Film drying cabinet question

I had been scanning the threads on here and elsewhere and mentally piecing together a diy film drying cabinet. I then saw a local craigslist ad for a KIS brand (French) film drying cabinet.
It is now sitting happily in the middle of my basement floor.
I've only found 2 pictures online so far (one copied here for reference). Has anyone else heard of this brand or seen this cabinet? I'm questioning the door design vs other units I've seen and used. The door is 6-7mm clear plexi-glass, but does not "seal" against anything nor does it cover the entire opening. My sample has the door more centered vertically than in this photo.

It looks very much like a California Stainless unit I have, however my door is made of metal and overlaps the opening and has a foam tape seal. There is also a filter on the top of mine, which yours may have, however I can't see it. Bill Barber

MTGseattle said:

I had been scanning the threads on here and elsewhere and mentally piecing together a diy film drying cabinet. I then saw a local craigslist ad for a KIS brand (French) film drying cabinet.
It is now sitting happily in the middle of my basement floor.
I've only found 2 pictures online so far (one copied here for reference). Has anyone else heard of this brand or seen this cabinet? I'm questioning the door design vs other units I've seen and used. The door is 6-7mm clear plexi-glass, but does not "seal" against anything nor does it cover the entire opening. My sample has the door more centered vertically than in this photo.



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I have an identical unit. It's a really nice unit. The clock work on the front controls the reasonable heater, toggle switch is main power and fan. The unit doesn't suck in a lot of air from the outside, external air flow is gentle gravity convection. Magnet keeps the door closed. Mine came to me 3rd hand from local camera store.

As a rule I don't bother with it unless I'm developing a big batch or when my friends drop over with a mess of film. I anchored mine to the ceiling in my darkroom, it's a little rocky, could attach to a wall. I hang film from the top rod with Paterson plastic film clips (the ones with the steel pins that bite into the film.)
I usually set the timer for 10-15 minutes.

Apparently KIS sold a lot of photo equipment at one time, everything came RED!

MTGseattle said:

The door is 6-7mm clear plexi-glass, but does not "seal" against anything nor does it cover the entire opening.

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So apparently they chose to stimulate a directed airflow through the cabinet. Not having the door seal makes sense if you want to draw in dry air and exhaust humid air. I suppose that's often done in the floor resp. top of the cabinet, but with a fairly tall one like this, this could conflict with low ceiling rooms, so using the door/front for airflow makes sense.
Looks like a neat piece of kit!

KIS was a brand that used to supply 1hour labs machinery, actually KIS was a chain of small standardised 1hour labs that could be found in commercial center city's, mainly in Western Europe, and mostly in France.
I think they just bought what was affordable to them and rebranded the stuf just to have it uniform.
They had a chain of locksmith shops too and sometimes the 1hour lab an the locksmith was combined...
It was something like a free franchising system.

Long time ago, I once saw two of these in the same (long-) street in Brussels...

Wow. thank you all for the responses. The fan and heater I was going to use in a diy cabinet would have cost more than the price of this used unit. It is tall at 78" (198.12 cm) and top heavy. Drop-off b&w processing has been about a 12 day turn around out here for me. I have all of the minutia for home processing, I just need to do it now. I will check if there is any sort of filter. I don't think so, but I may yet be surprised.

MTGseattle said:

Wow. thank you all for the responses. The fan and heater I was going to use in a diy cabinet would have cost more than the price of this used unit. It is tall at 78" (198.12 cm) and top heavy. Drop-off b&w processing has been about a 12 day turn around out here for me. I have all of the minutia for home processing, I just need to do it now. I will check if there is any sort of filter. I don't think so, but I may yet be surprised.

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Hey just curious how this film drying cabinet worked out for you? I just ordered on out of NYC. I been after a film drying cabinet for a few years now and finally found one. I really didn’t wanna go down the making my own path so I just waited it out till I found one.

Miguellou87 said:

Hey just curious how this film drying cabinet worked out for you? I just ordered on out of NYC. I been after a film drying cabinet for a few years now and finally found one. I really didn’t wanna go down the making my own path so I just waited it out till I found one.

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@Miguellou87 It works great for roll film due to the height. It has worked for 8x10 sheets so far, but I have to clip them in an odd manner and one corner still brushes against the cabinet. (No negative damage so far, I'll keep my fingers crossed) I was worried a bit about dust since it's not a sealed cabinet, but I have dust issues further back in my workflow that need to be addressed.
Bear in mind that it's a top-heavy cabinet and be careful when you move it.

MTGseattle said:

@Miguellou87 It works great for roll film due to the height. It has worked for 8x10 sheets so far, but I have to clip them in an odd manner and one corner still brushes against the cabinet. (No negative damage so far, I'll keep my fingers crossed) I was worried a bit about dust since it's not a sealed cabinet, but I have dust issues further back in my workflow that need to be addressed.
Bear in mind that it's a top-heavy cabinet and be careful when you move it.

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Do you happen to know what that spinning thing is located on the right side. I’m totally stumped as I can’t figure out what it could be for.

Miguellou87 said:

Do you happen to know what that spinning thing is located on the right side. I’m totally stumped as I can’t figure out what it could be for.

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@Sirius Glass, two welcomes?

swchris said:

@Sirius Glass, two welcomes?

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Sometimes one is not enough.

I don't know what the rotating spindle is designed for.

I made my own to the exact size and specifications that I wanted. It fits perfectly in my rather small darkroom. I can dry 35mm, MF, 4x5 sheet film, and even 8x10 sheets in it.

But to do that, I dispensed with any kind of fan. For me, this was not a problem. I can develop film one day, and it's ready to print the next.

@Neil Poulsen I would really like to build one. It came down to an internal debate regarding the best materials for my use case, and while that debate was in process, the red box popped up for sale locally. I got it for $50

MTGseattle said:

@Neil Poulsen I would really like to build one. It came down to an internal debate regarding the best materials for my use case, and while that debate was in process, the red box popped up for sale locally. I got it for $50

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That's a very nice price for a drying cabinet!

If it works, check the air filter for the incoming air, I have to change that at least each 5 years, but that depends on the environmental conditions and the frequency of use.

Be aware of black fungus nesting in that filter, this happens in a damp environment like a dark room where damp air is sucked in, that's why I set it up outside. This fungus likes to live in gelatine...

I couldn't find the original filter as the manufacturer ceased making it, so I did a DIY with paper recovered from a car engine air filter's guts sandwiched with the filter for a cooker hood...
That yellow paper thing inside of a car filter is very effective, my VW T5 has a large rectangular air filter (a turbo Diesel needs a lot of air) and when unfolded it's more than large enough.
This works rather good, anyway is better than nothing!

Oh, and check the bimetal of the thermostat, that metal gets tired after time, when the temperature gets to high the film tends to curl (see what happend to Robert Capa, but that was rather extreme)...

Good luck!