The perfect developing tray?

J

Joakim Målare

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May 22, 2011
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Hi,

I've been looking into different solutions for having my trays set up over a longer period of time and also avoiding the problems with smell and oxidization(?). At first, my eyes fell on the Nova Monochrome "standing trays" / tank, but it's a bit too expensive for me. Turns out buying the necessary material cut and ready for assembly in a DIY-project is too expensive as well.

Then I started considering the idea of having trays stacked in a shelf-like construction (to reduce table footprint), with lids on when not in use. The trays I have aren't very well suited for putting a lid on, so I was looking for ready-made plastic boxes on the Internet.

I found this:

http://www.westonboxes.com/collections/sra3-storage-boxes

It's a company in the UK, marketing a box for A3+ paper (bleed margin) with a lid on it. It's the correct size for 12x16" paper and it's not very deep. The height could probably be modified if you need it to be less deep than so.

Problem is the shipping charges from the UK to Sweden is more than double the price of three boxes - about £110 according to the seller.

Any idea if this is a reasonable shipping quote? Could it get lower from a different courier? Is there any other way around this problem?

Thoughts in general?

Have a nice day everyone!

/ Joakim
 
Look for second-hand Nova tanks. Worth every penny! Google Nova: they often have 'em. We use them for almost everything: see frostfire90

For stacking conventional trays, look at office supply racks (plastic coated steel).

Cheers,

R.
 
And, stating the obvious, put the developer tray on top of your stack so that it doesn't catch any drips from the fix or stop.

It isn't so difficult to store developer in bottles of some sort (assuming that it is a long-life sort of developer of course), though you might want a funnel I suppose.
 
Thanks guys, it's always nice to get a few different perspectives. I tend to get a little complicated when it comes to a 'problem' that I think needs a good solution. In this case I realise I should probably just make something that covers the stop and fixer trays over a couple of nights. The developer should be poured back into a bottle anyway.

I definitely wouldn't mind a Nova tank, but it's beyond my budget right now and I don't do enough printing to justify the investment. I made some really nice CAD-drawings on a similar tank that I intented to have cut and glued together by the local glazier. As mentioned, it ended up too expensive, but the material wasn't the big part of the cost so I might buy a couple of full sheets and do the splitting myself, some time later on.

By the way, regarding fumes - anyone have experience with say Tetenal Superfix Odourless? I've been using Variofix in powder form, but it's a little slow (2-4 minutes), and it smells (not that I mind, but others do...)
 
The easiest, most airtight solution is simply to float an identical but empty tray on the developer. No air at all between the "lid" tray and the developer.
 
If you want to get your own "Nova" design manufactured perhaps there are cheaper ways.
You could get acrylic laser cut, and then glue the seams.
Have a look at:
ponoko
 
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