praktica FX for a few years now, trying to capture the world in black and white. About two years ago, I started setting up a small darkroom. Among other things, I work with a Paterson tank, which I’m actually quite happy with, except for one thing: When winding the film, it has happened to me several times that the film starts to jam after about two-thirds of the way through. In the dark, this is of course annoying, as you can’t see at all what the problem is. Even after trying again, the film stubbornly gets stuck at almost the same spot. Somehow, and with a bit of force, you manage to wind the film all the way on, but with losses. Because it then gets at least 1–2 creases, and after the development you can see that parts of it weren’t wound onto the correct ‘track’ (irregular development at the edges). Has anyone else ever had to deal with a problem like this? Is there anything else I need to look out for? Best regards!

KlausWehner

Hello and a warm welcome to the forum! Almost all of us have had the experience you’re describing at some point. There are a few things you can do to make winding go more smoothly: Round off the corners of the film (I fold the corners of the film with a slight degree of sharpness over by a few millimetres), gently increase the twist of the leader by ‘bending’ (rolling up) it towards the spool core (for new films), the spool must be completely dry (and clean). If the film gets stuck whilst winding, gently tap the spool in different directions against the tabletop. With clean fingers, you can also gently grasp the film from the outside and try to feed it forward carefully. Sometimes a new spool or a different canister system can also help. There shouldn’t be any creases on the film. If there are, you’ve used too much force. In principle, the film should slide onto the reel without much resistance. However, it always gets a bit trickier towards the end. I hope this helps a bit? Get in touch if you have any questions. Good luck! Klaus

Gast

Klaus Wehner wrote: Hello and a warm welcome to the forum! Almost all of us have had the experience you describe at some point. There are a few things you can do to make winding go more smoothly: Round off the corners of the film (I fold the corners of the film sharply with a certain amount of sharpness over by a few millimetres), gently increase the twist of the leader by ‘bending’ (rolling up) it towards the reel core (for new films), the reel must be completely dry (and clean). If the film gets stuck whilst winding, gently tap the reel in different directions on the tabletop. With clean fingers, you can also gently grasp the film from the outside and try to feed it forward carefully. Sometimes a new reel or a different canister system can also help. There shouldn’t be any creases on the film. If there are, you’ve used too much force. In principle, the film should slide onto the reel without much resistance. However, it always gets a bit trickier towards the end. I hope this helps a bit? Get in touch if you have any questions. Good luck! Klaus

Don’t forget: water droplets in the reel. If the reel isn’t properly dry and small amounts of moisture remain in the grooves, it’s almost impossible to wind the film onto it. That’s why it’s always a good idea to have several reels so you can swap them out as needed. Best regards, Wolfgang

Uran238

Thank you very much for your suggestions! First of all, it’s reassuring to hear that I’m not doing anything fundamentally wrong. I always trim the start of the film to a nice ‘round’ finish; I’ll give that bending method a go sometime. Or perhaps give the film a little tap to straighten it out.I do think it has something to do with the twist. The last time it happened to me was when I’d just taken the film out of the camera. Many thanks! RegardsJan

photomaton

Hello,a bit late for this enquiry, but perhaps helpful for future visitors:Moisture is an absolute nightmare when winding thread; this doesn’t just affect the bobbin (if in doubt, I’ll pop the hairdryer back into action),but also sweaty hands or even the humidity in the air. I’ve noticed this particularly since I started using a roll-up bag for winding. It’s (unfortunately) made of synthetic fibres and I can literally feel my hand sweat inside it.I immediately have more problems when winding. That said, the film itself also plays a role; thin films like the old Polypan are naturally more problematic. However, in my opinion, this has nothing to do with the Paterson tank or the accompanying reels. Best regards from France