Film coating machine (homemade) on Flickr

[Photo Engineer]

I think that one of the moderators should make this a sticky!

PE

[Dark Orange]

, I would park my car in the driveway and put this in the garage just to have one.

Funny you should mention that...

The filminator was dragged to a corner of the garage and walls built around it. It's there to stay. And the car is outside...

BTW, the term "Filminator" is of my own doing. All my photo titles are instant thoughts, and when first posting this I had a flashback to the Futurama episode with the "Crushinator".

I am glad this has shown you all what is possible to do in your own garage with a little knowledge and a lot of time. I hope this acts as a catalyst to your own creativity.

While this project was started with the aim of creating a coating machine with the best possible output with the most reliable consistancy between batches, it is probably overkill for the average user in here. Maybe Photo Engineer can suggest ways that the unit can be shrunk and simplified while still giving more consistant results than hand coating.

[Photo Engineer]

Actually, I cannot help shrinking it. All I keep thinking about is how to expand it to allow 8" coating.

Also, I have lots of emulsion formulas in mind that might work well on this machine. I'm thinking right now about this nice 400 - 800 speed emulsion....... Oh well.

PE

[rmazzullo]

I am blown away by the realization that a coating machine such as this has been built and can be made by others. Just the small details revealed in the photos and discussed have answered some questions before they were asked. Things like the Zenith pump (http://www.zenithpumps.com/products/bpb.htm), and the inline filters and traps, for starters. If you go to the larger original sizes of the photographs on Flickr, you can see some of the paths the film base takes through the machine. I am sure as more details emerge and are discussed, this will open up new possibilities that were only talked about not too long ago.

I am itching to see photos of the emulsion preparation equipment and reaction vessels.

Can you imagine a bunch (a whole bunch?) of these machines being built, and configured for film and / or paper? Even attempting color film? How about IR film, or experiments to recreate Tech Pan? The list seems almost endless.

I have located a source of bulk triacetate 120 (and other sizes) film base in NYC, but they have yet to get back to me as far as their minimum order requirements.

I wonder if you can use the same machine to coat and prepare roll film backing paper? The patents describe in good detail how the backing paper was made, and the what and why of the coated layers.

Bob M.

[ben-s]

Originally Posted by Photo Engineer

...I'm thinking right now about this nice 400 - 800 speed emulsion....... Oh well....

Damnit, PE, did you have to say that

In theory, an 8" machine wouldn't have to be any longer, just a few inches wider... Or would the dryer would need to have a longer path to cope with a greater wet surface area?

I've been thinking more along the lines of a small (as in benchtop) 35mm slitting/perfing machine...

[Photo Engineer]

Ben;

Dryer capacity at 5" width is not sufficient to handle 10" width. You either have to run at about 1/2 speed or make the dryer cabinets longer.

PE

[Neanderman]

Originally Posted by rmazzullo

I wonder if you can use the same machine to coat and prepare roll film backing paper? The patents describe in good detail how the backing paper was made, and the what and why of the coated layers.

Bob:

Do you have these patent numbers? I'd be very curious to read them.

Ed

[rmazzullo]

Originally Posted by Neanderman

Bob:

Do you have these patent numbers? I'd be very curious to read them.

Ed

Hi Ed...

Here you go. The inventor on all of them is Ernest L. Baxter, and the assignee is Eastman Kodak. The latest patent builds on the prior ones, so I have listed all of the numbers I found:

2751309, 2646366, 2646365, 2262986, and RE21268

Bob M.

P.S. When you see the term "transparent zein" mentioned in the patents, some further research seems to indicate that it is another name for confectioner's glaze, of all things. This needs further checking.

[rmazzullo]

Something else that comes to mind regarding the film coating machine: that it should be possible to scale this concept down to coat 35mm film base...providing a source is available. You could (potentially) use 35mm film projector sprockets and rollers for film transport.

Just a thought.

Bob M.

[Photo Engineer]

Originally Posted by rmazzullo

Something else that comes to mind regarding the film coating machine: that it should be possible to scale this concept down to coat 35mm film base...providing a source is available. You could (potentially) use 35mm film projector sprockets and rollers for film transport.

Just a thought.

Bob M.

Since coated width must be narrower than the support for technical reasons, and the edges are defective, this method would either be extremely messy causing loads of defects, or produce a product that is underwidth.

It is better to coat wider and cut down. This has been the experience of ALL manufacturers to date.

PE