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Thread: Paint for darkroom sink

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Collinsville, CT USA
    Posts
    2,330

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    Follow up on my darkroom about one year later...

    Deck paint on the plywood darkroom sink has been holding up amazingly well. Honestly, in my experience, it is equal to epoxy resin paint without all the ventilation necessities while it is drying. I have been using various alternative processes and some caustic liquids on it. Very little staining but a 5 minute new top coat of the deck paint took care of that.

    Foam on front rim of sink. Bought 2 of the foam tubes that kids use to play with in a pool. Cut a slit down the tube and pressed it onto the front of my sink. (See attached image) So, So... much more comfortable too rest my forearms on rather than the edge of the 3/4" plywood.

    Light that I turn on first from being in the dark is a ceiling mounted Kodak rectangular safe light with a low wattage bulbs in it and no glass filter. The hanging on/off cord has a pull tab at the bottom which I painted with fluorescent paint. Now so easy to find it in the dark.

    LED light panel replaced an older fluorescent light box. Its always on LED when it is plugged very bright and most distracting in total darkness... Simple solution: piece of black Duct tape over it. Same solution for the couple od power strips I have in the darkroom.

    Ceiling light leaks addressed. Probably would have never fogged my film, but all way too a bit disconcerting when seeing the multiple light leaks after being 20 minutes in total darkness. Light leaks were coming from being light piped in by the aluminum foil covered duct insulation which was slightly below the hung ceiling in several places. A judicious application of black caulking where the docs entered the darkroom totally got rid of the light leaks..

    Exhaust fan above the paper coating area. First I used an internal auxiliary duct fan inside the 6" inch round aluminum duct. It was way too weak. Finally found an Arkay darkroom wall exhaust fan. Thought it was also too weak, but "smoke" tested it and it works just fine. I have fabricated a removable hood above the paper coating area from black Foamcore to help exhaust out the air above the drying Pt/Pl emulsion..

    Door to darkroom was anything but light tight where the door hit the frame and underneath the bottom of the door. Painted the door jam and the floor under the door matte black. Also added a draft preventer strip to the bottom of the door... now door is light tight.

    Sony radio, CD player, and more has a white LED light that is just way too bright... simple cure to cover it with 2 pieces of red acetate/gel..

    I initially used PVC pipes for the plumbing. Replaced them with way more better looking and reliable PEC tubing. PEC is so much easier to install than copper pipes which I had always installed in the past. Also installed on/off valves to the incoming hot and cold water tubing. Valves are very securely mounted on the wall above the sink.

    Am very lucky that the temperature inside the darkroom ranges from 68 degrees in the summer to 65 degrees in the winter without having to add an auxiliary heater. Installed a small dehumidifier with a permanent Vinyl drain tube going through the concrete floor. Perk tested it, and couldn't get a gallon of water to back up through the hole for the vinyl tubing. With the dehumidifier's LED humidity % set at 55%, the humidity ranges from 45% to 50% and it only turns on in the summer to early fall.

    Bought a small desk fan to use when drying negatives.

    Under the sink I built 9 print drying screens that slide in and out. They work fine but with little air circulation over them, prints take a long time to dry. But the good thing is that with the longer drying times (1-2 days), the paper seems to dry flatter.

    Will be adding a raised counter/shelf inside one side of the sink to support a presently on-order (JOBO) Stark SST4 Universal FILM & PAPER PROCESSOR on. When I need to use the whole sink's area, will only take me a minute to remove the JOBO and the shelf. Still considering a platform in front of the right side of the sink to house the JOBO on.

    Running across the ceiling are 2 IKEA wires about 2 inches below the ceiling tiles. For hanging negatives to dry. With the desk fan running, the negatives take way less than 30 minutes to completely dry.

    The temp control I bought from Delta works just fine and I highly recommend it based on using it dozens and dozens of times. My previous temp control unit was a Leedall which I loved but circumstances were that I had to leave it behind with my last darkroom. Ex is now probably enjoying the use of it.


    So the things I'd do differently after using the darkroom for the past year:

    More shelves for the easy access storage of working chemistry bottles above the sink.

    Get paper safes to fit inside the drawers. My drawers are not 100% light tight in spite of painting their insides flat black. Worked in my last darkroom, but not in my present darkroom.

    More outlets... and I thought I installed too many permanent ones.

    Went with two 20 amp GFI circuits. An overkill in retrospect. Having 15 amp circuits and working with 14 gauge wire would have been so much easier to do. Also their wall locations were theoretical ideal when constructing the darkroom... after using the darkroom for some time, practically they are OK but not ideally placed. Some ceiling outlets might be a very viable option for one to consider.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails darkroomsink.jpg  

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Newbury, Vermont
    Posts
    2,261

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    Two 20-amp GFI circuits works great for me - with one dedicated to the enlarger bench to minimize voltage fluctuations.

    As per the OP's topic...I applied three coats of Rakka marine epoxy (low voc) to my 16 X 3 foot birch plywood sink, having planned to topcoat this with a grey marine paint until I saw how good the epoxy looked over the ply - so I've left as is (will post some pix soon). Has held up great!

    The thing about VOC materials is that some of these still contain chemicals that are unhealthy to breathe while curing...so I made sure to install my (backdraft) ventilation system prior to applying the epoxy.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    North Dakota
    Posts
    1,327

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    I use my Uncle's 11 foot sink. Pink stiff insulation sheet covered with rubber/pvc shower leakproof roll material. Easy to do - I even helped when he moved it. No smells, no leaks and the insulation and rubber make for a quiet padded surface.
    ” Never attribute to inspiration that which can be adequately explained by delusion”.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    AMARILLO, TEXAS
    Posts
    24

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie View Post
    Instead of paint why not use the rubber shower pan liner? Comes in varying widths and in rolls you can have cut to length at a Home Depot of similar. Just lay it in the sink, screw in the drain and you have a complete water tight sink without all the painting. My Uncle has built a few (he did mine) and uses the stiff sheets of Owens Corning Foamular under the rubber membrane and it absorbs noise as well as providing a cushion in case something is dropped on it. Watched him make mine and it was done in a few hours and ready for use.
    did you glue it down?

    How did he handle the corners??

    Thanks

  5. #15

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    North Dakota
    Posts
    1,327

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    The corners I just folded over and taped so they stay in place. Much like you do with wrapping paper around a box. No glue as it lays flat without any problems. On the bottom, only place where it is held down is the drain as that cinches tight so it won't leak.
    ” Never attribute to inspiration that which can be adequately explained by delusion”.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Collinsville, CT USA
    Posts
    2,330

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    Another update on the darkroom by the OP.

    Probably have repainted my sink a dozen times with Rust-oleum Restore 4X Deck Coat paint. Always looks great and all the layers of paint have given the sink's surface some resiliency. Twice recently have accidentally knocked over a glass graduated cylinder, and both times it did not break.

    Permanently installed Durst 1200 with a variable height baseboard that lowers down to the floor. Everything painted black. Power unit and timer on a shelf above the counter. Leaves the counter top completely free and actually easier to use the timer.

    Was able to acquire an OEM Thomas sodium vapor safelight replacement bulb. Now don't have to worry if or when the original bulb fails.

    Print inspection light over the fixer and wash tray was a Kodak safelight with a 60w bulb. Worked but not all that well, so installed a Graphiclite desk top viewer on a counter in the middle of the room. Now have to carry the wet print in a tray over to the viewer. Minor inconvenience but not enough to matter.

    Print drying racks located under the sink: Prints were taking too long to dry because of little air circulation. Installed 2 small "computer" fans behind the racks which circulate the air and make for excellent drying times.

    Now have 3 GraLabs above the sink. Acquired one GraLab that only buzzed when the time was up... found it annoying and useless.

    Have a stool to sit on when processing film along and a "portable" book holder that attaches to the front of the sink. Much more convenient.

    Bought and installed an ARISTA high intensity UV light unit from Freestyle for alternative processes. Love it and can recommend it 100%.

    Above the counter where I unload film holders, have a half sheet of 4x5 film with rounded corners hanging from a cord. If I'm having a hard time removing the film from the holder, use it to easily lift up the edge of the film.

    Removed the small dark green? Kinderman film inspection light. Eyes getting too old to judge processing by inspection.

    Greg

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    California
    Posts
    3,908

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    I built my sink of plywood in 1989 and coated it with 3 coats of West SYstems Epoxy. No leaks yet.

  8. #18
    Drew Wiley
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    SF Bay area, CA
    Posts
    18,338

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    My sink is about 10ft by 3 ft, made of heat-welded 1/4" polypropylene sheeting, so essentially zero maintenance ever except for a bit of amidol etc stain sponging-off about once a year.

  9. #19

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    I'm very satisfied with mine. It's made of 3/4" plywood which I then had professionally coated with Reflex, a spray-on bedliner. Rhino and Line-X are similar products that will work well.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	darkroom1.JPG 
Views:	54 
Size:	132.0 KB 
ID:	200880

    N. Riley
    http://normanrileyphotography.com
    Last edited by NER; 24-Feb-2020 at 15:04. Reason: typo

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Stumptown
    Posts
    47

    Re: Paint for darkroom sink

    Quote Originally Posted by NER View Post
    I'm very satisfied with mine. It's made of 3/4" plywood which I then had professionally coated with Reflex, a spray-on bedliner. Rhino and Line-X are similar products that will work well.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	darkroom1.JPG 
Views:	54 
Size:	132.0 KB 
ID:	200880

    N. Riley
    http://normanrileyphotogaphy.com
    I'm curious about the longevity of using bedliner paint. I've used it on other applications, but never thought of it for a darkroom sink. BTW it also comes in cans for rolling.

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