DarkroomSource Film Drying Cupboard

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Darkroom Accessories: Film Drying cupboard

Film Drying Cupboard Design
Materials
Tools
Construction
Use

Design

My film drying cupboard is a little over 6' tall, made of 1x12 and 1x4 lumber with 1/2" plywood on the top and bottom. It allows me to hang 9 rolls of 35mm film with plenty of room. I could probably hang more, but I've never had more than 5 rolls of film at one time anyhow.

I use a cheap hair dryer, to heat the cupboard and run air through, which dries the film faster, the dryer I use has a switch to turn off the heating element if I want. This dryer is actually in a base unit which is separate from the cupboard, so that I can change the filter easier.

Here is a top view of the boards, so you can see the overlap, the corner posts (2x2's) do not run the entire height of the cupboard. (Note this has the hinge on the left, if you want the hinge on the right, hold your monitor up to a mirror)

Here is an elevation, note the ventilation gap at the top, and the hole at the bottom for the dryer unit. Note: the height is not to scale. You can also see where the hinges and door handle go on this elevation.

This is the removable base unit, which contains a filter. the hair dryer 'plugs into' the large hole in the front piece of wood. A plywood bottom is attached with brads. The filter is stapled on the top of the unit.

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Materials

1x12 boards (actually 3/4" by about 10"), 3 are the height of the cabinet (mine are 72"), 1 is 6" shy of the other 3 (mine is 66")
2x2 lumber for corner supports - about 3' is all you need (you could use 1x2 I suppose)
1/2" plywood, see the text for sizes
Wood glue
A wire coat hanger

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Tools

Saw - circular makes it easier
Brads or small nails
Screws - 1 1/2" - I prefer to use drywall screws - they self tap
Clamps

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Construction

Cabinet Construction

Figure out which pieces of 1x12 will be used for front, back, left, and right. The left and right sides need to be the same width, and the front and back need to be the same width. If the difference is less than 1/4" don't bother with trying to trim them to size, it's not enough to make a difference in the assembled cabinet.
Cut the 1x12s to length, 3 are 72", one is 66".
Measure for the plywood top and bottom (both are the same size). The width of the board will be the width of the back piece plus one side thickness, the length of the boards will be the width of a side piece plus the thickness of the back.
Cut two pieces of plywood to these dimensions, they will be the top and bottom.
Cut the 2x2's into six corner brace pieces, each about 6" in length
Attach one of the corner braces to the top of the side that butts up against the back, flush with the edge that will be against the back. Glue and screw in place.
Attach another corner brace on the same side edge, up from the bottom far enough that it will not interfere with the dryer unit (about 6" clearance)
Attach a third corner brace about half way between the previous 2 braces.
Attach three more to the back piece, flush with the edge that will butt up against the other side.
Attach the back to one side with glue, screws into the corner braces, nails every foot or so into lumber.
Attach the bottom to the back and side, with glue and nails.
Attach the other side, glue all joints, screw into the corner braces, nail through the bottom into the lumber, nail through the side into the back.
Attach the top, with glue and nails.
Let the glue dry.
Paint the interior of the cabinet, to reduce dust, any color will due, I used the left over white exterior latex paint that I used to paint the walls. Also paint the inside of the door at this time.
Paint the outsides whatever color you want for your darkroom, I used white again.
Drill holes to for the hanging wires into the sides. There should be about 3 holes in each side, about 3 inches down from the top, and about 2 1/4" inches apart from each other. Align the holes with the opposite side. Run coat hanger wire through the holes, from one side to the other, and bend the ends so they stay in place. These will be what you hang the rolls of film from.
Attach hinges to the door.
Attach the door hinges to the side. The door should have about 1 1/2" clearance at the top for heat to escape, and about 4 1/2" clearance at the bottom, for the dryer unit to slide into.
Attach a door handle to the door.

Dryer unit Construction

Measure the opening at the bottom of the front of the cabinet.
Cut two pieces of 1x4 to be about 1/2" smaller than length of the opening, e.g. if the opening is 4" by 9", cut the 1x4 to be 8 1/2" by 3 1/2".
Measure the depth of the opening (from the front to the back).
Cut the sides of the dryer unit so that when they are inside the front and back of the dryer unit, they unit will fit inside the opening. e.g. my 1x12s were actually 10" wide, the depth of the opening was 10" from the inside of the back to the face of the front, my 1x lumber is 3/4" thick, so I cut my sides 8 1/2" long (10" - 3/4" - 3/4").
Measure the diameter of the dryer you'll be using. And cut a hole in the middle of the front of the dryer unit to make a snug fit for the dryer.
Assemble the dryer unit by gluing and nailing the back and front to the sides, and gluing and nailing the bottom to the walls.
Clamp and dry.
If you paint this unit, use heat resistant paint, I used the kind that is for barbecues.
When dry, staple or nail a furnace filter over the top of the dryer box. Slide the dryer unit into the cabinet, you're done!

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Use

Insert the dryer into the dryer unit.
Slide the dryer unit into the cabinet.
Plug the dryer into an outlet.
Open the cabinet door.
Hang up the film.
Close the cabinet.
Turn on the dryer. - the first time you use this, monitor the temperature inside the cabinet, and where the dryer touches the dryer unit. The temperature inside should not get above 100 degrees Fahrenheit or so. The temperature where the wood is touching the dryer should not get above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, if it does you'd better not use the heating element until you can separate the dryer from the wood with some heat absorbing, non-flammable material.
The film should dry at 100 degrees in about an hour. Turn off the dryer, and allow the film to cool to room temperature before handling (15 minutes)

I hope this helps, have fun developing!

Visitor Comments

The comments stated below are not necessarily the opinions of Andy Hughes or DarkroomSource

in college we had a film dryer that was nothing more then a piece of pvc pipe large enough to accomodate the film rolls (those metal thingies that you coil your film on;i don't know the technical term) with a latch across the bottom to hold the rolls in and a hair dryer fastened at the top.

Contributed by spidereaten on 1999-12-02 00:00:00

try using a school locker which is heighCut a hole in it on top,fix hairdryer and hook film up to pegs hung from top,leave ventilation slits at bottom

Contributed by on 2000-10-15 00:00:00

Other than rapidly drying the film, adding a heating source to the cabinent would seem to increase the risk of dust particles. Why not just let the film air dry in the cabinet and use it to minimize dust from the surrounding area.

Contributed by on 2002-01-14 00:00:00

After moving to a new house and not having a completed darkroom to work in I've used a tall garment bag to dry film in. The metal rod inside is perfect to hang film from and if needed you can cut the bottom of the bag to accommodate rolls of 36 exp.

Contributed by on 2002-02-18 00:00:00

I used 4, 16 inch by 7 foot partion doors to make a film dryer cabinet. All panels are perfectly square and can be screwed together. At the top I put in a double hepa filter set and at the bottom a slow draw fan with another hepa filter. I used weather stripping on the panel that I hinged for the door to seal it when closed. The cabinet is air tight and no dust can get in to contaminate the film. It was cheap and fast to build with excellent results.

Contributed by on 2002-04-02 00:00:00

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