Market for brand-new aluminium darkroom processing equipment? Slot processors, archival washers, etc

[qlstacey]

Hello, first post,

I have recently started fabricating processing equipment (tempering bath, archival washer and slot processor for colour) out of both acrylic and aluminium and I'm wondering if I made more for other people, would I buy able to sell them? I could even do custom sizes.

Nova is the one company I know that still makes this kind of stuff and they are located in the UK. I am in Canada and the low dollar has made it stupidly expensive to buy anything from any other country.

Am I crazy? The processors are very industrial and functional looking (not as fancy as Nova's stuff), but very usable, especially with a little design refinement.

I would undercut Nova (and others) significantly as labour costs are nil and material is not expensive AND the Canadian dollar is a peso again. Talking ~$6-700 US for a 16x20" 3 slot tempered processor.

 

[MattKing]

Welcome to APUG.

On the archival washer front, you would be competing with Vancouver - Alistair Inglis specifically, an APUG advertiser.

I'd be more interested in tempering baths and slot processors for smaller sizes - up to 11x14.

 

[Prof_Pixel]

It doesn't seem to me that aluminium is an appropriate metal to use with photo chemicals. I'd worry about corrosion issues. All the tanks, etc. I've ever seen in use in the photo industry have been stainless steel.

 

[John Koehrer]

It doesn't seem to me that aluminium is an appropriate metal to use with photo chemicals. I'd worry about corrosion issues. All the tanks, etc. I've ever seen in use in the photo industry have been stainless steel.

I'd agree with the Prof about using with chemicals but maybe as a washer. Tempering baths shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

[AgX]

My first thought when reading the first post, was that Aluminium is not a suitable material for general use.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Aluminum develops water stain which is a white powder on the surface. I have been out of the business for 45 years and have forgotten much. but common aluminum is not suitable.

5000 series alloys are water resistant and are used for ships. Some 5000 anyway.

Aircraft use a 030" skin of clad aluminum. It consists of a core or high strength alloy and covered with a corrosion resistent very thin layer 2 sides of another alloy. Clad 2024 was the product decades ago.

Boeing brought a bright rolled thin plate 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. It had to be perfect finish. I assume they protected it some way in manufacture of the A/C.

With proper research with a qualified metallurgist you might find a solution.

Back in the day stainless steel was the proper material, type 316 only, and it is not cheap. Cheap SS will still rust

I am afraid the train has left the station on the business however.

 

[Fr. Mark]

You might want to offer machining services over on the large format site. There's a DIY section with threads where people wonder where to get knobs and gears and various brackets. Aluminum would work for some of that as would brass and stainless.