stefan ballard
15-Apr-2001, 12:39
I recently moved into a new house and want to build a darkroom. I only have roo m in the basement -- trouble is, my house is near a lake and because of that, my basement is actually lower than the sewer line. What this means is a utility s ink in the room I would like to convert to my darkroom requires an electric pump to drain the waste -- the waste water can't just drain away like it does in mos t houses, it has to be pumped away.
In the past I've always used either the Ko dak print siphon and washed my prints about an hour, or even just washed them in the bathtub for extended period with a home-made "snorkel" on the drain. I've also used one of the plexi print washers when I was at school. Sometimes I've u sed Heico Perma-wash for good measure. The only time I've had trouble with stai ned prints is when I was printing in a school darkroom (I think I got chemical s tains from the drying racks). I'd like to come up with some sort of print washe r system that doesn't use a lot of water so I won't have to constantly run the l ittle electric motor that drains the basement utility sink...any suggestions?
Also -- I used to be able to drop off my spent fixer at school for reclaimation but since then I have moved out of state and no longer have access to a school l ab monitor willing to look the other way as I dump my personal chemical waste in the barrel with the school's. What better (and more environmentally sound) opt ions are there other than pouring this stuff down the drain? I'm willing to loo k at using different chemicals if that will help -- currently I favor Kodak fix and stopbath + Edwal LPD for print developer. Anyone used Sprint? Isn't that s tuff supposed to be less toxic?
In the past I've always used either the Ko dak print siphon and washed my prints about an hour, or even just washed them in the bathtub for extended period with a home-made "snorkel" on the drain. I've also used one of the plexi print washers when I was at school. Sometimes I've u sed Heico Perma-wash for good measure. The only time I've had trouble with stai ned prints is when I was printing in a school darkroom (I think I got chemical s tains from the drying racks). I'd like to come up with some sort of print washe r system that doesn't use a lot of water so I won't have to constantly run the l ittle electric motor that drains the basement utility sink...any suggestions?
Also -- I used to be able to drop off my spent fixer at school for reclaimation but since then I have moved out of state and no longer have access to a school l ab monitor willing to look the other way as I dump my personal chemical waste in the barrel with the school's. What better (and more environmentally sound) opt ions are there other than pouring this stuff down the drain? I'm willing to loo k at using different chemicals if that will help -- currently I favor Kodak fix and stopbath + Edwal LPD for print developer. Anyone used Sprint? Isn't that s tuff supposed to be less toxic?