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Darkroom plans


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<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I have decided to build a darkroom. I have enough space in my house by enlarging a closet that is part of a storage room. The wife has given the go ahead....the bank account on the other hand..... :o)</p>

<p>Anyway, below are the plans that I have come up with. the perimeter walls are pretty well set in stone due to things like windows and such. I could make the section with the enlarger table deeper with some more storage space lost in the existing room. But I do not see a benefit of doing that.</p>

<p>The drawing is pretty darn close to scale and I included metric conversions. The sink will be small but it is one that I already have. Also I plan to make the developing table water tight with a lip. Is that really all that important?</p>

<p>I have only been into one dark room in my life and have never used one...so any insight would be great. I can add another working table where it says "self" for more table room. That would be the dry area I reckon. I could make it 1.5 ft and that would give me 2 feet of working room. sound like plenty but I am a big boy. :o)</p>

<p>Oh, and I certainly could make the enlarger table deeper. I would not build that until I buy the enlarger its self. I am going for something for 4x5.</p>

<p>thanks to all</p>

<p>Jason</p>

<p><img src="http://jphotoarts.smugmug.com/photos/527141792_wSDbT-L.jpg" alt="" width="677" height="600" /></p>

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<p>If the image is not showing up in the above post, here is a link to Flickr. It is showing up for me, but folk seem to have trouble in the past when I insert an image hosted by Smugmug.</p>

<p><a href=" Jason Hall's darkroom plans

<p>Thanks again</p>

<p>Jason </p>

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<p>Over the developing table I would put a higher shelf in. It can be about a foot deep. This will be for developing tanks, reels, thermometers and beakers. You might also put some film developer on the shelf. Under the developing table you will need another shelf to hold chemicals. There doesn't seem to be room for a paper cuttor of any size but that's not a big problem. On the dry side shelf you will want to have your paper safe, not too far from the enlarger. This will be for the papers you use most often. Make sure all of your electrical outlets are GFI types. You will want to put in a vent and a fan. You will not be able to draw much air into the vent unless there is another ligh tight vent elsewhere.<br>

Your space will be tight but manageable. Even with ventilation I would recommend that you keep odors to a minimum. You can do this by using odorless stop bath. This is made with citric acid rather than aceitic acid and works well. There is also odorless fixer which works as well as smelly fixer. You can get several types of both items from Freestyle. Paper and film developers do not generally have a strong smell. If you think you might have allergies to any chemicals you might want to get fim and paper developers which use phenidone rather than metol. </p>

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<p>Jeff,<br>

Thanks for the ideas. I had planed to put a shelf above the developing table. I had not thought of a paper cutter, I will have to think about that. I may add another table along the wall between the deveoping table and the dry table. this would add a little more surface area to work with. I also realize I will likely need a larger sink.</p>

<p>GFI outlets are a good idea and I had not thought that far ahead yet, but I will certainly install them.</p>

<p>Ventilation is also something I had thougth about, but not for fumes so much as for cooling the small space. Were I develop now is rather open and fumes have not been an issue at all. So I am making plans to give plenty of freash air to this samll space</p>

<p>Julio, that is a great document, thanks for shareing. I have it saved to my hard drive for future reference.</p>

<p>Thanks again</p>

<p>Jason</p>

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<p>Your 1'6" (0.5m) deep enlarger table seem not deep enough for a 4X5 setup. Have you arranged your largest trays to see if they will all fit on your developing table? A dry run before you start building will be very helpful. One of the most overlooked aspects of darkroom construction is the hight of the tables. You will be standing and tables too high or too low can be uncomfortable. You do not want to bend over while printing, but you do not want the table so high that you can not focus large prints. Some enlargers have their focus controls at the top of the head, others have their controls near the lens stage. If your developing table is too high (include the trays in a mock up) your hands will be will be near your heart instead of your waist. Think about <strong><em>your</em></strong> comfort when devising your darkroom.</p>

<p>Paul</p>

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<p>Look's nice, me jealous ;-).<br>

A thing I would do:<br>

If you can wouldn't it be a good idea to move the sink to the 5 feet wall in the back of the room so that you can put the enlager on the developing table.<br>

This would give you a nice left to right workflow. this would give you more storage space where the enlarger table is planned.<br>

Erwin</p>

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<p>I agree with the vents [there are several plans for DIY lightproof vents], make sure the safelighting is good but won't fog your paper- some darkrooms have walls painted black, but not all. The developing table might not be long enough for trays bigger than 8x10; the space will indeed be tight.<br>

Where are you going to put the radio? After a while, you will want one.</p>

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