Screen Drying Cabinets

[Rockers]

Playing with the idea of buying a screen drying cabinet. Now it seems there are a few different ones available these days. I think Workhorse, HIX and some pther manufacturers are offering their own models. The one we are most drawn to is the Vastex Dri Vault- 24 screens capacity. I believe we have some users of this drying cabinet within this community. Would love to get some feedback, does it dry screens pretty fast, is it well build, etc Would you recommend it. In the end $4000 is a lot of money but I just don`t have the time to do another diy project. Always wondered why M&R is not making any drying cabinets.

[Logowear]

I have the Vastex Dri Vault wide 20 screen. It's well built and works great.
Emulsion dries in 20-40 min depending on how full the cabinet is.
I purchased the wide cabinet to put my Exile Freestyler on top.

[Rockers]

I have the Vastex Dri Vault wide 20 screen. It's well built and works great.
Emulsion dries in 20-40 min depending on how full the cabinet is.
I purchased the wide cabinet to put my Exile Freestyler on top.

Looks good, the only thing I would find annoying is the hight of that drying cabinet. I`d have to bend over when ever I want to get a screen out.

[GraphicDisorder]

We have 2, both vastex.  A 10 screen and a 24 screen. But our 24 is the vertical one. They are both great, 10 one you can heat them up faster of course since its less space to heat. But both are great.

[SteveS]

We've owned our AWT drying cabinet for 11 years and it's been virtually trouble free with the exception of a caster breaking off during a shop relocation. We have it on two furniture dollies now.

Regardless of which you choose, you will find it one of the best additions to your shop if you have a small shop footprint and you stay busy. I read above that someone says their box dried emulsion in 20-40 minutes. That seems long to me. We have ours fine tuned to dry a recently cleaned and reclaimed wet box of screens in about 10 minutes and then we can coat and put them back in the box for another 15 and they're ready to expose.

That's the whole idea is to speed up that process. We have that box in our darkroom where we have a positive pressure A/C climate controlled environment and a dehumidifier and it all runs smooth as better. What I mean by positive pressure A/C is to install a register in that darkroom and not have a return. We took a leg off our embroidery production room and ran that to the darkroom. Stays nice and cool and no dust get's in because the flow of air is always out of or under the door jam. Our room is about 10' x 15'.

[Logowear]

I have the Vastex Dri Vault wide 20 screen. It's well built and works great.
Emulsion dries in 20-40 min depending on how full the cabinet is.
I purchased the wide cabinet to put my Exile Freestyler on top.

Looks good, the only thing I would find annoying is the hight of that drying cabinet. I`d have to bend over when ever I want to get a screen out.

I originally was going to order the 24 vertical, but needed at place to put the Freestyler and it worked out perfect.
I would prefer the 24 vertical if not for that.

[SteveS]

This is a great thread. Do the Vastex models have adjustable temperature controls? I think that would be a very important feature so you can dial in dry times by speeding them up or slowing things down. Too much time and heat will ruin the emulsion characteristics but when you have that dialed in, like we do with our AWT, you can pump out screens really quick from reclaim to ready to expose.

[Sbrem]

We have a real old one, $300 at auction over 20 years ago. Yes, works great. Do it, you'll be happy.

Steve

[tonypep]

Might take it give me a call. I can get casters anywhere 770-329-3994

[Rockers]

We have 2, both vastex.  A 10 screen and a 24 screen. But our 24 is the vertical one. They are both great, 10 one you can heat them up faster of course since its less space to heat. But both are great.

Good point and as a matter of fact I`m considering getting 2 of the 10 screen cabinets just for the simple fact that I don`t need to run a new 200V line into our dark room and then get as well a transformer to up the 200V to 240V. The 10 screen units run on 115V, right? Just plug and play.

[farmboygraphics]

I know I've shared this before and it's not going to be for everyone, but maybe someone. :-)
https://youtu.be/Mce58sON5Q4