Does anyone have information about the Nutek/Thermaphot HSD 500 paper drier

Hey all, I recently managed to acquire a Thermaphot ACP 400 and a paired HSD 500 drier in... decent condition. I've been restoring the ACP 400 since whoever had it last left the final batch of chemicals to dry inside, clogging all of the lines, pumps and drains, but in the end its a fairly simple machine and I almost have it back up and running. It has a pair of extra lines that I'm a bit confused about that I assume are for replenishment as they feed into the top of the chemical wells, but otherwise everything is pretty self-explanantory. Basically it's a larger version of the ACP200.

The HSD 500 is another story. The electronics are again pretty simple. The gearing for the rollers appears to be driven from a sprocket that engages to the processor, it has no internal motor drive of its own. It does however have a variety of internal feeding and drain tubes that I can't figure out. From what I am able to determine, there are two separate liquid wells which at this point I assume hold two water baths to provide two separate rinse steps? There's an internal fan for drying, though no heat source so I'm unsure how functional a drier it is. The unit I have has three racks of rollers, though I'm worried that there is one missing since I see registration pins that suggest a fourth rack.

If anyone has ever encountered the HSD 500 or the ACP 400 of these I'd love to hear anything you can tell me about it. If you have come across a manual that would be even better.

Looks a lot like the wash/dryer unit that's attached to my converted RCP50. Possibly a newer generation; mine doesn't have any identifying model marks.

When I got the unit, I did the following:

1. Remove and clean. The dryer unit was removable via an archaic high voltage electronic connector.
2. Fill with water. Mine takes a hose end plug in. Sadly, the rubber washers leaked so I did this step outside.
3. Plug in. The unit seems to want to circulate water and one of the hoses will drain it. It seemed like the unit wanted to control the amount of water coming in and flushing, but that might have been up to me to keep the faucet at the right level.
4. Yes the paper processing unit had the same output sprocket system. I was able to turn the input sprocket on my wash unit, which engaged motors that turned the rollers to the corresponding speed.
5. With the dryer unit connected, it heats up to an incredible heat, which should have no problem drying the paper in the two seconds or so that it passes under the element between those rollers. I can't imagine that it's designed so the heater is at full temp whether there's any paper being run through the system or not, but I don't know how it would detect that paper is being passed through - it doesn't seem to have any optical sensor like the replenishment system on my RCP50.

I've never actually used it in production. Instead, I just wash RA4 paper by had and dry in an Ilford 1250 RC. I'd also like to know how these units are supposed to work.

peoplemerge said:

Looks a lot like the wash/dryer unit that's attached to my converted RCP50. Possibly a newer generation; mine doesn't have any identifying model marks.

When I got the unit, I did the following:

1. Remove and clean. The dryer unit was removable via an archaic high voltage electronic connector.
2. Fill with water. Mine takes a hose end plug in. Sadly, the rubber washers leaked so I did this step outside.
3. Plug in. The unit seems to want to circulate water and one of the hoses will drain it. It seemed like the unit wanted to control the amount of water coming in and flushing, but that might have been up to me to keep the faucet at the right level.
4. Yes the paper processing unit had the same output sprocket system. I was able to turn the input sprocket on my wash unit, which engaged motors that turned the rollers to the corresponding speed.
5. With the dryer unit connected, it heats up to an incredible heat, which should have no problem drying the paper in the two seconds or so that it passes under the element between those rollers. I can't imagine that it's designed so the heater is at full temp whether there's any paper being run through the system or not, but I don't know how it would detect that paper is being passed through - it doesn't seem to have any optical sensor like the replenishment system on my RCP50.

I've never actually used it in production. Instead, I just wash RA4 paper by had and dry in an Ilford 1250 RC. I'd also like to know how these units are supposed to work.

Click to expand...

Interesting, so yours has a heater element inside. I need to re-investigate because mine has a big linear fan but I couldn't see anything obvious that would be a heater.

Yes, from your picture, I think this is where mine plugs in. It seems as though Thermaphot could still be in business - they have a site at http://www.thermaphot.de - your dryer unit seems like one that they make / made until recently https://www.facebook.com/ . I can say for sure mine could at least benefit from new rollers.

pwadoc said:

The HSD 500 is another story. ... From what I am able to determine, there are two separate liquid wells which at this point I assume hold two water baths to provide two separate rinse steps?

Click to expand...

The HSD's are the washers for those ACP's as the ACP 400 that do no washing at all.

pwadoc said:

There's an internal fan for drying, though no heat source so I'm unsure how functional a drier it is.

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Have a look at the label for the power consumption...

It has a IR tube-lamp incorporated. Likely it is in the rack missing at your sample.

peoplemerge said:

Yes, from your picture, I think this is where mine plugs in. It seems as though Thermaphot could still be in business - they have a site at http://www.thermaphot.de - your dryer unit seems like one that they make / made until recently. I can say for sure mine could at least benefit from new rollers.

Click to expand...

Cool, I'll see if I can get in touch with someone over there. Is there any chance you could pull the cover off of yours and take a photo of the racks when you get a chance? I want an idea of what a complete model looks like.

AgX said:

It has a IR tube-lamp incorporated. Likely it is in the rack missing at your sample.

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Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Odds of finding a replacement rack are pretty slim I'm imagining.

Those things are monsters. I can't imagine the heat and humidity, you know, back in the day. Minilabs could steam up a place, these must have been something else. Everyone needs a project, keep the faith.

Just wanted to bump this and ask, if anyone has a thermaphot drier of any kind, could you please take a few photos of the IR heating element and share them here? I want to get a better sense of what the part looks like, which will help me either find a replacement or potentially build on myself. Thanks!