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TecnoLab Hanger Film Processors
from JOBO Fototechnic
"When I bought this machine ten years ago, I thought the TecnoLab was a very good machine at a very good price. Now I think I bought the finest machine at any price." Mike Langford, Capital Color, Arlington, Virginia
History
For over twenty years, TecnoLab of Italy has been producing hanger film processors. (These are also called dip and dunk or rack and tank processors.) For over ten years, JOBO Fototechnic has been their distributor for the USA. That responsibility goes beyond sales to include support after the sale; long after the sale, since hanger machines tend to last well beyond ten years even under hard use.
TecnoLab was formed back in 1981 with a goal of producing the best hanger processors available. In 1990, TecnoLab took their machines out of the dark ages of basic electrical control into the computer age, providing practical computer control for all the functions of the processor. As ideas emerged both from the engineering team at TecnoLab and from customer suggestions, the machines steadily added features to the list of standard equipment, until today, no other processor offers you more than a TecnoLab.
Standard Features
Some manufacturer's consider all features optional. That's an interesting approach, kind of like buying a car with optional tires. We can see where you may or may not want a CD player, but not whether you may or may not want tires.
At TecnoLab, it started with an idea as basic as "full" battery backup. Other machines already offered a backup system but generally these only operated the control system of the machine; someone still had to rush into the darkroom to hand crank the system each time the film needed to advance if there was a power failure. With TecnoLab, you need not worry about the film in the tanks. The battery backup system operates every function of the machine critical to the proper processing of the film on-board. The lift will keep on lifting, nitrogen and air agitation will continue to operate on schedule; wash water will continue to flow when it is expected. When the film emerges from the last tank, it will be processed the same as if there was normal power reaching the machine.
The growing list of features now includes nearly every feature you can imagine, such as
A light/heat trap to keep the heat in the dryer, and to keep the light out of the darkroom
A low nitrogen pressure sensor, to warn the operator if the supply of nitrogen has run out or if they simply forgot to open the valve on the supply line
Film recovery baskets in each tank, in case the film is not securely attached to the film clips
Graphic display of the primary functions of the processor so you can see what’s going on inside the machine with just a quick glimpse at the control screen
Safety systems to protect the operator and the film
Bringing the 1st wash of an E-6 machine up to temperature automatically, prior to the first rack of a series entering the wash tank
A replenisher storage console is standard with all of the Delta series processors, even including built-in motorized mixers with the Compact models. (Replenisher consoles are optional with the Gamma processors.)
And many more features. Check the list with each model to learn about them.
Variety
There are over 150 different models already available in the TecnoLab family of hanger processors. These include models ready for E-6, C-41, black and white negative and Scala black and white slide processing. They are available in a range of sizes from 20 to 540 rolls per hour. In addition to standard process configurations, TecnoLab is ready to customize designs to suit your own special needs, such as additional wash steps, water instead of stop bath, or additional bleach or fixer steps. We have even prepared black and white machines with inspection processing capability, holding the film in the developer, until the operator signals it’s time for the machine to advance into the stop bath. If you have special needs for your processing, contact us, it will be our pleasure to help you meet your processing goal.
One or Two Lifts
TecnoLab offers both single-lift and two-lift models in every process. The two-lift models increase the productivity of push and pull processing in your lab. But even the single-lift models have automated push/pull processing as standard on the E-6 and black and white models. (It is optional on C-41 single-lift machines.)
Push/Pull Processing
While we are on the topic of push/pull processing, you may be wondering if your lab needs a one or two lift machine to fulfill your needs. There is no single criteria that will be decisive for all labs, however a good guideline to use for E-6 machines is 5% and 10%. If your push/pull volume is below 5%, you probably won’t need a two-lift machine. However, if your push/pull volume is above 10% you probably ought to spend the extra money for the two-lift version to maximize your productivity. The reason is that with a single-lift machine, you may have to "waste" 15 minutes of productivity each time a pushed hanger is ready to enter the machine. This is because with pushes of 1 stop or more, it is necessary to make sure that there are no hangers in the first four tanks of the processor. The TecnoLab single-lift machines can be set to do this for you automatically, but it still represents time during which no additional film can enter the processor. That can dramatically cut into your productivity if it’s over 10% of your workload! With a two-lift machine, you will normally cut that lost time down to 6 minutes or less, since the only tank affected is the 1st developer tank, and all the others are able to progress normally as the main lift continues to operate on its regular cycle.
Full Size or Compact Processors
TecnoLab also offers both "full" size and "compact" processors. Full size machines offer high volume capability for larger labs. No other company offers as complete a line of compact machines as TecnoLab. The big advantage of our Micro Compact (MC) processors is the ability to handle smaller daily throughput and still be able to easily meet minimum daily film volumes to fully utilize the chemicals. One of the big problems for many labs with large machines is a smaller film volume than they had ten years ago. Back then they probably purchased a very large machine for the anticipated growth of film processing, and now the lab struggles to find enough film to put through on a daily basis to keep the machine in control.
Minimum utilization is one of the major factors to consider when purchasing a film machine. You need to know how many "units" of film need to go through the machine on a daily basis. The simplest "unit" to use is 80 square inches; the equivalent area of a 135/36 or 120 roll of film, or equal to one sheet of 8x10" or four sheets of 4x5" film. With E-6 you simply multiply the first developer tank volume in liters, by 0.6. For instance, if your first developer tank is 100 liters in volume, you multiply by 0.6 and get 60 units of film per day as the minimum number needed to keep the processor fully utilized. For C-41, no multiplication is necessary; it is equal to the liter volume of the color developer tank. If your color developer volume is 65 liters, then you will need 65 units of film per day to meet minimum utilization requirements. There is no simple standard for black and white machines since every developer has its own characteristics. But likewise, black and white is a lot simpler to deal with when under-utilization occurs.
Another benefit of our Micro Compact processors is their short height. Occasionally ceiling heights are limited. These machines are only 92 inches tall allowing a spare four inches in most rooms. In some basements, these are the only machines that may fit in the lower height available.
TecnoLab is the only company in the world offering a two-lift processor in a compact version. Here again you get the combination of compact size, low utilization factors and the higher productivity of a two-lift machine for labs with fairly high percentages of push/pull processing in their typical workload.
To keep this article from turning into the encyclopedia of hanger processors, we’ will save the rest of the details for the individual model sections that follow. You will also find a link to any jargon we use to describe the processors. Just click on the words in blue, as you would with any hyperlink to learn what we at JOBO mean by that term.
Model Selection
We have five different models of hanger processors available. In order of their size range they are:
TecnoLab Gamma processors
TecnoLab Micro Compact (MC) processors
TecnoLab Micro Compact Time-Variable (MCTV) processors
TecnoLab Delta Micro (DM) processors
TecnoLab Time Variable (TV) processors
The term TV refers to the two-lift models, which can most easily vary their development times. The other 3 models are all single-lift versions, which may or may not include time variable operation. Check the list of features to determine this difference.
Features Gamma
Micro Compact
Micro Compact TV
Delta Micro
Delta TV
"Full" Battery Backup ü ü ü ü ü Seven Day Clock (start & stop) Startup
ü ü ü ü Stainless Steel Recovery Baskets ü ü ü ü ü Nitrogen Sensing System ü ü ü ü Graphic LCD Control Panel Text
ü ü ü ü Motorized Hanger
Pre-loader
(3 or 6 position)3
3
6
6
3 Door Access To Dryer 2
ü ü ü ü Automatic Replenisher Pumps ü ü ü ü ü Replenisher Storage Console ü ü ü ü Built-in Mixers in Console ü ü Precise Replenishment System ü ü ü ü Surface Area Calculator ü ü ü ü Averaged Replenishment ü ü ü ü ü 2-Lift System ü ü Automatic Push/Pull System
(E-6 and BW; C-41 optional)ü ü ü ü Individual Temperature Control ü ü ü ü Fine Filtering ü ü ü ü Dual Hanger Position Sensors ü ü ü ü Motorized Light/Heat Trap ü ü ü ü Safety on Lift Rack for Both Up and Down Motion ü ü ü ü ü 10 Roll Film Hangers Included ü ü ü ü ü 2 Speed Lift with Drip Pause ü ü ü ü ü Air Compressors Built-in ü ü ü ü ü Water Flowmeters ü ü ü ü Stainless Steel Filters
On Each Tankü ü ü ü ü Nitrogen and Water Economizers ü ü ü ü ü Individual Tank Construction ü ü ü ü Who do I contact for more information?
If you would like more information regarding TecnoLab or any of our photo lab products, please contact:
sales@jobo-usa.com
JOBO Fototechnic, Inc.
4401 Varsity Drive, Suite “D”
Ann Arbor, MI 48108Phone: 734-677-6989
Fax: 734-677-6963
Send mail to info@omegasatter.com with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 1997-2005 JOBO Fototechnic, Inc. All rights reserved. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders. Copyright to all of the photographs displayed on this site is owned by each of the photographers. You may not sell, publish, license or otherwise distribute any photographs without the written permission of the photographer.
This page last updated on 03/20/02