Finally...a darkroom

[Chad Jarvis]

Well, the wife and I sold the farm and will moving in two weeks to our new digs, and now I can finally have a full-time darkroom. I can not tell you how happy I'll be to be "out of the bathtub," as it were. I'm sure many of you have had t he pleasure of designing your own workspace, for work or pleasure, so I thought I'd draw on your experience. Just one piece of information please: who's got th e deals on stainless sinks, preferably in the 8 to 10 foot size? And are there any real alternatives to stainless?

[Charlie Stracl]

Built my darkroom about 5 years ago and did some serious work on investigating sinks.

1. There is no bargain SS sink.

2. The alternative I found was a 7' x 2' fiberglass sink from Arkay. It cost me about a grand & included stand. It has a nice built-in backsplash. I couldn't do any better. Seven foot seemed odd, but turns out to be very practical. I'm glad I got exactly this sink.

Things to consider.

*I had a specific space to fit. Getting more space was my most expensive option, so I spend more on the sink than I wanted. I would have like a 30 or 36 inch depth, but have found I don't miss it. If I ever decide to do a lot of 16x20's, I figure I can buy SS trays that will fit. They are expensive, of course, but cheaper than finding more space for a 30 or 36 inch sink.

MOST IMPORTANT: Design your layout on paper. Do this about a dozen times over to make sure you've got the design that's good for you. Then see what equipment fits. Make a template on cardboard of the layout, and make paper cut-outs of the equipment to see how it fits.

Watch out for ABS plastic sinks. The material is fine, but Delta, for example, has spots for faucets that reduce the width in different places. Where the reduction occurs, you can't fit bigger trays, so it wastes space. This is where the cutouts can help you.

Make your aisle at least 3 ft wide between wet & dry sides. Give yourself enough space to breathe & be comfortable. Think about enough room for 2 people in case you want to teach someone or show a friend your process.

Safelights: I bought a Thomas Duplex. Big mistake. Too much light. I found an Aristo Red safelight on EBay for $50. Very nice. Even at the new price, I think I would prefer it. I like red, but not everybody does. Thing is, it's safe for virtually all B&W papers. Not all amber lights are.

Make sure the working surface height is good for you. Make it too low, and you'll get a backache.

If you're in the SF bay area, come see my darkroom. You'll figure out what you like & don't.

I've got lots more suggestions, but am rambling.

[Brian Ellis]

If you look in the back of any issue of the magazine "Photo Techniques," you'll see ads from several places that sell stainless steel sinks. They're also sold by places like B&H and Adorama. Midwest Photo Exchange has used ones in stock from time to time and that's probably your best bet for a relatively low price. I'd suggest calling - they don't always put them on their web site. I investigated a couple years ago and didn't find anything in stainless steel plus splash back and plumbing of any decent size for less than $700 or so new. You can get lower prices on plastic-type sinks but the ones I saw didn't work for the area I had available in my darkroom (I forget why now). They also were more shallow than I like. I ended up making one out of plywood, which has worked well so far.

[David Vickery]

PLYWOOD - and the best way to seal it is with fiberglass boat resin. It is much cheaper than stainless and you can build it to any size that you want. I am currently building two 8 foot by 36" sinks. Of course if money were no object then I wouldn't spend my time building stuff.

[mark lindsey]

I'm not sure how expensive boat resin is, but I used a waterproof outdoor paint (guaranteed to me that it wouldn't leak) can't remember what brand it was, will dig it out of the basement,but back to the subject, was very cheap compared to stainless, and I have never had a single problem with it.

[william nagel]

I would use plywood and a 2 part epoxy resin. Epoxy resins when fully cured will provide the best chemical resisitance if stainless steel is not an option. Epoxy resin can be bought at most boat supply stores (humm) and the Home Depot. That's what I used and I have no complaints. The degree of resistance from chemicals of some paints vary considerally and is not worth the chance of having to did twice.

[Eric Boutilier-Brown]

I have built several sinks, one from plywood and epoxy, then one from plywood and polyurethane (which worked five, three coats every 3 years was perfectly waterproof). Now I have an 8' stainless steel sink (which I picked up used for $120 US) which came outof a hospital or university...we suspect it is a morgue sink, but who knows. It works perfectly, being 2" deep and 32" front to back. I made a stand for it which is tied to the wall, making it more then stable enough, and leaving tons of room for chemistry and drying racks below. I'd beat the bushes for something used, and see what you can find.

[Doug Paramore]

Chad: I would do some calling around to try and locate a used sink in either fiberglass or stainless steel. I would start with area newspapers, since most are changing or have already changed to digital photography. Also, call the older photography studios in the area. A local studio offered me a huge stainless sink free if I would haul it off. I didn't have room for it, so it went to the junkyard. What a shame. Most of the studios do not do their own processing anymore, so some of the older ones may have sinks they no longer use. As stated my some of the others, plywood sinks work well and give you the advantage of being able to custom make it to fit both you and the darkroom space. Good luck with your quest.

Regards,

[Chris Ellinger]

I'm happy with an ABS plastic sink. Fiberglass on plywood also works, if you don't mind the construction project.

A few other ideas:

Paint the walls white and use light colors for counters, and the floor. This will make the room much less gloomy in safelight. Some paint the walls and ceiling near the enlarger flat black to absorb stray light, others say this isn't necessary.

Ventilate the room with pressure, rather than exhaust, to prevent air being drawn in from unfiltered sources. Big, slow, fans are quieter than small fast ones. Locate the (passive) exhaust vent near the sink, below "nose level". Use a timer switch for the fan, to run it for several hours after a darkroom session to dry the room out.

Locate safelight and viewing light switches to minimize steps.

Buy or build some sort of film drying cabinet, to minimize print spotting.

Congratulations on moving out of the bathtub!

[John Sarsgard]

My experience agrees pretty much with Chris. I've used a Delta ABS sink for years and like it just fine. And the price is right, particularly if you can take it home and not have to pay freight. I got the "economy" one that is just a straight rectangular sink, with room to mount faucets on one end. But you may want to make a water control panel out of plywood and attach to wall, with faucets, etc on that. Makes it easier to add filters, temperature control valve, etc when you want to. Think about how you'll dry all the measuring stuff and trays. Some good (and cheap) options I have used...the wire shelves (covered with plastic coating) you can get at Home Depot...attach to wall above sink. The dishes drain right into your sink. Watch out for Summer humidity (or whenever at your place). When I'm not using the darkroom and humidity high, I turn on a cheap portable dehumidifier that sits on a table at one end of the sink, and drains right into the sink. Drying screens for prints...go to an art supply place and get wooden canvas stretchers (huge assortment of sizes, put them together to make a frame that will hold your favorite combination of paper sizes, go back to Home Depot and get some fibreglass screen, cover frame and staple down. the frame will have enuf thickness that you can make as many as you like and stack them to dry lots of prints at the same time. Accumulate a few half gallon and gallon plastic milk jugs to store chems you don't discard after use. For large trays to serve as holding bath for finished prints, etc., go back to Home Depot again or to super grocery, etc. and get plastic kitty litter boxes. Much cheaper than same thing that thinks it is for photo purposes. Stainless trays are awful. Much too heavy for anything like constant agitation. Cesco lite plastic trays are heaven. Light, and white, so you can see what you're doing better. You can get an 11x14 vertical print washer from Versalab for about $200 that works every bit as well as the ones that cost twice as much or more. I've done residual hypo tests and know it works. Just some rambling based on my own experience. Hope some of it is of some use to you!