I am thinking of tossing out the old Kodak tray siphon and replacing it with an archival print washer. Does anyone have any experiences or can one be recomended over another? Water usage is a very real consideration, but so is archival processing. What works adn gives the most bang for the buck?

-- John Rountree (jr@blackdome.com), March 23, 1999

Answers

I use the Calumet 20x24 washer. I like it very much with one exception. When printing large prints (i.e. 20x24), the paper expands sufficiently when wet, particularly Ilford papers, that the water depth does not always cover the edge of the paper. So, whatever your largest print size, you should measure it wet and make sure the washer you buy has sufficient safety margin to handle the expansion.

-- James D. Steele (jdsteele@erols.com), March 24, 1999.

I made mine, http://darkroomsource.com/printwasher.htm

-- Andy Hughes (andy@darkroomsource.com), April 19, 1999.

Check out Red Village Photo Products at http://home.ican.net/~lkcerven/ . The guy there, Alexei Krasnoselsky, is making some really great washers - and he custom configures to your specs - any size, shape or # of prints you want. I bought two of his washers last summer, an 8x10 and a 16x20 and have been very happy with them. He even made me an insert to wash 3x5 prints in the 8x10 washer at no extra cost. AND people can actually afford these washers! They range in price from $119 for an 8x10 to $289 for a 16x20. If you catch him at a photo show he gives a discount.

-- James Fassinger (james@stillscenes.com), July 18, 1999.

Earlier this year I bought a Versalab archival print washer that I am very happy with. It's a no-nonsense washer that is about half the price of other brands. No fancy silk-screened logos, but it does the job, at a fairly economical use of water. See their website:

http://www.versalab.com/

-- Joel Alpers (joel.alpers@lsil.com), July 16, 2001.