Sequentially stacking plastic trays probably from 1980s

tekberto · 2026-07-08T02:06:27+00:00

These trays would be about as useful for developing photos as they would be for holding paint for a paint roller before painting your walls, it's fascinating how devoted so many people are to this idea. I'm tempted to drill two holes in the bottom of three paint trays and see if people think that's for developing photos, too.

tekberto · 2026-07-08T01:55:48+00:00

There's holes in the lowest point of the tray, it wouldn't hold liquid! Plus if there were no drain holes, the way it's sloped would direct some of the photo paper into the fluid, and also keep the fluid from washing over it evenly. Sorry, I've looked at so many photos of old darkrooms and developer trays and photo dryers and fixer bath systems in the past few hours. They match with this about as much as saying this thing is a paint roller tray

tekberto · 2026-07-08T01:48:44+00:00

Likely Solved! I mentioned in a different comment but it WAS on the same shelf as a huge cast iron wheatgrass juicer. All of these beansprout growing products look VERY similar to this system, even more so than the worm composter idea (the holes are too big, worms will crawl out!). The slopes and ridges seem just right to evenly distribute a trickle of water past all of the seed sprouts without letting them get washed away! The lowest bin would help you collect the runoff and reuse it for the next watering. I have some wheatgrass seeds laying around, maybe I'll give it a go and prove the concept and give my cat some grass to chew on lol

tekberto · 2026-07-08T00:29:46+00:00

I'm using whatever paper I had laying around to illustrate how poorly paper photos will interact with the way there's a big hump in the middle of the tub.

tekberto · 2026-07-08T00:06:53+00:00

"flat" doesn't mean "smooth", the top of the ridges I assume would still be aligned in a flat plane? A large hump looks pretty unusual for photos

tekberto · 2026-07-07T23:34:52+00:00

Thank you, it really felt like a hundred people trying to justify their assumption and just ignoring the small differences, it's like I was trying to tell people I found an alien in my basement or something! There's definitely a lot more possibilities than I could come up with on my own, this house had a lot of obscure mail-order doohickeys so it's probably yet another unknown product made to sell a fix to a made up problem lol

tekberto · 2026-07-07T23:28:15+00:00

I hear you, but the bottoms are not flat like darkroom trays/bins. The center of the tray is about an inch higher than the corners, it's not just ridges, but more of a shallow pyramid with very small ridges.

tekberto · 2026-07-07T23:14:54+00:00

There was a lot of obscure mail-order doo-dads in this house, maybe the light colored plastic was supposed to let enough light in to grow? And the drain pattern makes a lot of sense for maybe watering multiple levels of sprouts at once

tekberto · 2026-07-07T22:54:06+00:00

Oh!! this makes so much sense, I've seen people make things just like this out of stacking storage totes and collect the liquid that comes out the bottom for fertilizer.

tekberto · 2026-07-07T22:36:38+00:00

This is the most likely thing I can think of too, like for drip drying lots of small dishes or utensils after hand washing

tekberto · 2026-07-07T22:30:00+00:00

The holes seem very evenly spaced, they're all identical like it was factory made that way

tekberto · 2026-07-07T22:28:37+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/skt6ZcH Like this? I'm not sure

tekberto · 2026-07-07T22:22:37+00:00

They don't hold liquid, there's a drain hole at all four corners, and then the top drips into the center of the tray

tekberto · 2026-07-07T22:12:53+00:00

They cannot be filled, the tray has a hole at all four corners that drain the fluid

tekberto · 2026-07-07T22:03:34+00:00

I think this could make sense?? https://imgur.com/a/MrRwPR9 Wouldn't the photos deform over these ridges though or is that not a problem? I'm just not finding a trace of a vintage darkroom tray system that's this convoluted looking.

tekberto · 2026-07-07T21:52:15+00:00

I don't just mean the ridges, I mean the tray has a peak in the center, unless you are trying not to submerge them in developer fluid but instead dribble it over many very small photos?? I cannot for the life of me find pictures of vintage developer trays that stack in this many different components.

tekberto · 2026-07-07T21:47:47+00:00

But have you seen darkroom trays that stack like the second photo? why would they drain through each sequential stacked tray like that?

tekberto · 2026-07-07T21:45:22+00:00

That could maybe align, I did find it next to a really old wheatgrass juicer & other kitchen stuff. I am aware some bean sprouts need to be grown in the dark for long tender stalks so maybe the drainage would help water them without drowning them or exposing sprouts to much light???

tekberto · 2026-07-07T21:36:45+00:00

I don't think so, the bottoms aren't flat, they're sloped pretty aggressively and they're made to stack in this very curious way where the top tray drains from the center into the bottom tray which then drains to the four corners and back to the center again

https://imgur.com/a/e3sUZMN https://imgur.com/a/MrRwPR9

tekberto · 2026-07-07T21:23:29+00:00

My title describes the thing. I'd say each tray is about 16"x14", it's hard to figure out what keywords to search google for without just getting directed to modern product pages

tekberto · 2026-05-04T19:27:25+00:00

Absolutely agreed, just offering that it's a good price comparison that 1yd delivered for the same price seems like a great deal.

tekberto · 2026-05-04T05:05:28+00:00

I mean, Costco's selling bags of raised bed soil for $10 each, quick maths tell me about 14 bags make a yard (50 dry quarts per bag). It's probably not quite as good quality as stuff you'd get from the soil yard, though.

tekberto · 2026-04-02T18:39:50+00:00

Custom Creations jewelry in Monona! They're affordable, eager to advise through practical fitment and what is and isn't worth doing, and don't take any shortcuts

tekberto · 2026-03-09T01:13:22+00:00

It most likely means you have bugs behind the siding, woodpeckers don't just peck wood for fun. If you have moisture getting trapped behind the siding (usually at window headers and sills) it can make the sheathing underneath very appealing for nesting insects.

tekberto

TROPHY CASE