Shooing dust- compressor for the new darkroom?

[popdoc]

Building out the new darkroom, and have on the to do list “compressor, with tubing to printing areas”.

Who has done it? Is it worth it? If so, how did you do it? Tubing on the ceiling with nozzle hanging by the side of the printing area(s). What pressure did you set the regulator?

I imagine it’s most important to keep the noisy little beast in another room ....

Thanks!


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[Paul Ron]

keep the preasure low and be sure to have a dryer n a filter inline. Oiless compressors are cheap, you can get a nice 1gal unit for $60 mostly used for air brushing, no need for anything big or fancy, you are only blowing dust.... unless you want to also use it for framing nail guns? There are very quiet compressors on the market but they sell for a premium. Besides the compressor has a reserve tank so it doesnt cycle that often.

If you are a handy DIYer, check online for converting small refrigerator compressors for air?.... they are very quiet n easy to build.

[Denny]

I've done it, many years ago. I used the compressor to clean film holders, never used it at the enlarger. I found it very useful. If I were doing it again I'd look at "portable airbrush compressors", small and inexpensive (ballpark $50). Should be OK to leave in the darkroom, consider adding an inline filter to catch anything you don't want to spray onto your film.

[Pere Casals]

Who has done it? Is it worth it?

It depends on the amount of activity, a 8 pack of canned air containers is $43 or less, so calculate depending on how long it takes for you to spend a can.

[Tin Can]

Yes, I just installed compressed air in my new darkroom.

I have 1 gallon oilless compressor set to 90 psi. In the furnace room. Very quiet! 'Piped' with high grade Canadian rubber hose to three 25 psi regulators with water dryers and filters.

Two regulators are set to 12 psi for gas burst development tanks and the third set to 25 psi with very flexible poly hose. A low pressure pencil blow gun for anything I need.

The USA made blow gun is easily adjusted from slight flow which barely bubbles water and anywhere up to 25 psi. OSHA Legal.

Pictures soon when I video my new DR.

[John Kasaian]

I do things backwards with a mini shop vac and micro attachments

[freecitizen]

I have one of these in the darkroom .... https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...500w_with.html

I find it good for blowing out film holders, neg carriers, and general blasting things with air.

Room air is scrubbed with a fine filter which recirculates the air and a cheap negative ion generator. I vacuum out the darkroom periodically.

I am extremely careful to exclude dust when drying my negs, and store them immediately in Printfile neg sleeves.

Glass carriers on my DeVere ..... no real problems with dust when enlarging. So far, so good.

[Rick A]

I use a Giottos "Rocket" blower in my darkroom, and keep a small electrostatic air cleaner running. I almost never have any dust issues, and the small blower is all I've ever needed for my negatives. As for dusting other items, a small vacuum is better, it captures dust instead of redistributing it.

[Tin Can]

I might add, I use all methods posted so far.

The Rocket is always nice to have handy and perhaps the safest.

I do not use can air.

[William Whitaker]

Few will probably agree with me, but I am of the opinion that a compressor in a darkroom is mostly a means of redistributing the dust. Dust which is blown away by the compressed air is going to re-settle somewhere else. Years ago when I built a darkroom I designed a positive-pressure ventilation system. Air was filtered before entering the darkroom and moved across the room as a high-volume, low-pressure system, exiting the far side of the sink. That system worked very well for me. But I do realize YMMV.

I think it's important to remove or at least minimize dust generators. My room had been carpeted. I removed that, prepped and painted the concrete slab floor with a glossy floor enamel. (Behr Porch & Floor Enamel in battleship gray from Home Depot) I had cushion mats on which to stand. But they could be pulled up to allow wet-mopping the entire floor. That was a major help toward dust mitigation. All walls and the ceiling I painted with a semi-gloss paint which took wiping well. So the walls and ceiling could be "mopped" as well as the floorThe closet in that room (formerly a bedroom) had been cleared of all clothing and prefab kitchen cabinets were installed. I lost a closet, but I gained a very nice dry-side work area. In fact, those cabinets formed the plenum for air coming into the room, pushed by a re-purposed furnace fan in the hallway closet next to the bedroom/darkroom. Air entered behind the cabinets, exited underneath the cabinets, moving across the room, up and over the sink to draw processing fumes away, then exited through a light-tight vent in the window. A booster fan at the exhaust was a help because of prevailing winds at that location which would tend to blow into that window (were it open).

The other thing I did and which I highly recommend was to electrically ground all equipment (especially enlargers) to eliminate potentials which could draw and hold dust). If you've ever noticed an enlarger with a screw by which there is an earth-ground symbol, that's exactly what it's for.

If you still want a point of use compressor, go with as little pressure as possible. You really don't want to kick up a whirlwind of dust to be redistributed over your work and your equipment.