I designed and 3D printed film hanging clips, looking for honest constructive feedback to release them for free
I’ve been working on my own film drying clips because the vintage/professional ones I found are surprisingly expensive, especially if you need a lot of them.
I’ve never actually handled the originals, so this isn’t meant to be a replica. I looked at several different film clips and spring clamps, studied how they work, and recreated the mechanism based on photos, research and engineering assumptions.
The goal is to have one single clip geometry that works for both 35mm and 120 film.
The clip uses a metal hinge pin, torsion springs and mechanical stops to limit the opening and protect the spring.
For 35mm, the idea is to cut off the leader and use the existing sprocket holes to grip the film.
For 120, the clip currently makes small holes in the film about 5 mm from the end, in the part that would normally be trimmed off anyway.
They’re also intentionally quite heavy so they help keep the film straight while drying. The printed body is around 34 g, plus roughly 5–10 g of metal parts, so about 40–45 g per clip.
I’m still refining the design and would really like feedback from people who regularly process film.
Does this gripping method make sense?
Would you change anything about the jaws, spring force, hole position or weight?
Anything else to take into consideration that might be useful to add to the final design?
If there’s interest, I can post more CAD screenshots and prototype photos.
EDIT: Just to be clear, these are NOT for sale. The idea is to release the files for free once the design is finished. I just wanted to get some feedback from people who actually develop film before releasing them, to make sure I’m not overlooking anything!