An automatic movie processing machine
In case you have ever tried growing movie at house, you realize the enjoyment this magical course of brings. You most likely additionally know that whereas processing one, two, and even 5 rolls is comparatively straightforward, going massive quantity isn’t trivial. That is the place the Dunkbot is available in.
The appropriately named Dunkbot is a Kickstarter venture that, effectively… dunks! Dunks rolls of movie.
[Related reading: Processing film with coffee and other supermarket ingredients]
Automated movie processing
The Dunkbot makes use of a robotic crane to maneuver canisters loaded with undeveloped movie from one chemical tub to a different. You need to use as much as six chemical compounds set in six totally different chrome steel canisters. For instance, you’ll be able to set one tub with a developer, one with a cease tub, one with fixer fluid, and two with pre-soak and rinse waters. The Dunkbot will monitor the temperatures of every tank, together with the wanted time for every step of the method. As soon as a step is finished, the arm will transfer the movie into the subsequent tub.
Having six out there baths, the Dunkbot can assist managing the occasions, temperatures, and agitation cycles for the black and white, C-41, E-6, or ECN-2 processes.
How a lot movie can the Dunkbot deal with?
Automating a course of solely is sensible if the automation saves extra time than it consumes. Sizewise, the Dunkbot can deal with a number of rolls of movie in a single shot:
- Three rolls of 35mm
- Two rolls of 120 movie
- Six sheets of 4×5 movie
You may as well put together extra tanks to run a collection of batches.
Sadly, the gear wanted to deal with totally different quantities of movies isn’t a part of the package, and also you would want to purchase it individually. The excellent news is that these are normal elements that you could simply acquire out of your native retailer and even cheaper on second palms markets.
Organising the Dunkbot
The Dunkbot is available in one in every of two varieties, as a package, or (virtually) pre-assembled. If you happen to’ve handled 3D printers earlier than, you’ll be very aware of the idea. Costs vary between 950 CAD for the package and 1,220 CAD for the semi-assembled package. When you’ve put the package collectively, there’s a collection of steps it is advisable observe. Nothing too complicated and you’ve got an LCD to configure and observe progress.
- Load your movie onto the growing reel and put it into the lightproof growing tank (this should be executed in full darkness, both in a dark-bag or in a totally darkish room).
- Fill every of the six pots with the suitable chemical compounds or water.
- Connect the growing tank to the tip of the arm.
- Configure the Dunkbot in your movie course of utilizing the color touchscreen. You’ll be able to customise any parameter, equivalent to time, agitation charge, temperature, sequence order, and so forth. or decide from one of many presets.
- Press begin. The Dunkbot takes care of the remaining.
- As soon as the Dunkbot indicators that processing is full, take away your movie and dangle to dry.
- For cleanup, pour the chemical compounds again into their respective bottles for re-use. Get rid of the rinse water down the drain. The pots are food-grade chrome steel and the whole lot is straightforward to wash to forestall cross-contamination.
My Kickstarter outlook
This isn’t Matt’s first Kickstarter. He ran a really profitable Spot Meter Kickstarter earlier than. That one was overfunded at 124,342 CAD. I like the concept of the Dunkbot. It hits a candy spot between my love for 3d printing and images. Sadly, I’m not optimistic. The Dunkbot has about 5 weeks to go, and solely 11% of the funding wanted.
The Dunkbot additionally set a really aggressive funding objective of about 300,000 USD which is feasible however appears a bit excessive for tasks of this kind. Kicktraq foresees low funding of about 50%. In fact, traits might change, and I hope that this text will assist to deliver consciousness to the venture. What do you assume? Is that this venture even related in 2023?
