Here's one of my two large trays (this one being for 30x40's, the other for 40x60's) showing the "waste gate" side. Single tray system...filled from tubs on the left, which get pushed underneath empty then back when filled from the gate...works great!
Thats pretty slick unit John, I usually do about 12 murals a day so washing horizontally is a PIA for me, but your sink is a beauty.Originally Posted by John Layton
Here's one of my two large trays (this one being for 30x40's, the other for 40x60's) showing the "waste gate" side. Single tray system...filled from tubs on the left, which get pushed underneath empty then back when filled from the gate...works great!
This is how Versalab describes the adaptor:
20 x 24 ADAPTER for 16 x20 Washer
As described above our washers have a "print basket" which is a separate assembly that sits in the tank of the washer to hold prints in the proper position. The 20x24 adapter is a replacement print basket for the 16 x20 model only. It has four slots and holds four 20 x 24 prints in a "U" shape (quite large radius and perfectly harmless) emulsion side in (great wash that way).
Not sure this is what Bob has in mind. Despite their reassurances, I'd be worried about the U shape being "perfectly harmless", especially if there's any awkwardness in loading or unloading. I should add, I have both the 11x14 and 16x20 Versalab washers and those work fine for their specified sizes.
Bob, I assume you can expense this, right? Maybe in that case a Kienzle would be affordable. Not sure what your budget is, but I have to wonder if it really makes sense in the end to screw around with DIY.
Biggest I have is 12 slot 16x20 that will wash 6 20x24s as well.
I would find a stainless shop. I had a huge stainless Calumet rocking print washer, built like a tank, I got tired of it, scrapped it. I put small recirculation pumps on my acrylic slot washers, I fill it up turn on the pumps, drop rinsed prints in. I change the water 3 or 4 times, run each cycle 10 to 20 minutes.
My dream would be a washer that operates like a dish washer, cold water obviously, would need a rack.
Slot print washers use to much water, inadequate agitation.
MHOFWIW, Mike
Bottom line Michael yes I can expense this but I must say I did make my oversize plexi trays which have served me very well for years, 33 x 44 inch and 44 x 55 inch, but I think I need to talk with a fish tank person who works with big plexi. I ultimately am
wanting 33 x 44 inch capability - 6 slots which means I can wash 12 murals at a time. - the video of the dude in florida gives me lots of hope this is quite feasable.
Another option: expanded PVC sheets. You can buy big sheets for much less than translucent materials. I made a mailbox out of it using PVC cement, and it's held up great. A local woodworker should be able to make one for you. It's thick enough so you could cut slots on the inside short walls that you could slide thin plastic dividers into. It drills and cuts like soft wood, but it glues like PVC, i.e. you can solvent weld it.
Example: https://www.menards.com/main/buildin...s=14&exp=false
For a really big washer, I'd put ribs on the outside to increase strength. Or make a waterproof plywood "sleeve"...
Or make a dividing insert for: https://www.plastic-mart.com/categor...ectangle-tanks
For big murals, you might want to have a vertical tray for each print, because dealing with such a large piece of wet paper could be a real problem, i.e. stretching, tearing.....You could have someone build frames from the PVC material with plastic window screens attached. The back of the print would go against the screen, and the whole frame could be slide into the washer, maybe at an angle to keep the print's back resting on the screen....
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
Michael - those Kienzle tanks are in centimeter sizes. Bob is asking about a 30x40 INCH print size washer; and that kind of thing would have to be far more solidly built and reinforced.
PVC and Sintra sheeting is not stiff enough for that kind of vertical application, although it could be used for a secondary reinforcing jacket. All this is just basic ABC's plastic fabrication. I've worked with all kinds of plastics in my own shop; but I'm well equipped for it. Anything really big should be done locally, due the risk of acrylic fracture when shipping. And stronger polycarbonate can't be solvent welded.
If a plywood outer housing is used, it should be impregnated with marine epoxy, and merely act as a reinforcing perimeter to a fully plastic interior.
Or one could begin by contacting a manufacturer of large home aquariums - on the pricey side, but a possibility at least. A DIY shop version would probably cost only around 5% as much, not factoring equipment expense. Plexi is fairly expensive at the moment; but plastics shops will discount scratched sheets and random scraps. For anything this big, you'd need 1/4 inch thickness for the outer walls themselves.
People work in even greater thicknesses all the time, especially outfits which specialize in security plastics for banks, cashier stations, etc. The more important aspect is to build the smaller prototype first, to test for its design efficiency, before scaling up.
Stainless fabrication? Now that would cost you a small fortune, though you could compromise and use 300-grade stainless for just the outer retaining jacket, and relatively thin plastic for all the insides. I won't go into stainless/ply laminates - just too complicated for this thread.
One significant supply source for an effective outer - either stainless or poly plastic - would be a custom maker of livestock and dairy troughs. And
those things do need to be solid and free-standing.
The Kienzle tanks go up to 80x110 cm so 30"x40" would fit. Their stuff is top notch. Like I said earlier, not cheap - but Bob isn't simply a hobbyist. He needs reliable results for paying customers. Just pointing it out as a potential option.
I agree with you something that big custom made of stainless could be very pricey. One could contact California Stainless to see what such a thing would cost, but it might be cheaper for Bob to hire me to stand there all day with a hose LOL. On the other hand they are also the distributor for Sebastian Darkroom Products (PVC sinks, washers etc.). Perhaps a Sebastian PVC fab would be price competitive with a fish tank guy. I don't know. Just throwing out ideas.
The cost is in the complexity of it being an effective "automatic" washer. Other than that it's just a plastic box with a few dividers and a drain, and doesn't need to be pretty. You could buy the pieces pre-cut by any number of the online plastic outfits.
When Rosy Products of Michigan stopped making Darkroom sinks he made big SS tanks for dogs and commercial kitchens
Any plastic is crap and will fail
Find industrial SS fabricatore
near your location
This is just one and not the right one https://www.vevor.com/promotion/diy-...ecial-563.html
Stress the sink will always be full of water and will need a drain at least
Last edited by Tin Can; 15-Mar-2023 at 13:36.
Tin Can
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