Film drying cabinet - sharing my hack

[hroark]

Hi, new here. Drying film in a bathroom just wasn’t working for me, a combo moisture here in the wet side of the PNW and heavy use by a teenager. I just finished a film drying cabinet that was a hack consisting of an IKEA billy bookcase, a couple of air filters used on lawn mowers, a heater typically used for poultry or amphibians, a fan typically used for cooling, and a control unit used for all number of things. I configured it to be (slightly) positive pressure, meaning if there is a leak it pushes air out instead of sucking dust and air in. I posted a quick YouTube short on it (link below), if anyone here is interested more details I’d be happy to answer questions. The first two rolls went in yesterday and were good and dry in about 6 hours (maybe less).



Cheers, Hank

 

[Adam W]

Welcome! Looks pretty good.

 

[btaylor]

Like it! I want to build one

 

[Joel_L]

Nice job, a drying cabinet is nice to have.

 

[hroark]

Thanks!

Nice job, a drying cabinet is nice to have.

 

[aparat]

Chel nak! (translation from the Goa'uld language: "Very cool.")

I made a similar one a long time ago, using an Omega film drying head. It has been working beautifully ever since.

 

[gone]

Very cool, or chel nak, as the case may be.

And by the way, it's not every day that we get to see the mention of teenagers, lawnmowers, IKEA, bookcases, poultry and amphibians all in one post. You've set the bar pretty high for future threads. I am impressed!

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Welcome to APUG, uh Photrio!!!
I am also from the wet side of the state. If you're within 30 miles of me then we should meet, exchange fist bumps, get beer (or coffee) and do some permanent damage to poor unexposed film. I have a darkroom too but haven't figured out how to jam a drying cabinet into the room. Your design looks interesting.
Good choice of flannel too. I haven't found a good blue flannel although I have about 10 shirts in all of the other colors.

 

[Remanton]

Thank you for sharing, next time my wife wants to go to IKEA I will join her happily!
I am always afraid of that my films hanging in the shower get destroyed by a teenager.

Darkroom and teenagers in the same house are no good. You cannot even let a bottle of Rodinal standing around. It might be mistaken for some kind of Jägermeister!

 

[redbandit]

How is it dealing with curling? im finding that in winter any film just curls on its own when caught in a stream of air, even when 20 feet from the register.

 

[calphotography]

Thanks for sharing! I plan on building this.

 

[hroark]

How is it dealing with curling? im finding that in winter any film just curls on its own when caught in a stream of air, even when 20 feet from the register.

The air flow is really really low. So low that it barely makes a flame move when held near the exhaust port. I think this helps. I did have a problem with 36exp roll curling a bit near the bottom, I determined the heating element was turned too high, with a target of 75f. I turned the max temp down to 55f and haven’t the same problem. It has been a relatively cool winter for me and this is in our garage, so I’m wondering what if any heat will be needed when it warms up here.

 

[hroark]

Thank you for sharing, next time my wife wants to go to IKEA I will join her happily!
I am always afraid of that my films hanging in the shower get destroyed by a teenager.

Darkroom and teenagers in the same house are no good. You cannot even let a bottle of Rodinal standing around. It might be mistaken for some kind of Jägermeister!

haha. that would be some rough Jäger!