Drying B&W Film at Home

Does anyone have a suggestion as to where I should dry my B&W film (35mm and 120)? Someone

suggested a school locker but they seem to be too expensive. Someone else suggested my shower but

I'm afraid it'll be too dusty. The locker idea is the way I want to go but something less expensive.

Thank you.

I keep planning on building a film drying cabinet out of plywood, exhaust fan, and some air filters, but never have gotten around to it. In the mean time I use a closet that stays pretty much dust free. I chose that closet when I noticed that stuff that had been in there for 20 years had little to no dust on it.

At the paper we made a traveling film dryer, using a piece of PVC pipe, a piece of radiator hose and 2 hose clamps and a hair dryer. This dried the film, on the reels, in around 5 min with no dust.

I use my shower. I first turn the shower on and wet down the walls and tub. Never had a problem.

I dry my film in my shower

 

why would your shower be dusty......not used that much? ;o)

 

anyhow, if you think there would be dust. Just run the shower using hot water for awhile, couple minutes, turn it off, close the doors and windows to the room, go develop your film, and by the time you get to hanging the film, the dust should all be settled down......ie no longer airborn. film will dry fine.......works for me anyhow.

 

anyhow, that PVC pipe gadget sounds cool.....got a diagram on how to build it?

Put me down as another who uses the shower to great success. Is your bathroom normally very dusty?

I run my shower for a few minutes really cold then hang the negatives in there. Dust has

never been a problem this way.

I do not have a diagram, It was a piece of white PVC sewer pipe aprox 4 in. in diameter. A cap was screwed to on to the end of the pipe which was screwed into a wooden base.This kept the main tube vertical. A smaller piece (around 2 inches) was glued into the side of the main PVC pipe near the bottom and the 2 in radiator hose was clamped to the 2in. nipple and the other end was hose clamped to the front of the hair drier that was around 2in. in diameter. You would load the film into the large tube, water would drain straight down ,and since the hair dryer was coming in from the side, water did not touch the hair dryer. There was a bolt that kept the reels above the level of the 2in. fitting , so the reels did not get real close to the hairdryer.We then used the hair dryer on low to blow hot air up through the tube which dried the film. There was holes or notches in the bottom where the water could run out. MY LAWYER REMINDS YOU NOT TO TRY THIS AT HOME, THIS DRIER WAS DRIVEN BY A PROFESSIONAL ON A CLOSED COUSE. ALWAYS PLUG IT INTO A GFI OUTLET .

Bind two wire coat-hangers together and then bend them out to form a cross. Next, get a long polythene bag of the type used to cover long evening-dresses (e.g as used by dry-cleaners). Drape it over the coat-hangers and fix a spring clip (e.g. plastic clothes peg) to the wire coat-hangers inside the bag. Hang the film from the clip and pull the polythene bag down to cover it. Hang it all from a hook or rail and allow to dry.

The shower works for me too - no problems - and our house is very dusty (yes we do clean regularly, all you funny guys out there!).

 

Just run the shower for a while. Hang up your film. If you have a heat lamp, turn that on, then close the door and come back later. It worked for me about ten minutes ago! Do a practice run to see how long it takes, which will depend on the size of your room, and whether you have a heat lamp.

 

Our shower has an extractor which I run to reduce any potential for stinking out the shower room - it doesn't cause any dust to get on the films I've done so far.

thanks Michael....

 

"...There was a bolt that kept the reels above the level of the 2in. fitting , so the reels did not get real close to the hairdryer..."....hmmmm.........still on the reels....that's the part I wasn't envisoning. Yeah, I was seeing a 6 foot long tube for a 36 exp roll hanging vertically. The film didn't stick to the reels that way?

NO the film does not stick to SS reels. We always used photoflo and Stanless Steel is too smooth to stick to.We left the film on the reels for a our comercial Dryers we had in the regular darkroom as well.

A couple of suggestions that may help. The Senrac dryer is sometimes for sale used on ebay.

 

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Fx6g

 

http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/FD3500.html

Back to drying on the reels, doesn't the film remain curled?

NO,the film lays flat. You just remember to take it off the reels as soon as its dry and lay it emulsion side down on a flat surface for a minute or so. The film cools flat and stays that way. The film is dry at that point and even if the surface had any dust on it , it would just blow off. We had a counter with a built in light table at work, but I have done this at home, just lay it on a wiped off kitchen counter.

When I was still shooting and developing film, I used one of those garment bags made to store womens' evening gowns hanging from a closet rod. It was soft vinyl with an internal frame, see-through front and a zipper from top to bottom. There was a metal rod inside that the film clips could be hung from, with clips at the other end to weight them down. I think you can buy them at Walmart or Bed Bath and Beyond.

John that is also what I used to use and it had a hard bottom that I attached a hair dryer to with a used clothes dryer sheet sheet over the intake of the dryer to trap dust. but My shower is just fine and 30 minutes top on most days work.

 

Larry

i think that if you can hold your developing, fixing, washing and drying temperatures to within 1/4 of a degree you will find that you will soon have "pow" b and w photographs not just pictures, forget the heater system. i have a great big arkay heater negative and printer dryer that i use, but never turn on the heat. you can make the same for prints using fiber glass screens, for negatives the previous suggestion of the extra clothes holder seems like a good idea good luck. tom

The shower method is easiest. Note that it requires that the water first be turned on HOT not cold. The reason is to allow the steam to remove dust particles. And yes, there are dust particles even in showers, especially in dry climates.

Safdari is correct. The average humidity here is 17%, and it will get down to 7-10% often. ( we consider any humidity over 30% as brutal ) Film dries very fast, even after steaming the room with hot water, to make the dust stick to the walls, some dust is enevitable. [still air is the key]. Even our dust-mites wear masks. Sunset Photo always has 20 bottles of spot-tone on the shelves. We just live with it, and take alot more precautions for dust in the darkroom. Some of the best spotting brushes are sold in (art) painting supply stores.