Restem/Soligor/Paterson auto feed paper safe

[Tom Kershaw]

FWIW, I had one that sounds like this. It might have been a Soligor, but I'm not positive of that. It had a slide-out tray much like David describes. I didn't much like mine, and it eventually died on me. IIRC, a spring came loose and the whole thing stopped working. I ended up trashing it, and now I've got an ancient metal paper safe that, although a bit unsmooth in the opening of its front door, is very reliable.

The mechanism on this Restem unit does seem rather flimsy to withstand daily use.

Tom

[David A. Goldfarb]

They do seem kind of light of build, but mine have held up fairly well. There's no reason to force anything, and I think if you just handle them carefully, they won't break. If you're missing the weights, though, they won't feed the paper properly.

I've also got a few of those sturdy metal Brumberger paper safes with the sliding door that's like the cover on a rolltop desk.

[srs5694]

They do seem kind of light of build, but mine have held up fairly well. There's no reason to force anything, and I think if you just handle them carefully, they won't break. If you're missing the weights, though, they won't feed the paper properly.

I've also got a few of those sturdy metal Brumberger paper safes with the sliding door that's like the cover on a rolltop desk.

I've owned three plastic paper safes in the past five years or so (since putting together my own darkroom). One is a simple lift-top unit, bought new. Nothing much can go wrong with it mechanically, it's cheap, and it works; but it's a bit awkward. Two used units both broke: The auto-feed unit mentioned earlier and one with a front door that pulled down like an oven's door. The auto-feed safe's spring went kerplooey, as I said, rendering the whole thing useless. The fold-down door unit used a hinge that fit into small holes on either of the side panels, and one of those gave way. I managed a partial repair, but the spring that forced the door closed was too strong for my jury-rigged repairs, so I had to jury-rig a Velcro fastener for the thing to keep it closed. I was concerned about the safety of this configuration, since a Velcro failure would result in the door falling open. I therefore retired this safe, too, although I think I've still got it.

After these experiences, I decided that a used ~25-year-old plastic safe was rather unsafe. That's when I bought my metal monstrosity (a Brumberger like the one you describe). Aside from some roughness to the opening of the door, it's worked fine for me.

[MattKing]

This is harder to describe then do

1) Gently shake the entire contraption. If nothing rattles around, everything is probably fine;
2) In the light, pull down and hold open one of the doors. If you peer inside, you will see the front edge of a smaller drawer, on top of a lip at the bottom of the opening. In the centre of the front of the lip of that drawer, there is a small plastic protrusion (about 1/8" x 2") which has (almost unreadable) text embossed on it - "LIFT AND PULL TO RELOAD";
3) Lift and pull the tab - the drawer will pop out about 4 inches, and in the back 4 spring loaded levers will lift up;
4) Turn all but your safelight off;
5) Load some paper into the drawer - I usually load it emulsion side down, but others might disagree;
6) Grasp the protruding drawer with one hand, and hold the entire box with the other, and push the drawer (including the paper) firmly in all the way. The front lip of the drawer should catch at the bottom, and door will close after the drawer, and the levers will push down on the top sheet of paper;
7) You may find that the levers tend to push the top sheet out as the door closes. From time to time I've damaged the first sheet when I load the safe, so I try to load it as few times as possible;
8) When you are ready to print, just open the door, and the 4 internal levers should feed the top sheet out, for you to grab;
9) Be careful to note that the door closes after you've grabbed the top sheet, and that there isn't a part of the next sheet protruding.

I'm on my second batch of these. The first lasted 20+ years. The second batch I bought used, and 1/2 of them failed soon after I got it, but the remaining half has been good for these last 2 years.

[youngrichard]

I too have several of these. Matt is quite right in his description above, but I would add that whilst the drawer pops out when you lift the front edge, then you have to pull it a bit further against some resistance to lift the rubber pushers; you will feel the give as they flip up to the roof of the box. If the pushers aren't lifted you can't push the loaded drawer back in. It took me some time to work this out; to begin with I turned the whole box upside down so the the pushers went up to the roof by gravity; unfortunately so does the stack of paper, so I guessed there must be a better way.
Richard

[MattKing]

Richard is completely correct

[JimO]

richard and matt have described it perfectly - pulling out the draw to load the paper and checking for rattles are the key to their usability!!!

my last one just died (25 years)! and i liked it... but have gone to an old metal roll up door type - clunky but safe.

they stack nicely and would love to have 3 of them again...