Dust-free negatives---Success!!!

[tbm]

Living 6 houses away from a busy freeway and two houses away from a busy 4-lane road, dust is always a problem. However, based on a how-to article by Joe Farace in Shutterbug Magazine awhile ago, I built his film drying device in minutes and have never again seen dust on my processed negatives!! It is a lightweight drain pipe, atop of which is a heavy piece of cardboard taped to it with a hole in the center into which I insert a 1200 watt Italian hairdryer. I insert my stainless steel film reels into the pipe from the bottom and hold them in place with a pencil or dowel which slides into a hole on the right side and out a hole on the left side. I then turn on the hair dryer with the cool setting, set a timer for 15 minutes, and my negatives dry completely and dust-free. I'd never encountered a successful dust-free negative processing method before this. I highly recommend it! A digital photo of the device is attached.

 

[tbm]

I forgot to mention that the drain pipe is strapped to a 2x4 board with two pieces of duct tape. I drilled a hole in the upper portion of the 2x4. With a nail embedded outside my darkroom, I hang the pipe/board combo from that.

 

[mark]

cool

 

[geraldatwork]

Living 6 houses away from a busy freeway and two houses away from a busy 4-lane road, dust is always a problem. However, based on a how-to article by Joe Farace in Shutterbug Magazine awhile ago, I built his film drying device in minutes and have never again seen dust on my processed negatives!! It is a lightweight drain pipe, atop of which is a heavy piece of cardboard taped to it with a hole in the center into which I insert a 1200 watt Italian hairdryer. I insert my stainless steel film reels into the pipe from the bottom and hold them in place with a pencil or dowel which slides into a hole on the right side and out a hole on the left side. I then turn on the hair dryer with the cool setting, set a timer for 15 minutes, and my negatives dry completely and dust-free. I'd never encountered a successful dust-free negative processing method before this. I highly recommend it! A digital photo of the device is attached.

Interesting device. Luckily I don't have dust problems. I would think however if there was dust particles floating around in the area that the intake of the dryer would just suck them in and deposit on the wet negatives. Obviously not the case and thanks for posting what looks like an easy device to set up.