My 15 years ago college darkroom had this maze setup and it was very good, very dark. I am a nut about total darkness. I have a storefront loft and I blacked out the whole thing. Now I have no windows. A side benefit is very good sound proofing. Chicago outside doesn't exist, until I open my door.
The maze works and some white dots will show the way. Easy to carry anything in and out, I used my elbows as bumpers.
. Sorry to disappoint Bob, but I've always thought of the maze entry as some kind of black magic – I've seen it work, I guess it works (having used one), but I don't actually believe it works. For me, it is some sort of fiction, requiring more room to employ than other simpler constructions, used in labs with high traffic (which, admittedly, is probably your facility). In any case, you still need real dark to load and develop film or print color (), unless that is planned for a different area, or is of no concern as a print only space. If those are also concerns, it would appear that pocket doors in the maze have some value, at least in terms of a multi-use space.
The basic 'U" ought to work. You will have to address the wall, floor, and ceiling surfaces to absorb reflections, including avoiding light reflecting into the maze. The center wall has to be at least twice the width of the passage. Three times would be better. If you actually draw this out and put in the reflection paths you will see that a longer center wall ensures at least two surfaces are involved in reflection. You might also want to put the end wall at a slight angle to encourage reflections back to the light side. The only one I have used was: enter, turn 90 degrees right, move to end, turn 180 degrees left, move forward, and turn 90 degrees right to enter the dark.
I am afraid you need three reflecting surfaces as per Peter's diagram. Black paint reflects about 2.5% of light. Your question is a good one because the angle of reflectance does influence amount reflected. If you turn your halls on their sides you can get 4 turns in the same space.
The Maze must be constructed and finished exactly as specified below in order to keep white-light from entering the Darkroom. The dimensions shown in Figure 4 must be followed very carefully. The Maze is considered a room; therefore, space for a 60-inch diameter wheelchair Wheelchair turning circle is required.
http://www.sebastiandarkroomprod.com...oom_design.php
I just read this. Do you think this applies in T.O.
I just remembered, my college darkroom maze was for the printing and sink area. All film was loaded in a very tight closet. The color room, I never used, was very tight also.
Bob - I'm a little confused here. I don't know your "dark needs" for your processor, but for Pt/Pd, it doesn't have to be light proof, only void of UV light. Also, you are coating Pt/Pd paper in one room and carrying it to another room for exposure/processing? Sounds a little strange doing it in two different rooms. I'm doing that exact thing as we speak, but that's because the humidity in my darkroom out in the Garage is much to dry and I can humidify a bathroom inside my house to do the coating. However, I haven't really heard of coating and exposing/processing Pt/Pd paper in separate rooms before for any other reason.
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