Looking for 8x10 film hangers or DIY solution

[Karasugoi]

So I've been developing film at a local community darkroom and in the mean time slowly building my own minimal solution for an 8x10 workflow.

I'm almost there, I'm just missing the film hangers. I've been trying to find places to buy them but it's not easy. Not many on EBay, private sellers are asking too much for my price range and the medical hangers are way too expensive IMHO.

So here's my question for those of you with more experience. What's so important about the manufactured film hanger? Yes it holds your film nicely, but couldn't a metal stick with a few clips and a clipped weight on the bottom of the film achieve the same thing? At this point I'm looking to make my own and I can imagine some of you have done the same, though I couldn't find any threads on the topic.

I should also note that I'm pretty stuck on the idea of tank development. It fits for my minimal set up.

Anyway I'm interested to see if why or why not you would advise against it and if anyone has come up with alternative solutions to the standard hanger.

And of course if anyone has some they'd like to sell me, I'll take a look. :)

[vinny]

Kodak hangers hold the film flat and protect each sheet from touching. They also allow solutions to come in contact with every square inch of the film. Unless you are very handy and have some spare film to test with, I'd buy some genuine film hangers.