Arkay Film Dryer

[Ari]

A few questions re: its use.
How often to change the air filter?
Ideal heat setting?
Is it normal for sheet film to flap around so much (i.e. is the fan too strong? There's no adjustment for fan speed)


I picked up one of these last week, thanks to Simon Benton's kind posting of the local ad, and it is fantastic.
I have what looks like a phone booth sitting in my basement, except that it dries film in about 15 minutes flat.
No more hanging up film in the washroom, hoping that no one goes in there; no more waiting for 4-6 hours for it to dry while accumulating dust from the ceiling.

I replaced the filter on top, cleaned the insides and put some 8x10 film in there, with a heat setting of 4 (out of 10); the 4 sheets were dry in 15 minutes.
What concerned me a little was that the air blowing in was strong, making the film flap about, so I had to space the sheets out more than intended.
I was worried that they might get stuck together while drying.

To compensate, I may move the top rack down one notch, so it's not so close to the fan.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[angusparker]

Funny I just one too. The shorter one just for sheet film. My plan was to just leave the film in and not run the fan - like a closed bathroom. Looking forward to hearing from other forum members on this as well.

[rjphil]

I run mine on a medium heat setting and put the film in 8x10 hangers. Position is the second set of holders down, with a rod run across that the hangers are slid onto.

[bob carnie]

I pre heat my unit, then when loaded with film turn it off,
If I am doing more runs and need to keep loading then I weight the bottoms of the film and turn on the dryer with heat.

[Michael Kadillak]

When I got mine I had the same experience as you did relative to the air flow and the thought of negatives moving was more than a bit unsettling. I want my negatives motionless as well as the air near them.

I immediately unplugged the unit 6 years ago and just hang sheets to dry and have zero issues with dust. It takes no time at all and since I do not have a deadline to produce a print it is not a big deal. I can hand 12x20 down to 35mm and it works like a champ.

[Ari]

I just took a peek at the two brackets that hold up the racks, and they are riveted in place.
So, it seems that the position of both racks is fixed, unless I want to start mucking up the insides.

I like Bob's idea of pre-heating the unit, then letting the film sit.
It may take longer to dry, but there's less chance of getting film stuck together, or dust being blown onto the film.

I like the convenience of hanging the film to dry, and being able to start scanning it a few minutes later, so I will try to find some kind of happy compromise.

[VictoriaPerelet]

I use film dryer mainly as dust protector. I do not use heater at all - it heats up film and curves it. Low airflow setting.

Before hanging film I hang few wet towels and run it for few minutes - in hope that most of dust will settle on towels:). I also leave tray with water on the floor of cabinet and sprinkle filters - for same beliefs.

I usually hang 2 rods each with 3 sheets per level. You can fit much more, but then you run in to risk of 2 films sticking to eachother and drying this way.

[Ari]

Thanks, Victoria.
I must say, with the fan blowing its hardest, and the film flapping all over the place, there was much less dust on the negs this time in the dryer than I've had in a long time.
And the heat did curl the film somewhat, but it curled anyway when I was drying film in the washroom; I just lay a heavy book over the negs to flatten them out.

[Roger Thoms]

I'm a little late to the party's but just got my freebie CD-40 up and running. Of course it not a freebie anymore, but it now has a custom made stainless steel door. The reason the cabinet was free was the fact that it fell while being moved and the door was bent and one pane of glass broken. My brother works for a sheet metal company that specializes in stainless steel fabrication so I gave the them old door and they made a new door. I also replaced the broken glass, weather stripping, and the air filter.

With the air filter I bought a slightly smaller one and then cut the equivalent of a window mat to make a reducer. I'm hoping that this will restrict the air flow enough to keep the film from flapping around to much. Truth be told the smaller filter was ordered by mistake, but I think it will work out. When I cut the mat board I sized it so the it was a snug fit. This gives a good seal for the air filter. The filter was attached to the mat board with my ATG gun and then I ran a bead of white glue around the perimeter of the filter for good measure.

Tomorrow I'll process some film and try the dryer out. Long story short, the Arkay lives. Nice to keep this stuff out of the land fill.

Roger

[LabRat]

The other thing you can do is to put a fanless small heater, heating element, or even an med/large light bulb on/near the bottom that will produce a little heat, but the airflow will be a convection current, so less air blasting around... And not drawing possible dust from the outside...

You can use a home heating thermostat + relay inside to control the temp of new "heater"...

You can add a baffle on top to direct the air away from the film if you use the present heater/fan in there now...

Don't turn the heat up too high, to avoid that "Capa/D-Day" effect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice job on the door!!!!!!

Steve K

[Roger Thoms]

Thanks Steve, of course the real thanks go to Seaport Stainless for fabricating the door. I did pay for it but they gave me a good price, soom kind of family discount. I like the baffle idea, and will keep that in mind if I have any problems with the film flapping around. My other thought was to install a speed control on the fan, but I'm not sure if the motor would be compatible. I'm kind of surprised the fan have a speed control, heck even my cheapo box fan from Walgreens has 3 speeds.

Roger

[LabRat]

Way to go!!!

Also. if you add some filter material (like foam) under the fan, that will diffuse the air better...

Personally, I tend to not use the fan/heater function, and just let it dry by itself, as it drys more gracefully without curl or possible dust being aimed at the film... (Usually an hour or three under normal conditions...)

But on a VERY damp night....

Steve K

[MrFujicaman]

For anybody who's interested, I scanned the plans for a homemade film dryer from Petersen's Photographic and will email a PDF to anybody who wants the plans.

[Michael Graves]

I own the California Stainless version of the Arkay. They appear to be similar in virtually every regard. Mine uses a standard air conditioner filter and it really doesn't need to be changed that often. I did find that running the fan caused films to stick together if they were hung too closely together. So I just learned to separate them a bit. One major difference between the two models is that I can't move the rack down...so I'm stuck. Back when I was still printing some things on RC, I even dried prints in there.

[xvelids]

I picked up a film dryer recently. I don't have much dust in my darkroom which helps, but usually run the film dryer on low heat for about 20 odd minutes. I use bulldog clips to hang them up and bulldog clips to weigh down my film - there's usually no curl.

[Roger Thoms]

Well I've been able to put mine through its paces and am totally pleased. Wow this really helps streamline the film processing for me. No more make shift drying schemes in the bathroom, with warning to be very careful not to disturb the film. The fan does cause the film to flutter around a bit, but at the volumes I process it's no problem to space the film out so that they don't touch. With sheet film (4x5 so far) I hang it from the lower rack where the air flow is calmer. One thing for sure these are the cleanest negative I've had in a long time. My sheet film is coming out nice and flat and roll film seem to have the normal amount of curl. I have the heat setting 5 and I set the timer for about 20 or 25 min. I also try and leave the film in the dryer for 10 or 15 min. after the timer stops to let film cool down. This seem to help the flatness.

Roger

[tgtaylor]

I have the CD-10 which is the LF film version. The previous owner placed tags with red arrows pointing at 60 minutes on the timer and at 4 for the heat setting. I'vde only used it a couple of times for drying negatives (4x5 and 8x10) since I usually let them air dry in the unit but it does a superb job either way. I haven't yet replaced the original filter but the last time I checked they were available at B&H.

The CD-10 isn't large enough for uncut 120 or 135 so I hang those from the ceiling in the bathroom and close the door. Four hours and they are dry.

Thomas

Thomas