Darkroom design

Steve

Steve

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Wifey has given go ahead to a small room being converted to a permanent darkroom.....yippee.

It's only small...about 6' x 5'

Can anyone recommend a design resource?

Want to try to get it right first time.
 
APUG has a show us your darkroom thread - its not specifically a design resource but seeing some pictures will definitely give you some ideas
 
I'll post a photo later of a page in a darkroom book about design and various sized rooms if you want
 
Thanks for the help guys...given me a good starting place :)
 
Scratch that, the book is in Manchester and I'm in Leeds for the rest of the week
 
Well it's almost finished now.

Ended up being part of a small extension and being a bit larger than originally planned at 8 foot x 6 foot too :)

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Should be ready to furnish and be up and running in next few days....am like an excited puppy :)
 
That looks fantastic Steve...want one.....

Andy
 
I built a number of commercial darkrooms.
One thing I found essential was to run light pull cords down the length of the room.
the one over the sinks controlled the safe lights and the one over the dry bench controlled the white lights. made life very easy, you did not even need to touch them with your fingers (wet, contaminated) as you could swing your arm over your head and use your wrist, anywhere in the room.
 
Thanks for the comments... should be ready for use tomorrow.

Terry..thatsounds a great idea....how did you control the safelights with a pull cord?. I have 3 safelights. but they are all attached to plugs and go straight into the mains.
 
Steve said:
Thanks for the comments... should be ready for use tomorrow.

Terry..thatsounds a great idea....how did you control the safelights with a pull cord?. I have 3 safelights. but they are all attached to plugs and go straight into the mains.
Click to expand...

I wired them all from the same feed controlled by the pull switch. (they were individually switched as well)
If your lights all feed from the same spur, you could put a pull switch on that.

Safe lights should be on the lighting circuit not the power circuit.
Using a pull cord is safer than ordinary switches, especially near a wet bench.
You must not be able to touch both the switch/plug and the water supply at the same time. You must also earth your metal pipework.
 
Thanks for the advice Terry,

The only reasonably priced safelights I could find all have 3 pin plugs attached to them. The fluorescent safelights are beyond my budget, but my intention is to switch the safelights on at the start of a session and leave them turned on for whole time so wont have to touch them.
 
Darkroom all finished now and up and running:

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I can highly recommend PFD in Manchester who got a lot of the darkroom gear for me at a great price
 
Thats just bloody gorgeous that is.....
 
If only I had the space, until then I'll have to do with the ******* offspring of the film and digital world and stick with figital :)
 
I've got the space just not the time, money, skill or obliging spouse....:bonk:
 
Thanks for the comments :)

Anyone on the forum is welcome to pop around for a cup of tea and to use the darkroom.

It's not really big enough for two for any length of time, but it's in a part of the house where it can be used without interupting anyone else so happy to offer it up to anyone who fancies a go.
 
Steve said:
Thanks for the comments :)

Anyone on the forum is welcome to pop around for a cup of tea and to use the darkroom.

It's not really big enough for two for any length of time, but it's in a part of the house where it can be used without interupting anyone else so happy to offer it up to anyone who fancies a go.
Click to expand...

Might take you up on that if I'm back in Manchester in September (y)
 
The question is, do you do tutorials? (;-)
 
ChrisR said:
The question is, do you do tutorials? (;-)
Click to expand...

Yep...tutorials are available. But I must warn everyone I am very much in the Hooleyism school of darkroom technique, so the results are frequently shall we say.... 'different'.

:D
 
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