Chris MacDonald Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Hi All, I put the files for a spiral developing tank I designed on Thingiverse. It has options for 8/16mm and for 15/30m length. I hope it's useful for someone. -Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruben Arce Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Wow! That's a super cool design and you are just sharing it. I don't have a printer that big, but this will make some people happy for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted January 8, 2021 Author Share Posted January 8, 2021 Thanks! The smaller tank should fit on a 220x220 build plate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom lombard Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 i've never done 3d printing but it has always interested me. at the same time, i do have 16mm cameras & projectors as well as some processing experience from the 35mm photography days. would there be a 3d printer you would recommend for this project? i had actually looked into Lomo gear at a couple of points but availability of decent looking pieces was an issue. thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 I used a Creality CR-10 V2 for this build. I like the printer in general. It has a 300x300mm build plate, just big enough for the larger tank. A smaller 220x220 model (Ender 3?) should be able to print the smaller tank. There are a lot of brands, but I haven't tried any others out. 3D printing is great, but a bit fiddly, it definitely took me a while to get good prints. All part of the fun though I guess! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Motamedi Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 (edited) Nice! Thank you for making it. What are your thoughts about materials? I worry that PLA would not hold up to the chemicals for very long, especially bleach. Maybe PETG? I suppose one would need a transparent filament for reversal processing, right? Edited January 9, 2021 by Jason Motamedi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruben Arce Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I have the Ender 3 and I have a 0.3mm nozzle mounted on it now. I'm going to use that one to print the spiral, so I can get better detail and minimize scratches on the film. I'll report later, since just the spiral it's going to take 14 hours to print, but I'll give it a try for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 10 hours ago, Jason Motamedi said: Nice! Thank you for making it. What are your thoughts about materials? I worry that PLA would not hold up to the chemicals for very long, especially bleach. Maybe PETG? I suppose one would need a transparent filament for reversal processing, right? So far I've only tried the Arista rapid E-6 developing kit with Ektachrome 100D and had no issues, but probably a good idea to test first. Another issue I was thinking might be possible is if liquids could somehow become absorbed into the plastic layers over time, possibly causing contamination. I haven't seen this yet, just wondering if it's possible. I was also thinking about transparent filament for processes with a light-exposing step. The clear filament I've tried is fairly cloudy after printing so I'm not sure how that might work out. Fortunately the Arista kit has a chemical reversal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 6 hours ago, Ruben Arce said: I have the Ender 3 and I have a 0.3mm nozzle mounted on it now. I'm going to use that one to print the spiral, so I can get better detail and minimize scratches on the film. I'll report later, since just the spiral it's going to take 14 hours to print, but I'll give it a try for sure. Awesome, I hope it comes out well! I've only tried a 0.4mm nozzle. The main challenge I had with the spiral print was getting the thin spiral bar to adhere over the entire plate surface and then remain in-place for the long print. I had success after adjusting the initial nozzle height, doing a bed-leveling, and cleaning the build plate with alcohol right before printing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruben Arce Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Adjusting or calibrating the nozzle to the bed and cleaning the bed with alcohol helps a lot. I use hair spray after cleaning and calibrating the bed and prints stick to the bed really well. I just use the basic hair spray from the dollar store, it works like a charm. Also started getting much better result when I changed the bed heating temperature to 55 instead of 60° and the fan speed to 60% instead of 100% I print stuff at speed of 25-35 and that has helped me me to pretty much eliminate warping. I'm going to be out of town a couple of weeks, but I'll print the small tank soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom lombard Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 the hardware notes are greatly appreciated. thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted January 26, 2021 Author Share Posted January 26, 2021 I had requests for a 35mm version so I posted a hub, bolt, and taller tank models to support 35. They are untested but hopefully someone finds them useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robino Jones Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Thanks for sharing this this is awesome - any tips on printing the spiral - there's a lot of overhang underneath what do you do for supports? I use Cura. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted January 28, 2021 Author Share Posted January 28, 2021 3 hours ago, Robino Jones said: Thanks for sharing this this is awesome - any tips on printing the spiral - there's a lot of overhang underneath what do you do for supports? I use Cura. Thanks! I found that I had to print the spiral object upside-down, with the top surface of the spiral touching the build plate. I could not get a good print rightside-up with the spiral being put down over the support bars underneath. Even so it was a challenging print. It was difficult to get the spiral to stay adhered to the plate for the many hours required until the support bars start getting put down on top. I eventually figured out that I needed to clean my build plate with alcohol every time before I printed, and had to check my bed-leveling and ensure that I had the nozzle very close to the plate (lots of friction when pulling a sheet of paper between them.) A couple of times I would get a pretty good spiral printed, but it had a few small segments where it had gone a bit off (usually straight instead of curved.) I could usually repair the print by gently applying heat with a heat gun and then adjusting the plastic while it was soft. I used Cura as well, and adjusted the settings to try to make sure that it would print each layer of the spiral as a single path, rather than having the print head jump around to various parts of the spiral within a single layer, which tended to knock it loose from the plate. I just posted my Cura profiles on Thingiverse in case they are useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted January 28, 2021 Author Share Posted January 28, 2021 4 hours ago, Robino Jones said: Thanks for sharing this this is awesome - any tips on printing the spiral - there's a lot of overhang underneath what do you do for supports? I use Cura. Thanks! I found that I had to print the spiral object upside-down, with the top surface of the spiral touching the build plate. I could not get a good print rightside-up with the spiral being put down over the support bars underneath. Even so it was a challenging print. It was difficult to get the spiral to stay adhered to the plate for the many hours required until the support bars start getting put down on top. I eventually figured out that I needed to clean my build plate with alcohol every time before I printed, and had to check my bed-leveling and ensure that I had the nozzle very close to the plate (lots of friction when pulling a sheet of paper between them.) A couple of times I would get a pretty good spiral printed, but it had a few small segments where it had gone a bit off (usually straight instead of curved.) I could usually repair the print by gently applying heat with a heat gun and then adjusting the plastic while it was soft. I used Cura as well, and adjusted the settings to try to make sure that it would print each layer of the spiral as a single path, rather than having the print head jump around to various parts of the spiral within a single layer, which tended to knock it loose from the plate. I just posted my Cura profiles on Thingiverse in case they are useful. Regarding supports, the center hub of the spiral model has a support piece built in. I didn't add any other support and had pretty good success. Sometimes the very outside of the spiral support rim can get slightly ratty in spots, with a bit of filament drooping or loose, but it didn't affect functionality and I was able to trim away any bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robino Jones Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Thanks Chris for the super detailed explanation ! I printed the retainer this afternoon and started the spiral, I think I'm printing it the way you explained. See picture. My printer is pretty tuned in so let's see how this one goes. Hoping this will work - I can really use this because I'm about to do some optical printing and I don't want to have to go back and forth with the lab for my initial tests. I have some QWD Ecn-2 kits I can put to good use. https://quietweredreaming.com/product Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted January 28, 2021 Author Share Posted January 28, 2021 Yes that's the way I did it. Good luck with the print! Let me know if you have issues, happy to help if I can. Optical printing, sounds intriguing! Did you acquire a printer or are you trying your own process? In any case I could see where developing your own tests could be helpful there. I'm curious to see how the ECN-2 works out as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robino Jones Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 I have a couple printer projectors mainly used for scanning but I have a special one with camera and all ready for opticals. Going to start with basic stuff and go from there. I'll post tests here if i get to process some file with the tank ? It's printing now I will see tomorrow am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo Cruz Villalba Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 On 1/27/2021 at 9:50 PM, Robino Jones said: Thanks Chris for the super detailed explanation ! I printed the retainer this afternoon and started the spiral, I think I'm printing it the way you explained. See picture. My printer is pretty tuned in so let's see how this one goes. Hoping this will work - I can really use this because I'm about to do some optical printing and I don't want to have to go back and forth with the lab for my initial tests. I have some QWD Ecn-2 kits I can put to good use. https://quietweredreaming.com/product How did the EcN2 go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robino Jones Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 On 11/23/2021 at 7:35 AM, Pablo Cruz Villalba said: How did the EcN2 go? That's a long time ago, a lot of things happened since. I was never able to use the 3D printed version. Ended up getting a real lomo and a G3 and processed a ton of 35mm and 16mm. The ECN-2 works really great but it's expensive and if I remember efficiency drops fairly quickly. Good for small tests. I stick to B&W for home processing. Side note - I was never able to get "even" development with 35mm in a Lomo style tank, a LITTLE better on G3 but still not perfect at all. I tried everything (dunk, interminable agitation schemes, full dark room) until I threw in the towel. Issue is 35mm sprockets are too big and the chemicals flow through them creating uneven development. 16mm on the other hand is always perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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