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Thread: Portable darkroom for wet plate

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    14

    Portable darkroom for wet plate

    This is a portable darkroom that I've built for wet plate photography, for my 12"x12" camera. I've got a pretty good sized plate holder, so it requires a lot of room to maneuver in there. The base and sawhorse setup isn't particularly light for what it is, but it folds up and is easy to carry. The darkroom box itself did turn out pretty darned light, and has a lot of room. I can easily carry it myself.

    My entire goal was to build this as inexpensively as possible, and as light as possible. The sides are actually old cabinet doors that I had made the wrong size and kept for just such a re-purposing occasion. The rest is panels made of 1x2 pine and 1/4" sanded plywood, which is basically like balsa. But it's plenty strong. I think this cost about $50 to make, and $20 of that was for a 12v fan. And I did already have a few odds and ends laying around.

    I'm not quite done with assembly on this yet, but I needed to take some pictures prior to installing the tent on the front or you'd never get the full picture. It's got a door on the front that will fold down, and the custom sewn tent is contained within (the tubs will have to be taken out to fit the tent in there). There are a couple of poles that fit in the sides, and hook onto a rod in the tent to elevate it. I can stand in there with a couple of inches to spare.

    I wasn't following any plans on this, I had just glanced at a few others on the internet to get the idea. There are probably a couple of things about this that are unique:

    1) The drawer on the back side is for the KCN fixer. It has a black acrylic tank/tub that fits in there. It serves several purposes: A) I don't have to have the KCN inside the tent with me, in the event that I accidentally spilled the developer into it and turn the tent into a gas chamber. B) I didn't want to put KCN in a tub and put it on the ground for someone's dog to come along and take a drink of while I'm working inside. This obviously gets it up off the ground and stows it away when I'm not standing there. C) After developing, I think it will be cool to take it outside the tent and around to the back side, open the drawer, and stand there with the subject while we put it in the fixer and see it turn from a negative to a positive, so we both get to see the final product appear at the same time.

    2) The hole in the side is an air intake, and the box on the top is an exhaust. Both have/are light traps. The intake is connected to a 12v boat blower that provides somewhere over 100-120CFM when it's cranked up. The wires you see are connecting the fan to the speed controller, and out to posts on the outside for power. 12v is nice because I can either hook it up to a car, or bring along a battery (I have my eye on the battery in my riding lawnmower). The intake can also hook up to a portable swamp cooler (5 gallon bucket), although I haven't built that yet and am not sure it's necessary. All I know is that when I started building this it was hot as hell outside, and I didn't think I'd want to be working in there on a hot summer day without at least an air intake and exhaust.

    I'll post a few more pics once I've got the tent installed.





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  2. #2
    Tin Can's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    22,384

    Re: Portable darkroom for wet plate

    Looks very smart.

    Keep it coming.

    DIY threads can be lonely.
    Tin Can

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    19

    Re: Portable darkroom for wet plate

    Looks very nice. Ruby window on the top?

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    14

    Re: Portable darkroom for wet plate

    Thanks for the comments.

    Yes, ruby window on top.

    Oren Grad - this is my post, my content (which I'm providing to you for free), and I'll post whatever I want in my own thread. And since I don't think you see it the same way, this is my last post here.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    AZ
    Posts
    4,431

    Re: Portable darkroom for wet plate

    See ya....

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