Film "Lasagne" developing apron

Printing a lasagne film developing "apron"

Most people develop their film in small tanks that have spiral reels for holding the film in place so the chemicals can reach the entire surface. However, Kodak and others used to make a different sort of holder that looked like a strip of film with embossed bumps along the edge. These bumps held the film from touching anything as well. The resulting piece of plastic looked a little like a strip of commercial lasagna noodles, with the rippled edges. Here's one from Kodak.

This one is printable and nominally 90mm wide, so it would work well for the obsolete 122 and 125 roll film sizes. You could scale it in just the vertical dimension and get a range of sizes. It needs to be printed with something at least moderately flexible so you can roll your  film up in it.  I've printed it in PETG and PP. Since it's only one layer thick, it's best to print it slowly, especially with more flexible filaments. 

How to use it

For use - unroll the apron and roll it back up with your film sandwiched between the layers.  Make sure you insert the  central tube in your plastic developing tank.  

This model is around 1.2 meters long, which should be plenty for most roll films, but not 35mm. The ripples on this are fairly pronounced to ensure good results with wide film.  

You can probably work out something with your existing reels to keep the sandwich from sliding around during development.

Or check out the following accessories which I use to those ends:

Accessories

A "flat reel" to hold the sandwich of film and lasagne together on the spool. It's printed with a little lip at the column to leave space (top and bottom) in your 3-reel Paterson tank. There's a clip that fits the 1-inch center tube on the Paterson tank as well.

The clip should probably be printed in something strong and flexible like PETG rather than PLA, but you may have good luck with your favorite filament. 

Depending on your film size you may want to use this in a Paterson 2-reel tank. There's just barely enough room for 90mm film in that. Use the TankSpacer between the funnel cap of the Paterson tank and the film/lasagne combo to keep the sandwich from moving about too much, potentially scratching the film (as shown below).  Or not.  There's no room for reels in the 2-reel tank if using this at its full width. Don't forget the black center tube!

Release notes

July 8, updated the clip for your Paterson Tank tube to improve it a bit. A little more flexible, a little better fit. I had problems with mine fatiguing with use and breaking.