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DIY film dryer


philipus

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Dear Philip

I thought very often about a similar construction. A way to pass the drag of the hepa filter would be to build an adaptor for a vacuum cleaner. I abandoned the idea, now I use mostly the old mixture of alcohol and demineralised water drying the backside of the film with a clean humid microfibre cloth. In about 15 minutes the film is dry enough to scan and doesn't have sufficient time to collect dust. I although tried a salad spin. The effect was not bad but to much dust by the plastic gear. I wish you good progress with your construction and I'm interested what it will be.

kind regards

Joachim

 

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Hallo Joachim

Thank you for the idea with the vacuum cleaner. That would provide a sufficiently strong fan for sure. Can you elaborate on your alcohol-demineralised water mixture and which cloth you use? 

I also use a salad spinner which is remarkably effective. I just have to remember to rinse it because our daughter keeps playing with it and it gets very dusty.

best

Philip

3 hours ago, mdachs said:

Dear Philip

I thought very often about a similar construction. A way to pass the drag of the hepa filter would be to build an adaptor for a vacuum cleaner. I abandoned the idea, now I use mostly the old mixture of alcohol and demineralised water drying the backside of the film with a clean humid microfibre cloth. In about 15 minutes the film is dry enough to scan and doesn't have sufficient time to collect dust. I although tried a salad spin. The effect was not bad but to much dust by the plastic gear. I wish you good progress with your construction and I'm interested what it will be.

kind regards

Joachim

 

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Hallo Philip,

Curt Emmermann "Leica Technik" recommends denaturated alcohol 94% to dry his celluloid films as alcohol suppresses water. So I was cautious and took a dilution of 50% for the final bath. I never detected any damage of the acetate film.Afterwards I dry the backside with normal drugstore fine woven microfibre cloth to avoid water spottings. Microfibre is said to cause traces on polished furniture but I didn't find scratches on my films.

vor 3 Stunden schrieb Steve Ricoh:

Out of interest, how do film labs dry 35mm / 120 film? I send mine off for commercial processing, and out of the envelope they're spotless when they return. 

No idea. Perhaps they early have collected old drying machines. One reason to start developing again was that there was no film without scratches when they came back.:(

Regards

Joachim

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Yes. But they are virtually impossible to find unfortunately. 

Which air filter did you use, Jac?

br
philip

19 hours ago, pico said:

Google Senrac Film Dryer. I have one and in the Seventies our newspaper lab had a gang of them. Very efficient. I improved the dust filtration efficiency on mine.

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28 minutes ago, philipus said:

Yes. But they are virtually impossible to find unfortunately. 

Which air filter did you use, Jac?

I found a long filter roll  intended to feed a humidifier in our local DIY store, Menards, and they are common everywhere. It was convenient that the material was just the right vertical dimension, so all I had to do was trim the length with scissors. For the Senrac I doubled the material. Note that the Senrac filter box is large and accommodates such a configuration without restricting flow. Maybe I should make pictures of it.

 

 

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Edited by pico
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Since I switched to the motorised Rondinax 35 and 60, the large diameter film reels won't fit in my old Kleen-Dri, which takes Paterson or metal reels (one at a time). It has a canister of silica gel in it, a heating element and a fan. Films dry in 20-30 minutes. I leave the can of silica gel crystals in the oven between uses so they are always dehydrated whenever I cook.

 

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On 6/9/2019 at 5:17 PM, mdachs said:

Curt Emmermann "Leica Technik" recommends denaturated alcohol 94% to dry his celluloid films as alcohol suppresses water. So I was cautious and took a dilution of 50% for the final bath. I never detected any damage of the acetate film.Afterwards I dry the backside with normal drugstore fine woven microfibre cloth to avoid water spottings. Microfibre is said to cause traces on polished furniture but I didn't find scratches on my films.

 

When using newspaper darkrooms 'back in the day' they often used methylated spirit for the final dunk before drying. The first time I saw it done I was more than sceptical but I still have films that show no effect from this quick dry method. Once the water was replaced in the emulsion it only took three or four minutes in the drying cabinet to completely dry the film.

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Old but functioning Meteor Siegen film dryers without blemishes available in Continental Europe 2nd hand for less than 100€ on eBay. No shipping but collecting with a station car 

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Thank you Chris. I looked for one of these for years but never saw one for sale here in Europe unfortunately. 

22 hours ago, chrism said:

Since I switched to the motorised Rondinax 35 and 60, the large diameter film reels won't fit in my old Kleen-Dri, which takes Paterson or metal reels (one at a time). It has a canister of silica gel in it, a heating element and a fan. Films dry in 20-30 minutes. I leave the can of silica gel crystals in the oven between uses so they are always dehydrated whenever I cook.

Thank you for the suggestion. I had not heard of these dryers before. I don't see any of those on eBay at the moment though.

3 hours ago, tri said:

Old but functioning Meteor Siegen film dryers without blemishes available in Continental Europe 2nd hand for less than 100€ on eBay. No shipping but collecting with a station car 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Came across this from craigslist.  Anyone know if these were good and worth further investigation?

 

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4 hours ago, RayD28 said:

Came across this from craigslist.  Anyone know if these were good and worth further investigation?

 

Looks like an old print drier/glazer for use with real paper, last used in the 1970’s, or something for drying clothes?

not for drying film. I just hang my film up and let it dry naturally.

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I have been using a Jobo Mistral for many years. It does not have a large capacity, but for individuals and (very) small labs, it is enough. I have not had many issues with dust, but the filtration is pretty basic. I turn it on first for a few minutes while a hepa filter is running in the room, and that takes care of most problems.

The mistral is very basic...I imagine anyone handy could make something similar with the right parts. It is basically what you have, only with a larger cabinet...a glorified shower curtain, really. Still, in this case simple works. It keeps the film isolated, the clear plastic allows you to inspect the film while it is drying, and the forced air drier has three temperature settings and a filter. I bought it new for less than 200 dollars or so, I believe.

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