Developing prints by spraying the chemicals on the paper

[Ian Grant]

+1

In addition to the primary problem of breathing the chemicals do you want developer and fixer particles all over you darkroom where they can contaminate film and paper for months to come? Really a very dumb idea.

I agree with your comments Gerald, when we spray processed commercially the darkroom had excellent fume extraction and we wore respirators. We also spray coated phoptographic emulsion and this was done with an air-line respirator fed along with the spraygun by a compressor outside the darkroom.

There's no way I'd spray chemistry in a home darkroom.

Ian

 

[EdSawyer]

What Ralph said. You can usually find trays way cheaper than new from B&H or wherever. Even large ones are not that hard to come by, and if you can find them locally (Craigslist?), shipping is not even an extra expense. Trying to DIY something inadequate can be fun but ultimately is a waste of time and resources vs. doing it right, esp. on something as simple as trays. IMNSHO. ;-)

 

[Ian Grant]

What Ralph said. You can usually find trays way cheaper than new from B&H or wherever. Even large ones are not that hard to come by, and if you can find them locally (Craigslist?), shipping is not even an extra expense. Trying to DIY something inadequate can be fun but ultimately is a waste of time and resources vs. doing it right, esp. on something as simple as trays. IMNSHO. ;-)

There can be issues with space, I went from having 3 large darkrooms to a very small one in 1986 (I'd guess 5x6 ft), I didn't have room for 3 16x12 dishes side by side so (stacked/staggered) even though I had much larger trays they weren't an option. A DIY trough, a piece of plastic to tape the paper to for processing and then sponge processing was very easy and reliable. I did then do a second fix outside the darkroom in an appropriate tray before washing in the bath. The whole process was archival.

Ian