Converting a T15 to black and white

[jcallaghanphoto]

I’m just about to purchase a custom made V30 B+W with cooling system and push pull.  In the meantime I have a T15 sitting doing nothing.  Was wondering if it was possible to do anything with this to take the pressure off of our B+W workflow while we are waiting for our new machine coming from China.  Even if it’s set up to just process tri-x or hp5.

[prauphet]

I can't offer a recommendation for your situation with the T15, but certainly sounds like you could keep it working. I was curious about how long you have had the T15 and have you had any problems finding parts for it? Of course all these machines (V30/V50) have some issues with parts, but I've read elsewhere in other forums that the T15 in particular is much more challenging to find reliable parts sources. 

[Calebsavage]

Some users have reported success by basically just putting the B&W chemicals in a T15 (developer in CD tank, fixer in BL and FX tanks) and running it at normal speed. If you're not doing a ton of volume it would probably work to just fill the STB tanks with very dilute photo-flo (or even C41 final rinse), set the replenishment to its maximum, and change it out frequently. It's not exactly to the highest archival standard but it should get the job done.

For longer term use or higher volume you would want to plumb in a running water wash for the first few STB tanks and have just a wetting agent in the final tank.

I would recommend Clayton F-76+ film developer (also sold as Arista Premium Liquid Film Developer). Any rapid fixer will do. 

If you run the process at around 24-25 degrees, you should get acceptable results from the most common B&W films after some experimentation with developer concentration. I would suggest mixing F-76 a bit stronger than the standard 1+9. 

T-Max 100, Tmax 3200, and Delta 3200 require a much longer developer time and wouldn't work well in this kind of setup without a variable speed motor. HP5 and Tri-X are close enough that you can get away with developing them at the same speed.