- Step 1 - Coating head and roller - this is the business end where a thin consistant layer of emulsion is applied to the film base.
- Step 2 - Chiller. The emulsion is chilled to set it.
- Step 2a - chiller
- Step 3 - Drier. Dry air is blown over the chilled emulsion
- Tensioner to keep the film loop tight
- Drive roller
- Splicing table
- There is a take-up spool here now for the finished film
- There is a spool here now for uncoated film base.
Filminator_01
The film coating machine in all its glory.
I shall put some more info here, as this seems to be the main image people/blogs/sites are linking to...
=========================
Can't buy the film you want any more? Just make the stuff!
In this set you will find random photos and information on a project a friend has undertaken - a machine to make his own camera film.
Plastic and goop go in one end, and camera film comes out the other end. This is not a trivial undertaking.
*update*
This bit of hardware seems to have created a bit of a stir...
www.apug.org/forums/forum205/45479-film-coating-machine-h...
galerie-photo.info/forum/read.php?f=1&i=56446&t=5...
nelsonfoto.com/v/showthread.php?s=ea2ac0252aebb545664c3d5...
...and there's a couple of private discussion groups I do not have access to that link here.
*further update*
It's been picked up by a couple of blogs and now the live journal crowd. These images are often the twelve most viewed images on my photostream, so a lot of people are interested.
*yet another update*
I have moved away for work so will not be able to get any more photos for a while. But at this point in time, the coating machine is working well and the builder is now concentrating on building the reaction chambers for the various emulsions he intends to use.
To all those who are thinking of doing a project like this, get do it! Post your results!
*even further update*
I apologise on the lack of updates. The machine is still working well, and is coating film, but I have not been in a position to visit the builder for the last 6 months, and have no idea when I will get there again.
To make some things clear:
I am not the builder.
The builder has no plans of selling any film, experimental or
otherwise, from this machine.
He has managed to develop Kodachrome.
He now is setting his sights on making his own Kodachrome.
And that's about all there is to say, except there is much more information in the APUG thread linked to above.
Comments and faves
alhawley, fotografija Rombo Peter, de12vere, Kenshi Daito, and 120 other people added this photo to their favorites.
melbourne_underground... in Brisbane (55 months ago | reply)
Brilliant.
Where on earth do you get the raw materials?
I'd really be interested to see the final product in action.
dark orange (55 months ago | reply)
The film base is off-the shelf, but the emulsion is made in the dark-room/lab to the right of this shot.
The builder has made and coated some basic emulsion, exposed it and developed it - and it looks good.
The neat trick was placing a base layer of titanium dioxide on the film, so the developed film is the finished product - it's black and white, just like a print.
I am hoping to get there again this week and will try to get a scan of the finished 'photo'.
The builder is more interested in getting things done than documenting the progress, but I will hopefully change that. :)
Im_a_teapot (55 months ago | reply)
didn't you make that a while ago?
dark orange (55 months ago | reply)
Same photos you would have seen, but the project has progressed a lot since then, which I will hopefully continue on in here.
Im_a_teapot (55 months ago | reply)
Excellent!
Serge Marx (55 months ago | reply)
that is remarkable!!
Bill Smith1 (54 months ago | reply)
this is cool. Good luck with the project. What film size are you making?
dark orange (54 months ago | reply)
The film base is about 4" wide from memory, and many metres long :) I will have to get the flatbed scanner up and going to scan some of the results.
I'll get proper stats and numbers in a couple of days.
fotografija Rombo Peter (54 months ago | reply)
Great job! I hope that I can support this project with buying some film.
Frans Peter Verheyen (53 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Film is not dead it just smells funny, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Frans Peter Verheyen (53 months ago | reply)
Make your own film, can it be done?
www.smellsfunny.net/smells-funy-blog/
dark orange (53 months ago | reply)
Thanks for that Frans, but Flickr Stats already alerted me to its existance. It also pointed this. out to me.
Rob Cruickshank (49 months ago | reply)
This is really wonderful.
sepiareverb (49 months ago | reply)
Retail price?
dark orange (49 months ago | reply)
Thanks for the interest, Sepiaverb. This is an experimental unit built for non-commercial purposes. Availability of the base stock is the limiting factor - the builder has only a finite amount.
Find a source of 5" base, and he'll probably be a little more open to the idea. :)
Tomé (47 months ago | reply)
reminds me of a guy who once decided to build his own telescope house from scratch - lenses included.
this looks splendid, the machine itself is incredibly beautiful.
could he now build a polaroid-t-zero-minator, please?
alihasta (47 months ago | reply)
This is brilliant!!!
Whats next on the list?
dark orange (47 months ago | reply)
reminds me of a guy who once decided to build his own telescope house from scratch - lenses included.
Funny you should mention that, it's his next project. ;)
"Nome" [deleted] (47 months ago | reply)
great!
i want to build my own filminator!
Zarbo (39 months ago | reply)
Flying to the moon and come back in one piece is easy. Developing Kodachrome, let alone making it...man, that's tough! This guy must be a timetraveller. not sure if he's from the future or from the past, though. Congratulations! Amazing achievement.
Nabla Quadro (33 months ago | reply)
As a mechanical engineer i just have a word to say: GENIUS
So simple, so linear. So it will never jams.
I would like to start shooting something or somebody (in what sense?) using the old school methods. Maybe i'll put something here...
But it's sure i wanna redo that infernal machine by myself.
Cole Cyccone (29 months ago | reply)
would mister film messiah care to share how he made such a wondrous machine?
Napolitan_2000 (28 months ago | reply)
Brilliant. And Now all we need is someone to make the old Kodak type 123 spools and maybe the 616 spools too.
Where does the get the 4 inch base from?
ngmcwherter (16 months ago | reply)
You said the builder could develop Kodachrome. Is he still doing this? I realize this is years later...
dark orange (16 months ago | reply)
I have not had contact with the builder for several years, unfortunately - but the attempt to emulate Kodachrome was at an advanced stage when I last heard anything so I suspect the answer to your question is "yes".
mlhradio (14 months ago | reply)
Congratulations on receiving more than 10,000 views, that's quite impressive! Now that you've reached this milestone, you might want to consider graduating this photograph from the 'Views: 5000' group to the 'Views: 10000' group, which can be found here: www.flickr.com/groups/views10000/
Once again, congratulations and hopefully your photos will receive many more views in the future!
bentleyEsq (4 months ago | reply)
can you make 10 x 8 inch sheet film??? If you can can I buy some?
Roobit1970 (2 months ago | reply)
this is amazing,