Rick Allen
Argentum Aevum
practicing Pastafarian
I dry negs of any size over my stainless sink
No fan, in winter I run a big humidifier under the sink
I hang them and wait for morning
no dust
done
I used to scan, but the 'Thrill is Gone'
Tin Can
I've seen entire city blocks burn down due to old school lacquers being sprayed. Huge explosions. The second biggest one was adjacent to the lacquer mfg plant itself. There was an explosion that shook our own building so hard is was way worse than any earthquake, with everything knocked off shelves. Tremendous noise with a giant cloud outside. Some personnel thought the Russians might have nuked SF (Cold War era). Once the cloud cleared, it was discovered that an entire rail tank car transporting lacquer thinner had outright vaporized, along with the fellow pumping it. But remarkably, they found his cigarette lighter still intact lying beside the rails.
I’d apply several coats of polyurethane and put a drip pan in the bottom of the cabinet and call it good. I use oil based if I want the amber tint to impart a little color to the wood and I’ll use water based (poly-acrylic) if I want a water clear finish, like on maple for example. Just my 2¢.
Roger
Rick - modern water-based "varnishes" and polys vary the whole spectrum from nearly worthless to true marine grade costing over $100 per QUART. Being mainly acrylic, they can be electrostatic, and the consumer versions will not only water spot, but might outright fail with prolonged moisture contact. Most home center brands are pathetic adulterated junk level. Spray products include acrylic Krylon, which most of us are probably familiar with and keep around. I lean more to pro "dual drying" hybrid finishes, which combine the best of both worlds - fast drying and curing, high water and scuff resistance, but with just enough oil to defeat static attraction of dust etc. These are often sold for hardwood flooring applications, but work well for all kinds of woodworking except oily tropical hardwoods.
Would the cabinet having an internal finish which attracts dust actually be beneficial in this case? A wipe down with a damp lint-free cloth a few hours before use, then any dust that gets through the air-filter might be more likely to arrive on the cabinet walls than on the film (as the walls have a much larger area).
Sheesh! When is a darkroom environment dry? What is a drying cabinet for anyway? Want mold and mildew spores blowing onto your film? Sheesh! I keep my mouth shut about all kinds of things, like when I see particle board storage shelving for prints when that's known to outgas formaldehyde, a very bad thing for film and prints indeed. But I suppose I'd get jumped for pointing that out. Most people pay more for junk varnish than I do for a high quality products, simply due to a lack of good information. Maybe next time I should charge for it. My apologies for offering advice for free.
Now I simply use a monofilament clothesline over the sink now to dry film; but my last drying cabinet was fabricated from melamine coated sheet. As far as sponging down? What kind of sponge? Even that makes a difference. Ordinary ones leave little bits of residue. Even microfiber cloths need to be carefully selected and thoroughly rinsed first or then leave behind long fibers. Yeah, yeah... I know .... the firing squad. But is it really a felony to ask people to just look at a cleanroom supply catalog once in their life to get an idea of what really works? Or are people simply so in love with spotting negs and prints that the idea repulses them? I put on a real cleanroom lab coat today just to clean some enlarger glass, and then blew the water droplets off with filtered compressed air. I could have grabbed the cat outside the door instead, and used it to swab down the glass instead; but I'm fussy. I don't don't enjoy endless spotting.
I converted one of those cabinets from the home store (found a nice one on the curb one trash night) and worked well without heat/blower (in LA,CA where not too damp)... Took about 2 hours to dry film just hanging, and for 35mm strips... Put a layer of water based Verithane over the particle board, and built a hanging rod...
Too much drying with heat will cause roll films to roll up into a straw in dry in climates, and even filtered blowers will draw in some dust...
Steve K
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