Darkroom sink material

[ref1ection]

Is it possible to make a darkroom sink out of aluminum or will their be a reaction with chemicals ?

[Peter K]

Aluminium is resistant to most organic acids, acid salts and water, but is attacked by caustic solutions like alkaline developers. It is generally not acceptable for use when contact with photographic processing solutions is to be made.

Peter K

[steve barry]

why not just go the plywood/fiberglass route?

[Bruce Barlow]

I have a custom-made, hugely expensive stainless steel sink. It's gorgeous. Were I to do it over, though, I'd make another plyood sink and paint it with epoxy paint, as I did in my last house. Total cost for a 9 1/2 foot sink that I made was under $100, and it was every bit as good, and maybe better because it didn't suck the heat out of the trays like the stainless does. I finally built up the sink bottom using plastic louvers that cover fluorescent lights (2'x4'), which helps...some.

Epoxy paint stains, but so what? It doesn't need waxing, like I do to the stainless (not often enough). White epoxy paint was mcuh brighter to work with than the gray stainless is, which is nice, too. Save the money to spend on film!

[steve simmons]

Gordon Hutchings made a plywood sink and had it coated with bed liner used on pickup trucks. He loves it.


steve simmons

[bob carnie]

I just finished an addition to my large wood sink, cut the sucker , joined it back with the new addition and now I have a 60inch X 6inch x 40 ft sink. three drains and five areas for tempered water to be added.
All Home Depot products except the Marine Epoxy and Metal Strapping Base.

It looks good now and will look better in a couple of years when it stains up and has run a few thousand murals through it. If it springs a leak ,, sanding, fibreglass and more epoxy and ready to go again.


I have Stainless in the other darkroom and as Bruce says it sucks up the temp and I prefer the wood sink.

[Dan Schmidt]

A very quick way to put together a sink is with plastic units from Delta such as this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/15735-REG/Delta_62610_5_Foot_Commercial_ABS.html

Don't get the Delta stand, just put the sink on a countertop or table and cut a hole for the drain. This has the added advantage that the plastic does not sag as it would in the drain.

I went this route because it was very light and quick, but quite nice. It will be trivial to move eventually.

Some will argue that ~$200 is expensive compared to plywood and epoxy, but considering the time savings, and basically no carpentry is involved, it does not seem expensive to me.

[Brian Ellis]

I had a carpenter make a plywood sink with shelving and a storage area underneath. One of the nice things about making your own is that you can customize it to exactly fit the area where it will go. I coated the inside with a Benjamin Moore product called "Moorelastic," which I think is just their name for elastomeric, a product applied over paint to waterproof the outside of buildings. I painted the exterior with normal paint. It held up fine for the six years I used it, cleaned up nicely, and actually looked pretty good. If you build your own resist the normal instinct to make it level like a table. The end with the drain should be a little lower than the opposite end so that liquids will flow to the drain.

[Nathan Potter]

I have two home-made sinks in my darkroom. Oldest is 3/4 inch plywood painted with 4 layers of white marine epoxy. The joints are assembled using deck screws and Titebond glue. It's 20 years old with no leaks. It stains easily but occasionally I steel wool the surface and reseal with epoxy.

The better sink is made with 1/4 inch polypropylene bought in 4 X 8 ft. sheet from a local plastics fabricator. I easily cut this to proper size and assembled the parts using 8-32 stainless steel machine screws every 4 inches and a bead of silicone caulk between the joints. The 4 X 8 ft. sheet was about $150.00. The polypropylene has never stained and water beads on the surface making it easy to wipe clean.

Nate Potter

[steve barry]

oh, and if you do plywood/fiberglass/resin route....no need to put the mesh cloth down over the entire bottom of the sink. i did that, not thinking, and it was a total waste of money. just use the cloth to round out the bottom 90deg corners. i have coated a sink in epoxy (bought from HD) before and it was good. if you use epoxy, just make sure it is a two part epoxy. at HD it is sold as garage floor coating - in the paint department, and they can tint it to a color. the only reason i used fiberglass resin is so i never have to worry about scratching or anything else that would eat away at epoxy/varnish/paint. just fiberglass the thing and forget it. it added like 50 dollars to the total cost. all in all, from the 2x4s for the frame, cabinet grade plywood, glue, screws, resin, cloth and misc. items, it was less than 250 for an 8'x3'x10"deep sink.

[ref1ection]

Thanks to all for your input and as I planned to support the aluminum with a plywood base anyway, I have decided to go with the plywood and epoxy model.

[resummerfield]

.....resist the normal instinct to make it level like a table. The end with the drain should be a little lower than the opposite end so that liquids will flow to the drain.I agree completely. Pitch it to a drain, and if it is a long sink, consider having 2 drains.

[KenM]

I made mine out of 3/4" plywood, and lined the inside with PVC sheeting. Works like a charm - it was expensive (about x2 the cost of just plywood, since the PVC sheeting is about the same price as a good quality sheet of maple plywood), but it will last forever.

Do it once, do it well, and enjoy.

[Carl Couchman]

Ken,

Did you glue or weld the seams of the pvc? I saw one method using glue. I have not been able to figure out what pvc welding really is. Another person used screws.
Any tips would be great.

Thanks,

Carl

[Drew Wiley]

Carl - my own 10 ft long darkroom sink was welded from thick polypropylene sheet.
Insulates better than stainless steel, and is impervious to just about any ordinary
chemical. But this property also means that you can't solvent weld it or glue it together. I was fortunate to have a friend in the business of welding lead sheet for the insides of nuclear reactors, and had the specialized skills and equipment. His arms were like tree trunks from lifting lead sheets, and as I recall, at the time he held the world title for middle-weight arm wrestling. Not a lot of folks in that trade!

[Ari]

I've had a homemade PVC sink for 12 years, and not a leak. At 8x3 feet, very light as well as corrosion-resistant. Everything bought at plumbing supply store for under $75.

[Rick Levine]

My first sink was made out of plywood and 2x8's for the sides. I painted it with epoxy paint and it lasted for years. My current sink is stainless steel which I got for free from the newspaper I used to work for. They were switching to dye sub prints and no longer needed the sink.

The comment earlier by Bruce about stainless sucking away heat can be solved by spraying on a layer of automotive undercoating on the under side of the sink which you can buy at most auto part stores and using something to elevate the trays. Mine has U shaped stainless steel tracks that run the length of the sink. There are four of them spaced a few inches apart. For my wooden sink I just made some racks out of redwood or some other water resistant wood. I just replaced them every year or so. Another option is some of that waffle floor covering used to save your feet on concrete.

[EdWorkman]

I made my sink out of 1/4 [bottom] and 1/8 [sides , front, and backsplash] inch ABS, then made 17x42 inch trays out of the leftovers. IIRC a 4x8 sheet was about $60. I bought it from a local industrial user who agreed to sell me a coupla sheets out of his stockpile. Cuts with a saw, welds with plumbers' glue

[Michael Rosenberg]

Carl,

I posted a how-to article () on the LF info page on making a sink using PVC sheets. Glue the sheets with PVC cement - don't try using a PVC welder! It is expensive and takes quite a bit of effort to learn how to use one. My sink is now 8 years old, and no leak. By the way, I used one inch of pitch for 20 ft of sink, and there is no problem with the sink draining. See the pictures in the article.

Mike

[Dave Langendonk]

I used Michael's instructions for making a PVC lined sink and it works great. It's a little more involved than just painting some plywood but it looks very professional and will last forever. I made 16' of sink using two 8' sections.