A grill from a ceiling fluorescent light fixture might work well.
A grill from a ceiling fluorescent light fixture might work well.
I used these in my photo lab sink, they worked very well and were cheap.
--- Steve from Missouri ---
I think its a really bad idea to place anything in a darkroom sink, or on a darkroom floor for that matter...which has any degree of porosity and/or any tendency/capacity to retain moisture. Even a wood lattice which is coated with epoxy can be difficult to clean thoroughly...and if left in place in a sink bottom will eventually get full of crud - but if a good lab brush is used for this cleaning and the lattice is then stood up on end for drying between sessions...then things might be OK. But why make this trouble for yourself?
I built my current sink out of 3/4" birch plywood, and (after installing a ventilation system) gave it multiple coats of marine epoxy. After a darkroom session, all trays get well rinsed and stacked sideways so they can dry prior to under-sink storage. Labware gets placed into a plastic coated dish drainer which stands up on feet at one end of the sink, and is allowed to dry prior to under-sink storage. The sink itself is 16 feet long, and is slightly slanted towards its draining end...but I still have a squeegee dedicated to the sink bottom which I'll use after darkroom sessions.
Let's repeat that
and I agree
Originally Posted by John Layton
Tin Can
Think for a moment about the purpose of those duckboards...and what will happen to whatever spills onto and underneath them.
Then, do yourself a favor and install/apply some non absorbent flooring (like vinyl or epoxy) which can be wiped clean when necessary. Kind of a no-brainer if you ask me!
I installed two Calumet (before they went belly up) stainless steel sinks, one 7-footer & one 4-footer end-to-end. Then I went with plastic corrugated roofing, easily cut to the needed length in each sink. They serve their purpose well and are very light. After a session is finished I rinse them and the sinks off with a kitchen sink sprayer (installed at each sink). To dry, they are stood on end, resting on a towel and leaning against the tensioned overhead steel cable for drying films. The sinks are squeegeed then towel-dried, and given an occasional thorough cleaning with Calumet's recommended products. Trays are rinsed, towel-dried and placed with their short sides resting on the rim of the sinks, then when thoroughly dry are stored in an under-sink slotted bin - for trays up to 20x24 - that I built and attached (removable concept) to the under-sink shelf.
There was an individual proliferating quite a bit of how-to literature in this area about making darkroom sinks using marine grade plywood and marine epoxies. Why? He was the manufacturer of the epoxy. And people thought they would save a lot of money that way. But a basic sink would need around $200 of penetrating epoxy plus epoxy putty for the seams; and real marine ply would double that expense. You could take a lesser grade of ply and fiberglass it for considerably less. Nasty fumes either way. For really serious users I sold a liquid Hypalon rubber coating so nasty that now it takes a special Federal permit within the bounds of US waters. Likewise, polysilicone enamels. Back then you could also buy moisture-cure urethane coatings (totally different from ordinary urethanes). The faster it could kill you, the better it was. I dodged all those bullets and made my own 10ft sink out of heat-welded 1/4" thick polypropylene sheeting. It doesn't sweat underneath like stainless, is highly inert to all dkrm chem and solvents, but does superficially stain a bit with amidol. I don't use duckboards. I attach inert little feet to water jackets, oversize trays, etc, or integrally include risers when making slot washers.
Drew, I think Gordon Hutchings might of had the best idea-build it out of plywood and haul it over to Rhino Liner (spray on truck bed liner) and have them spray it. He said the only thing he'd found that stained it was Pyro.
Me being cheap, I built mine out of plywood and 1 by 4's for the sides and gave it 3 coats of Rustolem truck bed liner. After 2&1/2 years, it's still water tight. It's kind of ugly, but it gets the job done. It stains a bit, but if it really bothered me, I have a spray can of the stuff to touch it up with. After all, it's a sink-not a work of art.
Made these out of treated pine about 10 years ago, they still look new and have worked Great. L
Hi MrFuji ... I was the coatings buyer and tech advisor for a company that sold many millions of dollars of product per year of coatings to the Navy, Coast Guard, defense contractors all across the Pacific, private marine use, local heavy industry, very high end architectural restorations, the most expensive wood homes ever built within our lifetimes, plus the immense yachts owned by these same people. So I have some serious credentials. But like everyone else here, I had a limited personal darkroom budget, even if it is a somewhat deluxe setup for a mere individual, and made due with all kinds of things I scrounged for a bargain, or could barter a print for. There are all kinds of options for making and sealing sinks, some better, some worse. Gordon Hutchings worked for the CA transportation Dept, so might have logically adapted the idea of a truck bed liner from his experience with actual trucks. I don't like to redo things, so wanted a lifetime sink that I didn't have to worry about. But it drains into a sump which has a chemical-resistant pump that does need to be replaced about every 20 yrs or so. This is also earthquake country, so it is imperative that joints and seals are highly resistant to structural stresses.
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