Film coating machine (homemade) on Flickr

[Emulsion]

Dark Orange,

Thanks for your posts.

I'm sure everyone would be very interested to see the emulsion making equipment. If you get a chance to take some photos that would be great!

Any extra info is always appreciated!

Thanks from,

Emulsion.

[Dark Orange]

Also, the comments about kodachrome were intriguing.

He asked me to somehow slip the info that he has perfected the method of developing kodachrome and he now has consistently perfect results - but that is for another thread if I manage to get him into here.


Also, he does not have a current supplier for the film base. The stuff he uses he has had in his cupboard for many many years, and he cannot get any more. That is the obvious reason the machine is set up for a 5" web.

[richard ide]

You should be able to buy 40" rolls of triacetate from a graphic arts supplier, It was a reasonable price when I was buying it 7 years ago. The slitting is an easy job.

[Photo Engineer]

Developing Kodachrome is 'merely' following the published patent. Coating it is another matter.

Support can be purchased from the Photographers Formulary, but IDK if they can supply it in the size you want. I have 1 roll of Kodak support given me by a friend who just happened to have a roll at home. I believe it is 100 ft x 5". I would have to check.

It would be a shame if projects like this fail due to lack of the film support or some such detail. I keep running into problems like this involving chemical supplies. The support problem looms on the horizon for me too.

PE

[rmazzullo]

PE,

If clear polyester has been modified to accept toner (copier or laser printer) would this imply that it could accept an emuslion coat? Or, does this just mean that it would accept a subbing coat more readily than bare polyester?

Thanks,

Bob M.

[Photo Engineer]

Bob;

Each material must be tested and evaluated. Some work and some do not.

PE

[Steve Smith]

Polyester is also available with surface coatings and/or treatments to make them more receptive to ink coating (screen printing). It is possible that some of these would be suitable but they would have to be tested first.

We get most of our polyester from Autotype: http://www.macdermidautotype.com/aut...ope/Industrial

This page shows a range of surface coatings for various applications. We purchase it through another company who either slit it to the widths we require or (more often) sheet it out to our required size.


Steve.

[Photo Engineer]

Here is the best I can do for you:

Here are the problems that must be checked for.

1. Adhesion to the support during processing.
2. Effect on silver halide itself
3. Coatability with your selected method
4. Absorption of dyes
5. Absorption and reaction with process chemistry

I have one support that accepts a coating fine but is almost impossible to coat without having defects. Another coats fine, and processes fine, but due to the inkjet chemistry it turns brown within 24 hours. One absorbs all dyes and stays colored despite processing and so you end up with a colored image with a high dmin if any dyes are present. Some are just fine until they hit the developer/stop/fix/wash (you pick the solution) and then they either bubble up, slide off or reticulate.

PE

[Dark Orange]

Talking of Printers, they use inkjet printers to print just about anything these days. I suppose it would be technically possible to design a printer head to handle a particular emulsion, and print it directly to the base.

You could design it to fit into a commonly available printer and you'd then just need some drivers written.

Are there any obvious reasons it wouldn't work?

[Photo Engineer]

There is someone here who says he has done something like this.

PE