10 x 12 dunking tanks

hello-

wondering if anyone has a resource they could share for large dunking tanks- i'm setting up for wet plate collodion, have a 10 x 12... help.

appreciated,

jennifer

Most make their own Silver Baths out of acrylic sheet; its not hard to do, but does require tools. Many acrylic shops will cut or even build to order, however I do recall seeing dip tanks for some other purpose which would probably work, but my mind is going blank now. Regular photo dip-dunk tanks are way to big; they would cost a fortune to fill (my 11x14 baths which are pretty small take about $150 worth of Silver Nitrate), and tanks work best at about a 30 degree incline.

If you want to buy them, both Wayne Pierce and Ray Morgenweck make them.

Try asking at:

www.cwreenactors.com/phorum/index.php

or

www.collodion.com/forum/default.asp

How about appropriately sized aquariums? Also, battery boxes might be a possiblity---the big plastic ones that are made for diesel engine batteries? Of course you'd still need hangers unless you make a "slot" processor and used those clippy things.

Have you considered using a Unicolor processor? The 11x14 drum could probably be made to hold your film if you cement a bit on an extesnsion to the "v" to keep the film in situ during the spin cycle. That could be the most cost effective way to go. With as 16x20 drum you might even get 4 up with some mods.

John K -

doing the unicolor or any other kind of drum won't work. Wet-plate collodion is done on glass plates. She's looking for a solution that will let him sensitize his glass plates in the silver nitrate bath.

Jennifer - I'd second the build-your-own solution. I made my own 11x14 dip-n-dunk tank for processing prints using cut sheets of acrylic, which I had custom cut at a plastics specialty shop. It cost me about $100 to do, and that was for a 3-slot tank, with a 1/2" thick base plate. What you're looking to do should be less expensive than that. It also takes relatively little time other than running around to the plastics supply place. You need to get a really good epoxy resin glue to assemble the thing, which the plastics supply place will sell you, and a decent syringe with some kind of stainless steel needle to apply the stuff. The epoxy resin glue takes just minutes to harden, and once it is done, it is truly waterproof as it melts the plexi at the point where the resin is applied and literally fuses the two sheets together. The bond formed will actually be stronger than the plexi itself - I found this out when I tried to dismantle my dip-n-dunk box.

Hi Jennifer,

I just built two plexi tanks to do 10x12 wetplate. The silver tank is ~ 5/32" thick red acrylic and has a lid so that it can be closed and lights turned on once the plate is in the sensitizing tank. I built the fixer tank with clear acrylic except for the back and the dipper which are black so that I can observe the ambrotype reversal as it happens. (I'll upload a pic once home.) The tanks hold about 2200ml solution with dipper and plate displacing the fluid.

The material costs were minimal. I think the plastic fixer tank costs $11 in materials and the red one wasn't much more. I just asked at the local plastics supplier if they had any cutoff scrap sheets laying around and they were happy to get rid of them. I cut them down on a table saw. I also bought some "Weld-On 3" and "Weld-On 16" which are the acrylic cements others have referred to. The latter is thickened with plastic and slower working while the former is liquid, fast-acting, and is applied with a syringe.

With the leftover material from the sheets I built several "helper trays" and dippers and have enough material for some red plexi windows for the portable darkroom tent I'm revising as well as inserts for wetplate holders. You can save a lot of money doing it yourself.

I can post dimensions and sketches for the tanks if you'd like to give it a go yourself.

Here's the lidded red acrylic tank with the dipper inside:

http://my.net-link.net/~jsmigiel/images/technical/collodion/red_tank.jpg

I like this design as it eliminates the bulk of putting a wooden lightproof box around the sensitizing tank and thus makes for a lighter load in the field.

Hmmm. Let's try that upload thing again:

http://my.net-link.net/~jsmigiel/ima...n/red_tank.jpg

wow, this is great, and thank you. the red is very pretty- great idea.

and yeah- joe, dimensions would be most useful. i'll give it a whirl.

thanks again,

jen

Jen,

Here ya go:

http://my.net-link.net/~jsmigiel/ima..._sketch_02.jpg

Good luck with the project.