VERSALAB WASHER?

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I recently started using the 11x14 Versalab print washer with Ilford RC paper. When placing the prints in they stick to the sides and some times have to be "scrapped up" with a tong ...is this normal? I try and pry them away but they usually drift back and attach themselves. Any suggestions? Thanks! Garry

-- GARRY SEGAL (BLUESNGR@IX.NETCOM.COM), February 09, 2000

Answers

Response to VERSALB WASHER?

leave the water running full blast when you're putting them in or taking them out.

i have the same washer and have never had this problem. i usually use FB, but have done some RC. hmmm.

-- brad daly (bwdaly@scott.net), February 09, 2000.


Response to VERSALB WASHER?

The sticking might be a manifestation of the hydrodynamical paradoxon: Take two sheets of office stationery. Hold them at the top edges so that they hang one in front of the other at a distance of say 2 cm. Then inhale, purse your lips, and blow the air between them. They will not be blown apart but will move towards each other! This is so because the dynamic pressure is lower where the flow velocity is higher. I expect your RC prints to be slightly curved. They will then act like an airplane wing with the flow around the outer curve (top side of airplane wing) being faster than along the inner curve (because the distance is longer), which means that the pressure is lower on that side, and the print will be sucked to that side. When the print moves towards the wall of the washer, the space between wall and print gets even narrower, thus further increasing the flow velocity.

Therefore, increasing the flow velocity by having the water running full is not likely to help. I would rather expect it to aggravate the problem. I would therefore try the other way: Reduce the flow as much as you can. This is more efficient for washing anyway (assuming you use about the same quantity of water in total).

-- Thomas Wollstein (thomas_wollstein@web.de), February 10, 2000.


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