Drying film in the reel

[siverta]

In the battle against dust, I am going to try to dry the film in the reel.
My plan is to take a small box or a perferct-size tube, fit it with a fan in one end and dustfilters, and drop the reel into it.

Is there any worth trying or is this a stupid idea? I can imagine one bad thing about this: Perhaps the film can get stuck to the sides of the reel when it dries.

Any comments?


Sivert.

 

[oftheherd]

That type of dry it in the metal reel dryer used to be sold commercially. I don't remember any manufacturer's names. You used to be able to see it in photo magazines and books as a do-it-yourself project. I would think a heat resistant PVC or some type of furnace pipe with a hair dryer should work well. Just don't let it get too hot and keep the filters clean. If you come up with what you think is a good workable solution, take some photos as you construct it and show it to us as a project.

 

[kiev4a]

You are likely to have more problems with film curl.

 

[titrisol]

If your problem is dust, then run a clothes-line in your bathroom, run the shower for 2-3 minutes to humidify the room and hang the film to dry . No dust, and humid air = no curling 😉

The idea of drying in the reels has had 2 problems for me:
- Curling
- Mineral deposits on the sprockets.
If you use plastic reels is not such a great idea anyway

I remember those dryers, I believe there are still one or 2 in the university's darkroom.....
From what I can remember:
- Run the blower a minute or so without film to dislodge any diust that could be in the system
- Use cold air preferrably (takes <5 min)
- Make the air flow top -> bottom so gravity will help with water
- Flip the spiral at least once

In the battle against dust, I am going to try to dry the film in the reel.
My plan is to take a small box or a perferct-size tube, fit it with a fan in one end and dustfilters, and drop the reel into it.

Is there any worth trying or is this a stupid idea? I can imagine one bad thing about this: Perhaps the film can get stuck to the sides of the reel when it dries.

Any comments?


Sivert.

 

[the_other_dirk]

If your problem is dust, then run a clothes-line in your bathroom, run the shower for 2-3 minutes to humidify the room and hang the film to dry.

That's exactly how I've (finally!) managed to get less dust on my negs. I found it also helps to only process and dry film after the bathroom has been cleaned.

There is also a chemical from Amaloco, "H2 Rapid Film Dryer. Hardening and anti-static". Since it's anti-static, maybe it will also help to repel dust? I have a bottle at home, but haven't used it yet.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Whenever I've tried this I have had DISASTROUS drying marks, even with distilled water; I used to have one of the on-the-reel dryers (I don't know if I still have it) but I've not used it in at least a decade and a half.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[sunsworth]

> humid air = no curling

Obviously you've never used Efke ISO 25 roll film ;-)

Steve

 

[titrisol]

Efke 25 is not that bad..... Fomapan and JCPro100 are a whole different level of play!

I use 2 plastic pony clamps (4/$1 at flea market) as weights and curling has reduced to a minimum with Efke 100/25.

> humid air = no curling

Obviously you've never used Efke ISO 25 roll film ;-)

Steve

 

[kiev4a]

Good old fashioned wooden clothes pins work fine for olding film straight while drying.

 

[Chaser]

I've used one in a community darkroom for four years and have had great results...except that the very edge sometimes takes extra long to dry....

 

[aizan]

i got a kindermann in-the-reel dryer a while ago. sometimes there won't be drying marks, sometimes there will. never had problems with curling, dust, or mineral deposits, though. used distilled water for a while, and wetting agent for the rest. it didn't make a difference.

now i'm trying the red jobo squeegee. no scratches so far, or drying marks, and it dries quicker.

 

[phototone]

Some films curl more than others. The original Arista Edu is extremely curly. Drying on the reel will just exaggerate the curl. It is always best to hang the film and put weights on the end. I use a final rinse of Photoflo, and I have a couple of soft sponges that I saturate with Photoflo and wring out and then I wipe down the film gently from top to bottom, sandwiching the film between the two sponges. This removes all of the excess moisture, and speeds drying and eliminates water spots, as there are no droplets of moisture left on the film to dry and spot.
You need to use "photo" grade sponges which are particularly soft and small celled.

 

[Jason_K]

One way to avoid curling when using on-the-reel drying is to roll the film on backwards (emulsion side out).

 

[phototone]

That type of dry it in the metal reel dryer used to be sold commercially. I don't remember any manufacturer's names.

The commercial unit was made by Kindermann. This was extremely popular with newspapers, where the photographer had to get the film processed and dry and printed as quickly as possible for news photos. I have used them. They came in different tube lengths so you could dry many rolls of film at once, if you got a long tube one.

 

[kaiyen]

SenRac used to make them, too. I think the kindermann one was a small tabletop unit, where the air was blown up through the reel. The Senrac is a big tube with a blower on top. More powerful.

I made my own version of the senrac for like $15 with a hairdryer. It works very well, but the film comes out very curly. Dust free, though.

for me, the curl isn't too bad - it curls length-wise, and my scanner can hold the film flat that way. However, I really did it because of severe dust issues and space. Now that I have more space in my new house, I am looking to go the garment bag route.

allan

 

[siverta]

I don't think curl will be a problem as I always put the negs in sleves and press them in a book (a big fat photobook I once bougth). I leave them there over night (or perhaps longer as I tend to forget things).

Hmmm... Washing my bathroom before every processing... sounds a bit...no, I don't like THAT idea =)

I am thinking of buying a metal box and make some sort of arrangement for hanging up the reels.

Sivert

 

[Honu-Hugger]

I made one from 4" ABS, an end cap, and a ionic hair dryer that my wife discarded -- works great. I bored a hole the same diameter as the hair dryer nozzle into the end cap and glued it in place on about 18" of 4" ABS. At the bottom of the tube I bored two 1/2" holes to place a dowel through. The tube hangs on the wall of my darkroom and I place the reels in from the bottom, feed the dowel through to hold them and turn on the dryer. My Dad gave me the idea; he said they had a similar device on board in the Navy.

 

[dim]

I believe you are talking about something like this. (homemade).

I use it for some months now. Except the curling everything goes smoothly. No more dust!

Dimitris.

 

[kbg32]

If you can find one, the Kinderman Film Dryer worked great. It blew filtered air onto the film still on the reels. Yes, curling could be an issue, but if you took the film, cut it and put it in film storage sheets, it would flattened out fine. Film would dry in less then 30 minutes.

 

[dim]

Well I don’t think I can find a Kinderman Film Dryer in Greece.

With this homemade device film dries at about 4 minutes. For the curling what I do is that I put them in storage sheets and place above a magazine (not too heavy). In a few hours are ready to print.