APS Film Canister Tools

I shoot and home-develop a lot of different film formats. APS has a unique canister, which is fiddly at best, and a PITA at worst. These tools are designed to take the pain out of handling those reels. There are two tools and a shiv/joiner to keeping the tools together so you are less likely to loose 'em.

One tool is a key for the APS film gate door, to open/close it. I've found that the door opens and closes much easier if you first set the canister's "stage" to "3" (look at the end of the can). Be gentle when using the key tool, as it is semi fragile, since it is so small. A carbon fiber filament might help with durability, but I haven't tried. The easiest way to set the canister to "stage 3" is to use the other tool in this project, which is...

The other tool is the winder tool, used to unwinding/rewinding the film from the canister, but also useful to setting the canister's stage before opening the film gate door.

Obviously these tools are being offered for download so that people can print them for themselves (if you do, please let me know!), but if you would like me to print them for you, I'd be happy to for a reasonable price. Just email me.

To see actual prints of my design, check out the “Makes” tab (I print basically everything I design.)

Print instructions

Printer:
MakerFarm Pegasus / ANY

Rafts:
None

Supports:
No

Brim:
I do NOT use one for this design, but if you need to for your printer's adhesion, then by all means use one

Resolution:
0.15mm

Infill:
20%

Filament brand:
Any brand should work fine

Filament color:
White (Any color should be fine)

Filament material:
PLA+

Nozzle temp:
205°C

Bed temp:
55°C

TWO comments about printing these tools:

1) I print these pretty slow, since the tips are pretty fine, 30mm/sec

2) The shiv part is intentionally 2x longer than it should be for use. This is done to act as a pseudo-support beam for the tools. Since the tools' tips are so small/delicate, the shiv gives a time delay to those parts, and allows them to print more cleanly. One the pint is done, I cut the shiv in half so that I actually have two shivs at the end of the print job