When I built my sink, I sized it to hold 4 11x14 trays PLUS my ZoneVI 11x14 washer. My trays are developer, stop bath, fixer, water (to rinse some fixer but primarily to allow me to judge the print) and then the washer for the prints I want to keep. The sink is deep enough to hold jugs of fixer, toner, plus smaller containers of partially used liquid developer and stop bath.
Built my first darkroom sink in 1970. Except for the first one they all have been 2 feet deep and 8 feet wide. Present one: front side is 6 inches high and the rear 12 inches high. Sides angled sloping up. Bottom of sink slopes down 1/8 inch per foot towards the drain. If to do over again, I would have had the bottom slope down a bit more, maybe 3/16 or 1/4 inch per foot. 3/4 inch exterior plywood (carpenter friend told me Marine plywood was a waste of money if I had enough coats of paint on it) with 3+ coats of heavy duty deck & patio porch paint. Extra coat of paint every summer... it only gets better. Color is 18% gray. There was a time when I printed up to 20x24 prints and I had plenty of room for the trays. Now only print up to 11x14 and have enough room to also have a JOBO processor reside on the side opposite the drain. Joints are initially caulked before screwing the sides to the bottom piece. Then the inside corners caulked again. Deck screws every 6 inches.
When I was a student at RIT in the mid 1970s, my Professor and all time Mentor Nile Root constructed his darkroom sink with enough of a front overhang to allow him to sit on a padded stool with wheels and process his prints sitting down. I seriously considered this and made a full sized mockup of this configuration, but I found out that I experienced a bit of back pain from leaning over the sink too much. I'd be interested if anyone else configured their darkroom sink to be used while sitting down and not standing up.
Mine (made in some PVC sheet) is 4" deep with a 24" back-splash (I've Americanized that for the general readership... they are 'splashbacks' here! but I've watched too many U.S. home improvement shows). I use the splashback for print squeegeeing. If I was to make another sink, I would reduce the front edge to 1" or maybe less. In 20+ years using this sink, I've never spilt anything more than a few drops, and even with a 1" lip, it would hold a lot of fluid before overflowing.Originally Posted by Greg
I use a stool that I half sit on when agitating trays. Comes in handy when have long lith developments. Having a low front sink edge would facilitate this as then you're not reaching over the lip and down to rock the tray.When I was a student at RIT in the mid 1970s, my Professor and all time Mentor Nile Root constructed his darkroom sink with enough of a front overhang to allow him to sit on a padded stool with wheels and process his prints sitting down. I seriously considered this and made a full sized mockup of this configuration, but I found out that I experienced a bit of back pain from leaning over the sink too much. I'd be interested if anyone else configured their darkroom sink to be used while sitting down and not standing up.
As for the overall size of the sink, if you don't have enough room for large trays, consider the 1 tray method. I do 20x24's using 1 tray and 4 buckets. It's not like they are a production line thing so for the few times I decide to 'go big' his works for me.
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