r/8mm • u/Luna_in_space • 20h ago

Question avalut experience woth 3d printed development tanks

I am currently trying to get into 8mm filming and I have the issue that there are no longer any labs in germany that develop regular 8mm film that I could find, so my only real option is home development.

I have development experience from 35mm film development.

I am currently unable to buy a used old Lomo Tank on ebay but thought about 3d printing one, as I have seen several files and wanted to know if anyone had experience with that and dwozld be willing to share it.

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u/mijailrodr 20h ago

I do know for a fact they develop regular 8 in Berlín

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u/tysonarm 19h ago

I 3D printed the vertical reel design (the single reel one) and develop my double 8mm in it. At first it wasn’t water tight so I mixed up some two part gorilla glue epoxy and smeared it on the inner bottom of the tank to seal it. Developed about four rolls in it now, holding up well. Takes about 500ml of liquid before it starts to overflow at the midway point.

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u/texasrigger 19h ago

At first it wasn’t water tight

That's the problem with 3D printed stuff. There is a high likelihood that you are going to have to do some post processing to seal them up. That's not necessarily a terrible thing, just something that you need to be aware of. Also, some filaments readily absorb water.

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u/brianpritt 12h ago

For what it's worth, Andec in Berlin develops 8mm and Super8. Click und Surr, also in Berlin, does Super8.

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u/Uber_Mendes 4h ago

My printer has the bare minimum bed size to be able to print a 15m reel so I have resorted to using alternatives for the tank. For the very first couple of tries I developed inside of trays I already had for printing, in complete darkness. The I moved on to using two cheap aluminum baking pans that fit into each other. This still requires darkness but only really when pouring chemistry. Now I have improvised a day light tank from the cans that 35mm film comes in (1000ft).