Water drainage on that flat homemade sinks?

[RW Hawkins]

I'll throw in my $.02 regarding sinks. There's not much need to get them all that wet, most of us use trays, and filling the whole sink with a temperature bath is not very efficient. A decent slope and a squeegee generally gets what little liquid should be in there down the drain. Next, wood and water don't mix. Make your sink out of ABS sheet and you will be much happier. Finally make it nice and tall so your bent arm easily rests on the top when standing, mine is 43" tall and quite comfortable.

[jose angel]

Framing... ouch! The issue is that the pine wood slats we have around here (the ones for the sides) are 1-1/8"x7-1/2"... if I made a frame it will take at least 3" under the bottom panel...so the depth of the sink will be too limited... if so, I should made the sides with plywood, too... maybe if I make a good "base", I can avoid the frame under the bottom panel in the sink (I was thinking not on "legs", but on a separate structure made with frames to hold the sink).
Good idea, I can add some kind of banister to lean on it.

I`ll need selant for the gasket/joints and for the whole surface... I don`t know. I asked my chemicals supplier, they offer two part epoxy resin, and I can buy "single" epoxy based paint (at the supermarket -the one used for garage floors-). Don`t know which is better, or enough for the task. They`re expensive.

Neil, I understand yours is another version of the Keith`s "duckboard".

RW, ABS sheets over a wooden board, or full, thick ABS? It seems more complex to build.

[Tracy Storer]

Homemade sink, 12 feet (3.6m) long, the "floor" of the sink is framed with 1"x2" pine (like miniature floor joists) and covered with 1/4" plywood. The floor is sloped to the drain which is at one end. The entire interior of the sink is covered with two layers of fiberglass cloth and marine epoxy resin. Basically, I made an inside-out boat.
Photo shows the bottom of the sink after exiting my old darkroom, on the way to the new place.

[jose angel]

You are an artist! What a nice huge sink!
Definitely I think I need something strong, or to use my old sink to hold the print washers. The big one is 30-35kg aprox. (40x50).

[ac12]

Another option on the washer is to put the washer on a stand outside the sink, and only drain into the sink.
That way the sink does not have to support the huge weight of a washer full of water.

I think either as Tracy has it with supports built directly under the base board, or a framed structure that you would lay the sink onto.
Structurally, supporting from the bottom with framing is easier than supporting from the top using the sides to hold up the base.
You have to build something to hold the sink up anyway, so you might as well make it support the sink properly.

If you support from the bottom, you can use a thinner 1/2 inch sheet of plywood for the base.

[RW Hawkins]

One option on the washer is to put the washer on a stand outside the sink, and only drain into the sink.
That way the sink does not have to support the huge weight of a washer full of water.

Yes hopefully your washer is water-tight so it seems silly to put it in the sink! I also like this arrangement better because I can put the top of the washer even with my sink bottom which makes it easier to load.

[jose angel]

Right now I have the print washer on an "auxiliary" sink, so after several prints I left the (long) way from the latest tray to the washer with loads of drops... anyway, as I`m changing this darkroom area, I`m now thinking how to adapt both sinks.
I think the best way is to build a strong frame under the baseboard, and to use a not so thick plyboard. If I had a bigger pinewood cut... Thank you very much for the ideas.

[Scott Walker]

My wooden sink is 32" x 96" x 4 1/2" deep and is made of 1/2" plywood with no bracing and very little waterproofing. It sits on a set of kitchen type cabinets of standard 5/8 plywood construction and the sink has about an inch of overhang in the front and flush on the back & sides. I was sure the construction would not stand up but the cabinet guy assured me it would be more than adequate without any extra bracing. So he built it and we put my 16 x 20 print washer in, filled it with water then filled the sink with water. We checked with a 4 foot level to see if there was any sag any where and it was dead straight everywhere. So we did the math and it turns out even with the sink completely full and the print washer full there was only 32 pounds per square foot pressure on the bottom of the sink and cabinets and since I usually only have 1 inch of water in the sink it drops to about 7 or 8 pounds per square foot. The big ticket item is the print washer which exerts about 90 pounds per square foot.

The Cabinets


The sink in use

[jose angel]

Scott, thanks. "Standard" chipboard kitchen cabinets are so cheap around here, so definitely it is the easiest way to have a sink support. I now have the idea, if weather permits, I`ll start the project this weekend.
Thank you all very much. Any added contribution is welcomed.

[Trigeek]

I built my sink using 2x4's, 2x6's and 1/2" plywood lined with a PVC sheet. It's long enough at 8'. The thing I wish I had done is recess the last 2 feet about 3-4 inches at the drain end. When I develop film or when I tidy up during a session, the water can sometimes run over the surface of the sink where I am working. As I would prefer to keep this area dry, the recessed area would act as a sink within a sink.