Source for 6' Stainless Steel darkroom sink?

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah, yeah, I've seen it all and probably done it all - penetrating epoxies, epoxy paint, fiberglass, thermoplastics, blah, blah, products you've never even heard of. I sell all the above too, and have been involved in more damn sink projects, all the way from home darkrooms and teaching darkrooms to full industrial nasty chem applications, than I care to remember. It's just that the cheap and easy way often isn't. I could personally make a very clean seamless ABS sink cheaper and faster than anything plywood & paint, and not have to deal with the fumes either, other than a bit of solvent welding. Or if you can afford it, just order one of those nice stainless ones and put some insulation under it. So much of this reminds me of those classic old Popular Mechanics do-it-yourself articles, like "How to Build Your Own Nuclear Submarine Using Spare Washing Machine Parts".

[Bruce Barlow]

Yeah, yeah, I've seen it all and probably done it all - penetrating epoxies, epoxy paint, fiberglass, thermoplastics, blah, blah, products you've never even heard of. I sell all the above too, and have been involved in more damn sink projects, all the way from home darkrooms and teaching darkrooms to full industrial nasty chem applications, than I care to remember. It's just that the cheap and easy way often isn't. I could personally make a very clean seamless ABS sink cheaper and faster than anything plywood & paint, and not have to deal with the fumes either, other than a bit of solvent welding. Or if you can afford it, just order one of those nice stainless ones and put some insulation under it. So much of this reminds me of those classic old Popular Mechanics do-it-yourself articles, like "How to Build Your Own Nuclear Submarine Using Spare Washing Machine Parts".

But you can't seem to cite a real case where one actually failed?

[Drew Wiley]

Oh to answer your question, Bruce ... How many wood & epoxy dkrm sinks have I seen fail - quite a few of em over the years. How much caulk failure - many
millions of dollars worth if you factor the water damage, provided it went somewhere you really didn't want it to (not all darkrooms or analogous projects are in a cement basement). I really don't care how you do it, as long as it meets your personal expectations and you enjoy your project. Just realize that for every personal application you cite, I have a mental data base of thousands of em. Not that I'm any smarter than the rest of you. Just comes with the territory in my kind of business.

[Richard Wasserman]

Let's see, I think I have an old washing machine around here somewhere. Maybe next to the cold fission reactor I built with cereal boxes and a skateboard...

[MrFujicaman]

Well, Drew, I also have plans from the old Darkroom Photography magazine for making a sink out of 1/4 PVC sheets.

[Drew Wiley]

Gosh, Bruce.. I don't want to argue with you. This is what I do for a living. The whole damn America's Cup teams shopped here, and carbon fiber isn't even a specialty of ours. I'm a stone's throw from the Marina. I'm surrounded by biotech and pharmaceutical plants. We sell more marine epoxy here than the factory
store itself does up the road. Our average portable wood sander sale is over a thousand bucks, including one less than five minutes ago. I have more kinds of sandpaper on the shelf than you've probably ever heard of. Marine plywood is less than fifty feet down the hall. I don't need to "cite" anyone else. I AM considered
the expert in this part of the world.

[Tin Can]

Epoxy is nasty, as is caulk. OK for boats built outside.

My Leedall sinks made by http://rosyproducts.com/ many decades ago, are insulated, clean and strong. I can walk in mine when necessary. They hold water to the top, I checked, that's some serious weight.

I have used wood sinks, but buying these 3 sinks was cheaper, faster and way easier. I gave a fiberglass one to the gardeners here, for a potting bench. They drilled holes in it to fasten it to a bench...

Each to their own. As many have said, they are just for spills...

[Kevin Crisp]

I also thought epoxy was nasty until I used the west system products. Easy too use and virtually odorless. Very tough stuff when brushed on. Yes, you have to add one part to another, but after that it is as easy to use as a can of paint.

[Drew Wiley]

Pro and cons. Here in earthquake country, a sink without seams is a benefit. Oddly, what caused me problems recently was our drought and the foundation settling
different. I had to reset my darkroom door twice, once for that, and now afterwards, as the soil has swelled again. Will also have to caulk and retouch joints on the
darkroom walls, and should probably double-check all my enlarger planes. No way I want to do a fiberglass anything indoors. PVC (or in my case, polypropylene)
sheeting can flex with temperature. Polypro tolerates much more heat than vinyl, and is chemically inert, important to me since I work with various color chem
as well as b&w. There are just a lot of options out there worth at least considering. And remember that relatively unstinky epoxy paints aren't anywhere near as
chem resistant as the old gnarly kind. If you want the ultimate coating and don't mind emphysema the rest of your life, there are true liquid hypalon rubber
coatings. But you'll need to build your nuke sub or aircraft carrier first, cause they can't be legally applied except in international waters. Same goes for polysilicone enamels without a special exemption. Have fun. The prints themselves don't care.

[Tin Can]

I also thought epoxy was nasty until I used the west system products. Easy too use and virtually odorless. Very tough stuff when brushed on. Yes, you have to add one part to another, but after that it is as easy to use as a can of paint.

West products are not inexpensive. I am very familiar it. Outdoors.