Anyone use a Film drying Cabinet?

Is this place not the best or what? Thank you so much for helping here. I really can't tell you how much I appriciate it.
Now, what I did not mention is that I have to put any such device in my finished garage however I will not have constant heating, I will once I'm done with it but a device that warms will be a good thing. Clothes bag or cabinet. I have zero room in my townhome so that's where it has to go. I'm building a darkroom/playroom for my son. (playstation, video etc.)

jp80874, WOW. and with my 20 pct discount card that came this week, this makes an interesting option....... but how the heck do you keep dust out whilst opening and closing the zipper upon putting negs in and removing them?

Dave, I'm looking at new cabinets now at B/H etc., and their $1000 and over for a 6 footer. I wondering if it's worth it now as I know I'll take care of it for years to come.

bobwysiwyg, thank you, I've seen this but how would I cut it correctly to fit my specific needs please?

Mikeseb, holy cow.... yet another option....

Reinhold, those brazing rods are the bomb. That looks outstanding. and a heating pad? genius.


Martin Aislabie, yup, exactly.

GM, I think I'm going to betterscanning. I'm really despising those curls on the neg strip.

P.S. This is the ARKAY Film Drying Cabinet that B&H presently has for $979 but with all the extras as well i.e., rods etc., for turn-key operation.

I got a used film dryer for about $100-150 (don't remember exactly) and I'm glad I have it. At that price it wasn't worth experimenting with building my own. I appreciate being able to dry film quickly when I need to, procrastinator that I am. I had maybe a little dust using the bathroom/hot shower method but no dust now.

glarsson, even if I improve my dust removal a little bit it's big for me as I would hate studying, shooting, developing etc., only the have a small issue with the final product if there is even a little something I can do to avoid it.

I made one as per Les McLean's method published in Black and White Photography. It is just basically a hanging piece of material, with an opening and a wooden base which gives it its shape. It folds down to nothing. It works very well, and would easily take seven or eight rolls of film at once. It cost me about $20 to $30 total to make.

dwdmguy said:

jp80874, WOW. and with my 20 pct discount card that came this week, this makes an interesting option....... but how the heck do you keep dust out whilst opening and closing the zipper upon putting negs in and removing them?.

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I load and unload it in the darkroom. There are several wire hangers inside with two Office Max small binder clips per hanger. It only takes a few seconds to hang two sheets of 7x17 or a roll of 120 and zip up. Mostly I shoot 7x17. I keep the DR very clean and then roll the drier out into the rest of the basement where it sits near the furnace. When the darkroom door is closed all incoming air is filtered. I vacuum the darkroom and wipe down flat surfaces with a wet paper towel. Once clean it is just a matter of maintenance. I put on clean sweat pants and T shirt and wipe my sneakers when I go in to work because everything else in our house has yellow Labrador Retriever hair on it. We have two rescued lady Labs who walk me 8-10 miles a week. For me it is easier to clean the DR then spot prints. I hate to spot prints. I would rather hike with the girls.

John Powers

I hear you on wanting to get even a small improvement in dust removal. I'm still hoping my local photo program will offer a workshop on "Spotting without Swearing".

I have a JOBO Mistral Dryer, (http://www.novadarkroom.com/product/333/Jobo_Mistral_Film_Drying_Unit.html, silly sum of money, I paid far less for my version 1) nice piece of equipment, which packs up relatively small. I have no permanent position for it to hang it up, I get it out, hang it up in the bathroom, run it for 10 minutes at the highest temperature to blow out the dust and let the plastic unfold, dry overnight without the fan.

A bit of a hassle, but it pays back in much less spotting needed..

Best,

Cor

I use an eight blade film squeegee and have
no problem with dust. After the film's soak in
dilute PhotoFlo and the squeegee's rinse in
same the film is given a slow downward
swipe. Film dries fast and clean. Dan

Picked up the mint "new" (Dont' think it was ever used) film dryer cabinet today from a estate sale for $165 and a 12 slot print washer (Zone VI) for $125,both mint and the print washer was still in the box never used. They sell at b and h for $1000 for the cabinet (Arkay 40 CD) and $679 for the print washer. Then he told me to grab any of the 100's of books he had in a room for free, HCB, Capa, Darkroom books, and tons of hard covers for my library etc... so I got about 100 books. Also, a film washer double plexi tube, wash tubs, screens for fiber prints, about 50 clips, safe light all for free. Also for free three large boxes of Ilford Print paper, the box had a price tag of $249 on each of them. I'll test them to make sure there's no fog. amazing day. well worth the drive into Brooklyn. Oh, and my son got a new Kate Spade bag for his mom.

Thank you all so much for all the time you took to help guide. Your an amazing bunch of peeps. Now, I should play lotto.
Very best.

Nice score. Make sure to put it all to good use!

jp80874 said:

I would rather hike with the girls.

John Powers

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John, I hear ya, I love doing everything with our rescue, Sammy.
Thank you.

Also, I saw a crazy amazing enlarger there. I asked about it and he said "You won't be interested in that, I'll be giving it away at $3000" I'm peeved I didn't ask what it was. I guess I still can.

Also, the darkroom sink was amazing. It was an old style wooden one with resin finish. Wow. I'm going to go stainless when I'm ready. I can't wait to get into the darkroom for making prints and fiber prints. I am so excited. I just know, by reading from you guys, that I'll be large format in a year. Meanwhile, I am having so much fun.

Todays couple of hundred $$ was a big piece out of my tight budget, but I mean, how can you not??? Esp, when I ended up getting tons of freebies.
HINT: That's me trying to get you to validate my spending today!

P.S. The photographer was David Gahr
http://singout.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/folk-photographer-david-gahr-passes/

dwdmguy said:

HINT: That's me trying to get you to validate my spending today!

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Validate, heck. Did we tell you about our consulting fees? Free books all around.

Congrats,
John