I know this sounds dumb, but would it be possible to make a roll film "drying cabinet" out of pipes

I know this sounds dumb, but would it be possible to make a roll film "drying cabinet" out of PVC pipes in sections with threaded connectors? It would be more portable than a regular drying cabinet, as you can unscrew the sections for transport.

I suppose so.

 

When I was young, I did my processing in the bathroom, and had clips that fit over the shower bar (common for hand wash clothes drying) to hold the film.

 

I now dry them in my darkroom with a film clip over a nail.

 

I suspect that you could just press-fit PVC pipe together, and it would stay tight enough.

 

You could use a PVC union, too.

 

Do you then blow filtered warm air through it?

 

It seems to me that you either need a big enough pipe, or be careful putting the film down, so it doesn't hit the sides.

I have a gadget smaller than the blender I use for Margaritas. It has a desiccant cartridge that can be recharged in the oven, filters / foam that can be replaced via field expedients. Kleen Dry by Stratham Instruments of CA. Don't know if they exist anymore, message if interested, I haven't used it in ....

I suspect you can do something with PVC and various improvised components -- the old Photo Mags had lots of DIY stuff.

Long ago, I did a job for a celebrity who was a family friend. I hung the films in the darkroom as always, but someone had opened the forced air vent, which blew dust all over the film. Barely retrievable disaster. Drying cabinets, enclosed dryers good!

I don't think there'd be any need for threaded connectors, just push-fit, if that. A 120 film is less than 3ft long after all. Two end caps fitted with filter gauze might be a good idea though.

 

There used to be portable drying cabinets in the form of polythene tents over a coat hanger-like wire frame. Maybe an evening dress protector could be adapted?

Certainly. They used to be made commercially with a fan/heat box at the top & tubes big enough to take a processing spiral dropping down. The drawback to drying in the spirals was the curvature of the film was pretty drastic.

You could simply drop the film down with a weight at the bottom,so that it just hung in the center of the tube I guess but you'd have to invent an opening loading & retrieval system.

Wild thought why not use that telescoping coiled hose? You could just fold it to transport & unfold it to use!