Darkroom blackout

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I built myself a lovely big workshop at the bottom of the garden with benches etc and 5 nice big windows and double doors. Now I want to use it for a darkroom and am struggling to find a removable blackout solution, how do you guys do it?
 
wood and nails
I never managed to lock out every last dribble of light with blackout blinds or anything like that, I mean you could tape black visqueen over the windows but its hardly removed or refitted easily.
It's not just windows either...:(
 
blackout material, 2 rows of velcro and a very loving girlfriend with a sewing machine worked for me in the past.

You can buy blackout material from nova darkroom amongst others.

Another way to do it is to build a light trap frame for the window with a corresponding frame to fit into/over it with blackout material on it.

Fat lass here telling you all about it!

there are plenty more tutorials and information dotted all over the web.

I shouldn't worry too much about having the odd pinhole of light here and there.

Best way to test is to put a piece of photo paper on the easel of the enlarger for 15 mins with the lights turned out and the enlarger off. Dev it, and if you can see the outline of the coin then there is too much light getting in!
 
I have used black polythene on wooden frames in the past and large curtains over the door that drag in the floor.

A better solution is roller blinds with the sides boxed in and the groves painted black.
You can actually get white black out material with an interior light proof layer.

Don't forget ventilation, when you make things light proof you also tend to make them pretty airtight.
I had a commercial darkroom made that when we first put on the ventaxia we could not open the door.
 
I really don't want to take an hour with blacking it out every time I want to use it but don't want to lose my lovely light in my workshop either :( The velcro may be a good idea thanks, would be a quick tear off.
 
I think it maybe cheaper to partition a cubicle off and just have a door, with door and door curtain, as Gandi says it doesn't have to be totally light tight but positioning a door that doesn't have a direct light, just a then normal lined curtain would suffice, would make it a whole lot easier, depends how big your room is at the mo and can you keep a permanent feature, as your description suggests it a quite large room, dont forget you also need good ventilation
 
i just got a blackout blind for my wee boys room, he thinks when the sun comes out its time to get up .. it comes as a black out curtain that attaches to the window by rubber suckers, it works a treat, think the wife got it from the national child birth trust web site, im sure if you google it, something along them lines will come up...
 
since you seem to be a dab hand with the old diy, maybe some nice shutters for the windows, that way it only round the windows that are a problem. you might be able to hide the blackout material aaat the hinges with the hinges themselves too! You might be able to use something like the rubber round car doors (the foamy stuff) for round where the shutter meets the window. i believe you can get the foam froma diy shop.

as for ventilation, might i suggest a method we use at work?

its essentially an air hockey table with the fan set to suck. put the exit in the wall somewhere inconspicuous and you should have no problems... though tbh i'm not sure if you could bodge it from an airhokey table :)
 
Good ventilation is a must unless you prefer to float around for a while.
I was fortunate to have worked for a company that used to manufacture the
the light- tight packaging for Ilford roll film.
I used to be able to take home some "waste" rolls of about two metres wide and tape
up the windows in the kitchen.
Hint: Sit in the dark for a while until your eyes become adjusted and then you'll be surprised at the light leaks.
 
I dont have a window in my darkroom /darkcupboard for the door I used double blackout material with velcro running down both sides of and velcro on door facings material fixed to the top of the door ,then when not in use I just roll it up to the top of the door and tie with a litlle piece of materiel.
I you dont balck out completely there is a chance you might fog your paper or cause light dfamage loading your film into the tank.
Guid Health:beer::beer::beer:
 
the way my cousin did it in his shed/workshop was to make 2 wooden frames, slightly larger than the window they were covering, and screwing them together with some black-out material inbetween. he then stuck some screws into the wall that had "bolt" bits sticking out. then drilled holes in the frames.

then all you do is place the frame over the windw and match the holes up to the bolts and tighten. takes 5-10 mins when you have everything set up!
 
the other thing that works was to keep natural light!

he got hold of some plastic red filter sheets and simply stuck em to the window with masking tape. that did the trick!
 
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