I hope to find a design for the development tank cover

mohmad khatab · Jul 24, 2021

Hello my dear colleagues.
In fact, I have a development tank like the one in the picture, and I need it the most because it does not consume a lot of chemistry, it only needs less than half a liter to develop 2 Roll.
Unfortunately, the cover of this tank has become worn out and I have restored it several times and it has become very bad and is no longer reliable.
- I have a friend who owns a 3D printer and he tried to help me in this matter, but he failed because there is no design drawing for this cover. And this friend of mine is not specialized in these matters and he does not know how to raise the exact measurements and so on.. He can only feed the machine with ready-made drawings and give it the operating command only.
- I hope someone can help me find the design drawing for this tank cover, and I will be very thankful to you,,
God bless you

Neal · Jul 27, 2021

Hello Mohmad,

Your location might make this a problem but Freestyle sells one that might work. https://www.freestylephoto.biz/161816-Arista-Tank-PVC-Replacement-Top

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

Donald Qualls · Jul 27, 2021

There are designs on Thingiverse for a complete developing tank for stainless type reels (that is, without a core). It might be simpler to print the complete tank (resized in the slicer to fit the reel(s) you already have) than to find a downloadable file for the pour-through lid and inversion cap to fit your existing stainless tank. I'd recommend printing in black, not the red used for the example print for the link -- I presume they used red for visibility...

mohmad khatab · Jul 27, 2021

Neal said:
Hello Mohmad,

Your location might make this a problem but Freestyle sells one that might work. https://www.freestylephoto.biz/161816-Arista-Tank-PVC-Replacement-Top

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

Neal Windra
You're amazing man, this is really great and heart-warming news
God bless you, thank you.
Actually, I don't know if this site will agree to ship the item to Egypt or not, but I should take the initiative to try.
Greetings to you my brother and greetings to all the people of Chicago

mohmad khatab · Jul 28, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
There are designs on Thingiverse for a complete developing tank for stainless type reels (that is, without a core). It might be simpler to print the complete tank (resized in the slicer to fit the reel(s) you already have) than to find a downloadable file for the pour-through lid and inversion cap to fit your existing stainless tank. I'd recommend printing in black, not the red used for the example print for the link -- I presume they used red for visibility...

Thank you brother Donald, may God bless you. You are always a helpful and respectful colleague.
Your idea is really excellent and worthy of respect.
- But I really don't know, will the final product be plastic?
It's okay, plastic is also a good tank.
But it would be nice if there is a drawing of your tank that can accommodate 2 stainless steel balls.

Donald Qualls · Jul 28, 2021

Of course the final 3D printed tank would be plastic. I'd recommend printing in ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) or PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycolate), if your friend with the printer has access to and experience with those materials, rather than the default PLA (both for strength and for chemical inertness). It should be easy enough to make the tank accept two stainless reels, just by printing the tank portion with 2x expansion in the vertical axis only (don't adjust the lid or inversion cap). Of course, the other option would be to print just the lid at first and see if it fits your tank well enough; if so, print the inversion cap and done, and if not, continue to print the tank as well. The size is probably close, since stainless reels are pretty strongly standardized.

mohmad khatab · Jul 29, 2021

Donald Qualls said:
Of course the final 3D printed tank would be plastic. I'd recommend printing in ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) or PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycolate), if your friend with the printer has access to and experience with those materials, rather than the default PLA (both for strength and for chemical inertness). It should be easy enough to make the tank accept two stainless reels, just by printing the tank portion with 2x expansion in the vertical axis only (don't adjust the lid or inversion cap). Of course, the other option would be to print just the lid at first and see if it fits your tank well enough; if so, print the inversion cap and done, and if not, continue to print the tank as well. The size is probably close, since stainless reels are pretty strongly standardized.

God bless you dear brother.
thank you very much .
Yes I am completely right.
My friend will know how to manage it. He is a computer engineer. .
In general, he is currently going to his small town to visit his family in southern Egypt (Luxor Governorate), where one third of the world's history remains.
When he comes back a few weeks later, he'll do the right thing.
Greetings to Mr. Donald

bunktheory65 · Jul 31, 2021

Thats the issue, the lids wear out. My AP after 30 rolls leaks a good bit, either the red cap or the black cap with screws.

May be CHEAPEST to simply go to the hardware store, talk to the counter guys and see what kind of O RINGS they have in stock that could fit.

Else find a sheet of thin rubber.

AgX · Jul 31, 2021

O-rings need to be inserted into grooves to work properly. Or do you think of an O-ring laid around the tank and then pushed down in front of the cap when applying the cap?

If the cap was not knuckled one may seal the cap with adhesive tape.

bunktheory65 · Jul 31, 2021

Al

AgX said:
O-rings need to be inserted into grooves to work properly. Or do you think of an O-ring laid around the tank and then pushed down in front of the cap when applying the cap?

If the cap was not knuckled one may seal the cap with adhesive tape.

All i have is an AP compact, something on it leaks, either the threads or the red cap.

an o ring between the body and the twist on lid before screwing it together, or a washer or o ring to fit the dimensions of the red plastic cap, or just a thin rubber sheet cut to fit inside the red cap to cover up the drain and fill hole.

AgX · Aug 1, 2021

I do not know the design of the AP tank cap. Your idea with an O-ring could work, if there was a gap between the front of the cap and the tank. A gap in which a O-ring of same dimension sitting on the tank then would roll in during closing of the tank, or could be pushed in afterwards.

bunktheory65 · Aug 1, 2021

AgX said:
I do not know the design of the AP tank cap. Your idea with an O-ring could work, if there was a gap between the front of the cap and the tank. A gap in which a O-ring of same dimension sitting on the tank then would roll in during closing of the tank, or could be pushed in afterwards.

only ways it CAN leak are the main cap where it screws in, and the red cap.

there is no gap anywhere, but there DOESNT need to be a gap. just a bad thread.

mohmad khatab · Aug 2, 2021

I really don't know what to do.
- The company refused to sell to the Egyptians. Or rather, it refused to ship to Egypt.
I will look for a friend whose residence is adjacent to that company, so that he buys that cover from them and sends it to me.
We in third world countries live in a real tragedy guys, believe me.

Donald Qualls · Aug 2, 2021

I'm back to suggesting the 3D printed tank and cap I linked above. The lip might fit your existing tank, and if not you can just print the rest of the tank.

beemermark · Aug 2, 2021

BHPhotoVideo also sells replacement covers and I imagine other stores do also. It is not a hard to find part, maybe a store closer to home?

Donald Qualls · Aug 2, 2021

beemermark said:
BHPhotoVideo also sells replacement covers and I imagine other stores do also. It is not a hard to find part, maybe a store closer to home?

Home, in this case, is in Egypt. The stated problem is finding a seller who actually sells online to ship there. Many vendor won't because of past problems with currency exchange and fraud.

AgX · Aug 2, 2021

beemermark said:
BHPhotoVideo also sells replacement covers and I imagine other stores do also. It is not a hard to find part, maybe a store closer to home?

You overlook that Arista tanks are a american thing.

(Before joining Apug I did not even know of that brand.)

beemermark · Aug 3, 2021

No the

AgX said:
You overlook that Arista tanks are a american thing. (Before joining Apug I did not even know of that brand.)

Kalt and other brand lids which is pretty much an international thing. Arista is simply a rebrand of some other manufactures lid. My point was many companies around the world sell these covers. The SS tanks were a darkroom staple for at least 50 years. The OP should be using the internet to find a replacement cover rather than using 3d printing. Then again Egypt has gone so far down hill maybe no one will ship there.

AgX · Aug 3, 2021

Never heard of Kalt either than here at Apug. But I do not want to make myself the standard either.

The design of these caps look like the those from a certain generation of Kindermann tanks, a german manufacturer long gone.
The funny thing with these is, that back then I did not even knew that SS tanks existed, let alone being made in Germany: never saw them in a shop, nor in a book or magazine. Only now I found them in old, german Kindermann catalogs. And so far I only came across some empty boxes for them. In general these german tanks seem rather being made for export.

gone · Aug 3, 2021

If you're using a traditional developing tank, just take the top off, lay it on some gasket material, and cut out a gasket. Rubber O rings can squish outwards and leak where they get no support, like the outer rim of the tank, but if it's a sufficiently hard o ring, that should work. If it were me I'd just cut a bunch of gaskets to be used as needed.

AgX · Aug 3, 2021

But to my understanding all the SS tanks, be it with SS or plastic caps, have their caps just pushed over with a tight fit.
As I said above I find it difficult to design a makeshift seal. A gasket as you describe for a pure push-on cap and the thin wall of a SS tank needs a gasket that is precisely cut to size to avoid the steel wall to just protrude into a slit between gasket and the rim of the cap.

Donald Qualls · Aug 3, 2021

If you have a cap that isn't cracked, but leaks where it fits onto the tank, a single wrap of electrical tape on the seal surface (where the cap overlaps the tank) will tighten it up, and a wide rubber band over the joint after closing will also help a lot in controlling leakage.

If the cap is cracked, light trap loose, or similar, you need a new one -- which has been answered.

beemermark · Aug 4, 2021

AgX said:
Never heard of Kalt either than here at Apug. But I do not want to make myself the standard either.

Kalt made lots and lots of inexpensive little things you need in the darkroom. Try not to focus on the brand. The SS tanks were made by multiple manufacturers and the lids by even more people. They are all the same dimension.The tanks never wear out the lids do. Thus many different manufacturers in many parts of the world sell the lids. I think you could buy new lids in Antarctica. Are there no camera stores in Egypt?

dynachrome · Aug 4, 2021

I have many tanks of different types. My suggestion is that you try to solve this problem in a different way. High quality stainless steel tanks like Nikors had their lids and bottoms hand matched at the factory. They either didn't leak at all or leaked very little. Over time the lids and bottoms became mismatched and leaking became more common. Kindermann solved the problem by using plastic lids and caps. It was known that over time the lids would need to be replaced. I solved the leak problem in some tanks with stainless steel lids and caps by getting some 1/2 inch (approx. 12.5mm) wide rubber bands of the right circumference and putting them around the tank where the bottom meets the cap. You should be able to find a used stainless steel tank with a stainless steel lid and cap from an eBay seller who is willing/able to ship to your location. When will such a tank wear out? Maybe never. Two other possibilities may work for you. Yankee made plastic tanks which fit stainless steel reels and Kindermann also made tanks where the bottom, the lid and the cap are all plastic. These all plastic Kindermann tanks also accept stainless steel reels so you will still accomplish your goal of using less chemistry than, for example, Paterson type tanks.

AgX · Aug 4, 2021

But a rubber band in this case would hardly work as the circumference of the cap is knuckled. Maybe you mean pushing the rubber band just to the rim of the cap, but on this I already argued above with that O-ring.
But without having the respective tank in hand this all is for myself just desktop guessing.

I hope to find a design for the development tank cover

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