Print drying rack

Trond

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I have just built a print drying rack for my new darkroom. The idea comes from the excellent book "Build you own home darkroom".

The rack is on wheels so that I easily can move it in and out of the darkroom, and has been designed to accept 10 50 x 60 cm prints. It's just 1 cm narrower than the door into the darkroom.

Now it needs a couple of coats of varnish, and I have to make the screens.

 

fschifano

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Never mind that. I like it! Nicely done. Maybe a coat or two of polyurethane finish just to protect the wood?
 

JJB

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Do you have a plan for the individual shelves? Are they going to be a wood frame with some screen material?
 

ic-racer

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Looks very similar to something I picked up at Home Depot. I used standard window screen frames (cut to the correct size) for the racks.
 

fschifano

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RH Designs said:
I used a plastic mesh netting from a local garden centre - designed to keep birds off your plants. Works a treat, and very cheap!
Click to expand...

I'd probably go with the fiberglass window screening material, but the plastic mesh netting would be just as good. The key here is to avoid metal screens as these will oxidize and can leave stains. I know the fiberglass ones will not, 'cause that's what I use. Fiberglass screening is a bit more dimensionally stable than the plastic garden mesh I've seen around here. It sags a bit when it gets warm. Fiberglass doesn't.
 
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Trond

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I'll check out the plastic mesh netting if I don't find any suitable fiberglass. Window screens aren't very common here in Norway, but it's possible that the same product is used for other things as well. I will look around.
 

Timothy

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Trond,

Very nice work. My own $00.02 worth of advice is to avoid using any urethane product. You will be surprised how quickly ordinary water will dissolve a plastic finish. A much better solution is traditional Tongue oil. I have used it on several bits of gear that are in my sink with water flowing over them at times, and the wood is good as new still.
 

George Collier

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All my darkroom surfaces are finished with several coats of marine spar varnish (first coat cut in half with thinner to help penetration). At 20+ years old, they still look like they did when new, except developer will stain if left to dry, but the surface is still good.
I second the fiberglass screens. I had some like this years ago (I hang my prints now), wooden frames. I just stacked them, but this will allow more air circulation. (I didn't finish the frames, never a problem.) You need to be able to clean the fiberglass with a weak clorox solution from time to time to eliminate contamination.
 

fschifano

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Are you serious? The counter tops in my darkroom are high density particle board finished with two coats of standard, run of the mill, glossy urethane finish. The same thing used for finishing wood floors. This stuff is tough. Everything gets spilled on it and in the 10 years that I've had this set up, nothing has damaged it. It doesn't look like the OP is going to be running water over this thing anyway, not that it would matter.
 

ic-racer

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Building something is always good.
However, this is a better picture of something simiilar to what I found. It is called a "Pan Rack" I put window screens in it.

 

fotch

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It takes 5 or 6 coats of Tung Oil before it has any moisture resistance. Each coat take a long time to dry. Its protection is via penetration. There is a reason they use varnish on boats. I would use an epoxy finish, seals at the surface and last nearly forever. I have had a sink that I epoxied 30 years ago that still look about the same as the day I did it. Gave it away last year, still going strong in a new darkroom. Just my 2 cents
 
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Trond

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GeorgesGiralt

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Hello !
I've made a print drying rack under my sink.
For the shelves, I was lazy. One day I followed my wife in an arts store. I saw canvas frames without the canvas sold very cheap. So I decided to use them.
I stapled the fiberglass mesh on the lower face using stainless steel staples "et voila" !
 
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