Update- my friend is buying the 20 x 24 washer out of UK, 5 slots , delivered to Ottawa Canada under 2K CAD - she mentioned that the people who are selling it are extremely helpful...
Now on to the bigger unit
Update- my friend is buying the 20 x 24 washer out of UK, 5 slots , delivered to Ottawa Canada under 2K CAD - she mentioned that the people who are selling it are extremely helpful...
Now on to the bigger unit
I'd be tempted to build a vertical fiberglass tank.
A quick form made from MDF with a slight taper built into it, say a rectangular box of about 36 inch high x44 inch long x8 inch wide or so. Fill in any divets and corners with a nice radius with some body fill, and paint it, then wax the crap out of it. Quick spray of PVA mould release and spray a layer or two of gelcoat. Thinking chop strand mat with polyester resin to keep costs down to a minimum as there is no exposure to chemistry of any concentration in a wash tank. Plan on a number of layers to make it tough.
To hold the water pressure around the sides I would use 2x4 spruce frames around the lip and at the mid span and glass it right into the layup. Could upgrade to welded steel tube, but likely not necessary. Plan your water flow based on your favourite print washer design and mould in the threaded plastic fittings where you want them.
You'd obviously need access to some wood working tools for the form and frames, but the fiberglass can be done with scissors and paint brushes mostly. For gel coat application, I've used cheap undercoating spray gun with good success. You could get a local custom fiberglass shop to do one for you based on your dimensions, but the price would reflect their shop rates and material markups. In Toronto, there is a great source for these materials in smaller quantities for boat building over at Noah's Marine Supply.
Are you thinking at all about a cascade washer? Maybe 2 or 3 prints wide, prints separated by strong window screening. 3 tanks long. Tanks are to tall to use gravity so you would need small pumps like what Fuji and Noritsu use in processing equipment.
Each tank would only need to be 3-4 inches across.
Freshest water comes into tank 3 which flows into tank 2, which finally flows into tank 1.
Gravity would be best as only one flowrate to worry about.
Counter current cascade washer. Old school.
A larger version of this one, which I own (but image not of mine):Originally Posted by Duolab123
The prints would work their way up.
I've never experienced that with my Summitek CW1116:
At 250ml/min. the flow isn't sufficient to push prints up in those compartments where water flows in that direction.
I meant to say that as you add prints you would move a print already in the cascade up to the next higher pool.
This is exactly what you have in your print washer. Great design. Didn’t mean to imply that your prints move out of your washer. My poor communication skills
Why not start putting them in the highest pool and working one's way down? No moving required and first in / last out, combined with leaching of fixer via diffusion, means everything gets clean.
Why not start putting them in the highest pool and working one's way down? No moving required and first in / last out, combined with leaching of fixer via diffusion, means everything gets clean.
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