Has anyone heard of anyone making their own print washer? Are there plans out there? In a book? On the web?

60 minutes of even the most infrequent hand agitation leaves me rather...agitated.

Keith

-- Keith Benoit (holybuzz@onlink.net), November 21, 1998

Answers

From the hobby electronics area, there are mechanical agitators for circuit board fabrication.

Or, you could make your own washer from plastic pipe. You just need a cover at one end that a hose can attach to, and stand it up. Put the print in, and let the water rise from bottom to top.

There's the soak and dump method. If I remember right, just let the print soak in the water, dump & replace the water once an hour for eight hours. Some papers will not stand up to this treatment, though.

-- Brian C. Miller (a-bcmill@exchange.microsoft.com), November 23, 1998.

Use the Ilford archival processing sequence and you only have to wash 5 minutes! I recently received the paper "Processing B&W Prints on Paper Base for Permanence" by Mason, Gnet and Parsons, Jounal of Applied Photographic Engineering, Vol 7, No. 2, Spring 1981. Very convincing work on processing Archival FB prints in 22 minutes!!

-- Gene Crumpler (nikonguy@emji.net), November 28, 1998.

I made my print washer that I feel works as well as any. If you have any woodworking skills you can copy Zone VI's washer useing plywood that is covered with marine two part epoxy and plixiglass. Be sure to put a piece of plixiglass on a one inch piece in the corners with many holes drilled in it and put the drain below this so the water that drains out is from the bottom where the hypo that is heavier than water will drain from. I put quite a bit of time making sure mine woukld work and I'm sure you can too. Good luck

-- Mark Riendeau (m6pc@aol.com), December 16, 1998.

an easy an cheap method ,is to obtain a plastic rectangular,litter basket,and poak holes to string monofilament fish casting string at different heights to create holders for 10 or more 8by 10s. poak holes in the bottom also.also,get a shower sprinkler piece from kay mart,that is a rubber hose that connects out to your faucet to control water input

-- richard l.renzella (richardshomebox@home.com), January 04, 1999.

I made my own print washer, out of plexiglass mostly. I've documented it at http://darkroomsource.com/printwasher.htm

I hope this helps.

Andy.

-- Andy Hughes (andy@darkroomsource.com), January 13, 1999.

Check out Andy's print washer plans, but go a bit further if you have the tools / skills:

Forget the use of wood. Period. One of the nice things about plexiglass is that it can be cut, drilled, routed, sanded just as wood can, but it's "water-friendly". With that in mind, start with Andy's basic design.

Cut your 4 pieces of plexiglass (with a circular or table saw and a fine-toothed blade) to make the outer walls of the box. Use a router to make dadoes (grooves) for the walls to fit together. Also use a router to cut a dado around the inside of all 4 walls for the false bottom.

Dry-fit all 4 walls with the false bottom to make sure everything is square. Once you're confident of the fit, prime all parts that will touch each other (with purple plumbing primer), then cement the pieces together with general purpose plumbing cement (primer and cement are found in the plumbing section of any hardware store - use them with adequate ventillation). Be sure to apply cement to all areas that will connected. The cement will allow you some working time to get some sort of clamping device around the box to hold everything in place while it dries - use whatever you want - you can even wrap twine around the box and tie it off tightly. Allow this to dry as specified on the cement - usually overnight / 24 hrs. After it's dry, apply silicone to all seams, and allow that to dry. At this point you will have a 4 sided box with the false bottom in place.

Drill holes to install your fill & drain fittings. Install and seal around them.

Now cut a piece of plexiglass to act as a base - it needs to be about 1" larger on all sides of the "footprint" of your box. Place your box on top of the base, centered, and trace the perimeter, outlining all areas that touch the base. Use a router to cut a dado (groove) for the box to fit into the base. Prime and cement the box to the base, allow it to dry, and silicone all contact areas to seal.

Make dividers based on your design - I made a basket divider system that I would recommend - it's nice to take out for cleaning, plus if you ever have to replace any silicone on the inside corners, you'll thank yourself.

The result: a solid, leakproof washer that works well for about $50. Make tests with a residual hypo tester to determine your optimum wash time(s) - check Photographer's Formulary if you can't find one.

-- John Mueller (jmphoto@ameritech.net), March 16, 1999.

I made one similar to Andy's for about $22 (US)... I bought a plastic filing box at OfficeMax ($8), and some plastic fluorescent light sheeting ($3, silicone glue ($3), and hose parts ($6) at Home Depot.

First, I glued three empty film cans (free) to the inside bottom. I installed the hose on the side just above the bottom and sealed it with silicone glue. I drilled five rows of holes in a section of the plastic sheeting, cut to fit with a 'skrawker' knife (I already had one from Home Depot, I think it was about $1.50), and glued it flat on top of the film cans and sealed it around the edges.

Then, I cut five plastic inserts and glued them in vertically, using a popsicle stick to spread the glue on the edges. Let the whole (fairly ugly) thing dry overnight.

Drill a small hole (1/8") in the bottom as an outflow (hypo is heavier than water). Set the whole thing in the sink and hook it up. Since it sits in the sink, it doesn't really matter if it leaks a little bet... I've been using it for about two years now, with excellent results.

-- Ross Henton (ross.henton@eds.com), June 17, 1999.