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Photo Forum / Film Photography / Darkroom / July 2004Dish/Tray Warmer?
Hi Folks, I am missing three items for my darkroom. Two of the items I can find on eBay - a print dryer and a decent timer - the other item is a little more elusive! I am looking for a tray warmer that will accomodate three 8x10 development trays for my dev, stop and fixer trays. I can't find one on eBay, and I can't find one on any UK online shops. Do I need to heat all three trays (developer, stop, fixer) or can I leave one of them at room temperature? I have seen 16 x 10 tray warmers and could probably get one of them fairly easily. If your in the UK, and have a 24 x 10 dish/tray warmer for sale, please contact me!! Thanks, Andrew McCall > Hi Folks, > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Andrew McCall Hi Andrew, I too have been looking for a dish/tray warmer. I've got a Kaiser model that I bought on Ebay that works well, but it's just big enough for the developer tray. I've not had any luck finding another one. (I'm in the USA.) I think that Nova makes ones for multiple trays. You might try contacting them, or perhaps Silverprint in London. If you do find a source, please let me know. Temp control is most important for the developer, but fix and toning speed would also be affected. -Peter I've used a warmer from a veterinary supply house with good success. The dimensions of the particular one I used are about 18" x 60". It had a total power of about 140W, so I ran it with a small variac (variable transformer) and watched a thermometer immersed in the developer tray. The time constants are slow enough that I was able to dial in the temperature fairly well. This did the trick in my old home with its 60F (in winter) basement. These warmers are designed for use in dog houses, chicken coops, etc. Steve > I've used a warmer from a veterinary supply house with good > success. The dimensions of the particular one I used are about [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Steve Even cheaper (probably): very large pan of water, one or more aquarium heaters. Start at the desired temperature (the aquarium heaters will literally take days to warm tap water to 68 F if you have cold tap water year 'round, like some locations do), and one or two heaters will hold that temperature indefinitely. And the tiny orange neon status lights shouldn't fog most papers (though it's prudent to test).  SignatureI may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz! -- E. J. Fudd, 1954 Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer Lathe Building Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/HomebuiltLathe.htm Speedway 7x12 Lathe Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/my7x12.htm Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth and don't expect them to be perfect. > Even cheaper (probably): very large pan of water, one or more aquarium > heaters. Start at the desired temperature (the aquarium heaters will > literally take days to warm tap water to 68 F if you have cold tap water > year 'round, like some locations do), and one or two heaters will hold > that temperature indefinitely. And the tiny orange neon status lights > shouldn't fog most papers (though it's prudent to test). I do this when I have to, but I prefer the dishwarmer. Not only does the water bath throw a lot of moisture into the air, it's unwieldy. I made a water bath insert for my since out of plywood and epoxy, but it is bulky, and it doesn't work for prints bigger than 8x10. I can use my whole sink as a water bath, but welcome to the tropics. Btw., when I do this, I need to use small submersible pumps to even out the temp of the waterbath. -Peter PS if you do this, get the Won pro-heat titanium acquariam heaters. These are much better than glass models, and they're not that expensive. > Hi Folks, > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > leave one of them at room temperature? I have seen 16 x 10 tray warmers > and could probably get one of them fairly easily. How cold is your room temperature? Build one. 2"x4" frame. Fill it with sand. Put a heating cable in the bottom. Heating cables are designed for greenhouses to heat the bottom of plants. They can handle getting wet. The better ones should have temperture control. They come in various lengths so you can build what every size setup you need. You can even get heating mats but from the sounds of it you might find them too small. But back to my question. How cold is it? Nick > > Hi Folks, > > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > But back to my question. How cold is it? I think its about 14 degrees celcius, but I am not too sure as I haven't measured it yet as I still waiting for my thermometer to get delivered! Its "average" room temperature for the UK - doens't feel cold and it doesn't feel warm :) (joke!). Thanks, Andrew McCall >>Hi Folks, >> [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > How cold is your room temperature? OK, my thermometer arrived this morning, so I thought I might be able to get a good idea of the temperature of standing fluid in my room. I live the eaves of a barn conversion, so the temperature is always quite high due to rising heat during the winter, and heat on the roof during the summer. I filled my Patterson dev tank up with luke warm water and left it standing for about 10 hours, and the temperarature settled at 74.5F/23.8C. The checked it over about 3 more hours and it was constant. Thanks, Andrew McCall >Hi Folks, > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > >Andrew McCall jul1604 from Lloyd Erlick, This situation is a great candidate for single-tray processing. The solutions are kept in jugs next to the tray, and any or all of the jugs can be kept in a water bath(s). It's a breeze to keep the developer et al at the desired temperature(s) by adding hot (or cold) water occasionally. You could use some sort of electric device and circulator, but I've found it to be unnecessary. You'd need the thermometer in the developer in any case, and frankly, that is all one needs. Some people say the fixer should be a little warmer than the preceding solutions. The fixing reactions go faster. It's easy to keep fixer at 25-30C and developer at 21 with separate containers and water-baths. I keep my selenium toner at 32-34. My website has articles pertaining to this, under the technical heading in the table of contents. regards, --le Signature________________________________ Lloyd Erlick Portraits, Toronto. voice: 416-686-0326 email: portrait@heylloyd.com net: www.heylloyd.com ________________________________ RE: Andrew McCall <mccall@h2o.demon.co.uk> I'll second the One Tray Way. I combine that with One-Shot chemistry. Have you considered warming your surrounds? Dan >RE: Andrew McCall <mccall@h2o.demon.co.uk> > > I'll second the One Tray Way. I combine that with One-Shot >chemistry. > Have you considered warming your surrounds? Dan jul1604 from Lloyd Erlick' I'd like a house at One Tray Way. regards, --le |
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