An automatic movie processing machine
3 min read
If in case you have ever tried creating movie at house, you realize the enjoyment this magical course of brings. You in all probability additionally know that whereas processing one, two, and even 5 rolls is comparatively simple, going giant quantity just isn’t trivial. That is the place the Dunkbot is available in.
The appropriately named Dunkbot is a Kickstarter undertaking that, properly… 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 should utilize as much as six chemical substances set in six totally different stainless-steel canisters. For instance, you may 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 completed, the arm will transfer the movie into the following tub.
Having six obtainable baths, the Dunkbot can assist managing the instances, 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 smart 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 can too put together extra tanks to run a sequence of batches.
Sadly, the gear wanted to deal with totally different quantities of movies just isn’t a part of the package, and also you would want to purchase it individually. The excellent news is that these are normal components that you could simply receive out of your native retailer and even cheaper on second arms markets.
Establishing the Dunkbot
The Dunkbot is available in one in every of two types, as a package, or (virtually) pre-assembled. If you happen to’ve handled 3D printers earlier than, you’d be very acquainted with 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 sequence of steps you could comply with. Nothing too advanced and you’ve got an LCD to configure and monitor progress.
- Load your movie onto the creating reel and put it into the lightproof creating tank (this have to be completed in full darkness, both in a dark-bag or in a totally darkish room).
- Fill every of the six pots with the suitable chemical substances or water.
- Connect the creating tank to the top of the arm.
- Configure the Dunkbot to your movie course of utilizing the color touchscreen. You may customise any parameter, similar to time, agitation charge, temperature, sequence order, and so on. or choose from one of many presets.
- Press begin. The Dunkbot takes care of the remainder.
- As soon as the Dunkbot alerts that processing is full, take away your movie and hold to dry.
- For cleanup, pour the chemical substances again into their respective bottles for re-use. Eliminate the rinse water down the drain. The pots are food-grade stainless-steel and every little thing is straightforward to wash to stop 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 aim of about 300,000 USD which is feasible however appears a bit excessive for initiatives of this sort. Kicktraq foresees low funding of about 50%. In fact, tendencies might change, and I hope that this text will assist to carry consciousness to the undertaking. What do you suppose? Is that this undertaking even related in 2023?
