Cromega Daylight Processing Tank---Fix

I purchased a Cromega Film Dev Tank many years ago. There is a Film clip inside that holds my 4x5 Film. These are easy to misplace or break. So I created my own and 3D printed it in PETG Plastic which is chemical proof. If you want one of your own...download my design. It is free. Share it with your friends.. Happy Processing...


https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3586862


Gregory Heath

Greg Heath said:

I purchased a Cromega Film Dev Tank many years ago. There is a Film clip inside that holds my 4x5 Film. These are easy to misplace or break. So I created my own and 3D printed it in PETG Plastic which is chemical proof. If you want one of your own...download my design. It is free. Share it with your friends.. Happy Processing...
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https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3586862


Gregory Heath

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I wish I had your skills. Well done.

mshchem said:

I wish I had your skills. Well done.

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Honestly, I had never designed ANYTHING before. Thingiverse is pretty easy. I got my micrometer/slide rule and just designed it in specific shapes..and then joined them together. It's not perfect but it works. Just go to youtube and watch some tutorials. In a couple days I was done. I printed it on a Creality Ender 3 Pro. Easy Peasy.

I would love to 3D print a modern day Speed Graphic.

Very cool.
I have a bunch of Unicolor paper drums and I've never even seen a picture of the original separators let alone the real thing.
I've tried small clamps but the paper easily slide under, those big wings you have look really effective, thanks for sharing!

gijsbert said:

Very cool.
I have a bunch of Unicolor paper drums and I've never even seen a picture of the original separators let alone the real thing.
I've tried small clamps but the paper easily slide under, those big wings you have look really effective, thanks for sharing!

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You can use the links at Thingiverse to order some PETG plastic ones. PETG is impervious to chemicals and heat.

The Unicolor drums have a V shaped rib molded down the long axis, different from the round rib on the Chromega drum (I think Beseler drums might also have the round rib; on my Beseler drum, it was removed). I think I once saw a picture of the Unicolor drum separator, and it's a small rubber block with a V cut into it. I can't find any pictures, though. Suggestions were to make one out of rubber or a plastic eraser or similar.

Aha, a picture of the original Unicolor spacer is on the largeformatphotography page about Unicolor drums. Just scroll down past the first few pictures of clips: https://www.largeformatphotography.info/unicolor/

I was checking out the photo from your link and then did a search on Thingiverse. It looks like there might be a 3rd design and someone created a 3D printed part for that tank also. Here is the link to that.. Everything on Thingiverse is Free.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2067606

Greg

Greg Heath said:

I was checking out the photo from your link and then did a search on Thingiverse. It looks like there might be a 3rd design and someone created a 3D printed part for that tank also. Here is the link to that.. Everything on Thingiverse is Free.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2067606

Greg

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Darn, looks like that is for a different drum than I have, perhaps an older version?
I should really look at how to design one myself, the needed shapes are not that complicated, but I have no experience with 3D modelling or 3D printing!
Did you manage to make it fit on the first print?

gijsbert said:

Darn, looks like that is for a different drum than I have, perhaps an older version?
I should really look at how to design one myself, the needed shapes are not that complicated, but I have no experience with 3D modelling or 3D printing!
Did you manage to make it fit on the first print?

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Those white separators on thingiverse were made by a Photrio poster and pictures are here in post #289 of the "What did you fix today? (part 2)" thread: What did you fix today? (part 2) That's a different type of drum though. The one with the inverted V seems to be more common, and it looks like the picture in this thread: https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/unicolor-drum.494661/

gijsbert said:

Darn, looks like that is for a different drum than I have, perhaps an older version?
I should really look at how to design one myself, the needed shapes are not that complicated, but I have no experience with 3D modelling or 3D printing!
Did you manage to make it fit on the first print?

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Here is the development of the piece in Tinkercad. Tinkercad is a basic design builder. It took me a couple of days to copy the design. I have since printed this piece and have used it twice with 4x5 development. it works great ! In the design using tinkercad you might notice one of the 2 "wings"..is undersized. It's not by much, but it's close to 2mm (each side). If you have your own 3D printer, you can print one of these for about ten cents (usd).

The first one I made the wings were too thin, so I pulled the drawing apart on my computer and fixed it and then rejoined it and printed it. Worked fine the 2nd time. I got lucky. lol.

I have never designed anything before. Tinkercad has you basically design separate parts and then you combine them together and make the object. I was looking for free open source software, as I use LinuxMint for an operating system. Tinkercad and Thingiverse are both free. There is open source software that could design it better but I didn't want to have to make designing a part so complex. Look up Tinkercad on youtube. There are tons of videos showing you how to build things. It's fun.

Enjoy the link. The other tank people are posting, if you don't have a part for a tank, make a cardboard piece and test fit it, then measure it and design your own or send me the measurements...so I can design another one. Honestly, a couple of nights and it's done.

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/i4QqpbQt3XX


Greg