Building a giant horizontal enlarger.

Curt · Jan 15, 2008

Did you consider a laminar flow washer. I jury rigged one using a 48 x 96 tank I built on a 45 degree angle when I no longer needed it for the original purpose. I got quite fast wash times and did not have to contend with a half ton of water. I flooded my place with other methods.

Richard this sounds very interesting, do you have a drawing or picture of this method?

Thanks,
Curt

Back to the enlarger, any new ideas for it's construction? Also I go my sheet of Kodak Opal Glass today, it's amazing how many products Eastman Kodak either made and sold or procured and sold. It's probably beyond the average person just how big EK actually was at its peak.

I was putting together a 5x7, 8x10 head but now an 11x14 really seems within reach even though I don't have an 11x14 camera at this point.

Diffused light from a dichroic filter set with halogen as lamp and opal glass as the near lambert output all in a head that covers 11x14. Winter dream or Spring reality?

Struan Gray · Jan 16, 2008

Bob, I may be teaching you to suck eggs, but have you looked at small fish farming tanks for your washer? You would have to fabricate something to hold the paper sheets, but the basic tank engineering and water in- and outflow design would be taken care of.

Bob Carnie · Jan 16, 2008

Struan
I have not looked into fish farming tanks.. do you have a link to such equipment??
btw I have never heard ,* teaching you to suck eggs* sounds kind of gross.

Bob

QUOTE=Struan Gray;573804]Bob, I may be teaching you to suck eggs, but have you looked at small fish farming tanks for your washer? You would have to fabricate something to hold the paper sheets, but the basic tank engineering and water in- and outflow design would be taken care of.[/QUOTE]

richard ide · Jan 16, 2008

Laminar flow washer

Curt,

I cemented a plastic bar to the top edge of the tank bottom which had stainless pins about every 6 inches. I would grip the top edge of the paper with stainless film hangers and put each one on a pin. I had 2 PVC tubes with holes drilled in a row; one under the top edge of the paper and one above. I just adjusted water flow individually so that the paper floated on a film of water on the underside and enough water flow from the top tube to ensure that there were no areas not wetted. The information regarding flooding my shop is proprietary and cannot be released to the public..
One gets a real surprise Monday morning to find 4000 square feet of floor that does not need to be washed for a while.

Drawings or photos: Drawing is beyond my capabilities with a computer at the moment. Photos? What! Do you think I am a photographer or something? Unfortunately I never thought of taking photos in my shop and I now regret that.

richard ide · Jan 16, 2008

IIRC that Kodak was forced to divest itself of many businesses a long time ago because it had a near monopoly in some respects.

JBrunner · Jan 16, 2008

richard ide said:
Curt,

I cemented a plastic bar to the top edge of the tank bottom which had stainless pins about every 6 inches. I would grip the top edge of the paper with stainless film hangers and put each one on a pin. I had 2 PVC tubes with holes drilled in a row; one under the top edge of the paper and one above. I just adjusted water flow individually so that the paper floated on a film of water on the underside and enough water flow from the top tube to ensure that there were no areas not wetted. The information regarding flooding my shop is proprietary and cannot be released to the public..
One gets a real surprise Monday morning to find 4000 square feet of floor that does not need to be washed for a while.
Drawings or photos: Drawing is beyond my capabilities with a computer at the moment. Photos? What! Do you think I am a photographer or something? Unfortunately I never thought of taking photos in my shop and I now regret that.

Hmm... Now I'm thinking of rolling big tubes in the sink... sounds less...um... "proprietary"

richard ide · Jan 16, 2008

I have developed 40 x 60 prints in the bathtub before I got in to the business. Stick the paper on the tile wall with water and develop and fix using sponges. Wash in tub.

Reinhold · Jan 16, 2008

I fully agree with the "laminar flow" concept for RC papers. Take a look at how I stand a sheet of corrugated fiberglass in my sink and use small spray head on the end of a hose to give RC prints a "shower":

http://www.classicbwphoto.com/Darkroom.html

I can wash 20x24 RC prints easily this way; I can even flop several smaller prints in the fiberglass sheet and do them simultaneously. I have some fiberglass with smaller corrugations which are nicer in this instance, alto one could get by with the standard roofing type fiberglass for jumbo prints.

I could visualize a wier style header across the top of your washer to let a sheet of water flow down over the print. All you need is a slow flowing continuous film of water passing over the emulsion. I think a few minutes on a calculator would reveal that one could wash a LOT of prints with a lot LESS water that it would take to fill a whale size aquarium. And it could be stowed away if space is a problem.

Reinhold

Reinhold · Jan 16, 2008

Sorry, I misspelled "Weir".

(I'm blessed with an advanced case of BlunderFingers)

Reinhold

richard ide · Jan 16, 2008

I was washing fiber based paper this way and 20 minutes was enough to pass the residual hypo test. RC papers take not much more than a fast rinse. My 49" processor had a wash tank that had a wash time of about 30 seconds depending on transport speed.
Bob is washing fiber base papers.

Struan Gray · Jan 16, 2008

Bob Carnie said:
I have not looked into fish farming tanks.. do you have a link to such equipment??

I can't recommend a particular supplier, and in any case it makes sense to find someone as local as possible, but the tanks for raising small fry that you find scattered about the highlands of Scotland are just the size you are thinking of and have a similar need for a cleansing flow of fresh water. They come in round and rectangular forms.

Googling 'fish farming tank' threw up this for starters:

http://www.growfish.com/s-99.htm

"Teaching your grandmother how to suck eggs" is Britspeak for giving unneeded advice to an expert. I've never seen a convincing etymology, but it sounds good

Building a giant horizontal enlarger.

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