Will this work for darkroom sink?

[CropDusterMan]

I'd suggest you first look at local Craigslist items and see if you can find something...often, you'll find
commercial sinks from restaurants etc...I've built a few darkrooms with such. I always think stainless
is the way to go.

 

[DREW WILEY]

There are some surprisingly large ABS deep flat-bottomed mortar or cement-mixing trays (tubs) available these days, quite cheap. Might be entirely suitable for a beginner making modest-sized prints, or for retaining a rotary drum system and tempering bath.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

If your sink is designed to hold a significant amount of liquid then you really do need a drain. Trying to bail the sink out or carry it to an existing sink is asking for trouble.

 

[johnnywalker]

I bought a 20" X 44" X 5" deep plastic tray from a hydroponics store, and built a table around it, with water taps installed on the table itself. I also installed a drain. I use it to put all my trays in for 8 X 10, but for 11 X 14 one tray has to go on the table. The plastic tray has to be supported underneath. The cost was about $30 for the tray. If I had a bigger darkroom I would have bought a bigger tray, but this one works fine.

 

[Christophoto]

Thanks for the additional ideas. I'm leaning toward some sort of large drip tray, and possibly that adjustable height table from Costco. I'm only calling it a sink because it'll be to catch spills and be large enough for multiple trays, but I'm not washing prints in it or anything. A large enough drip tray for all my 8x10 trays to fit comfortably will work, I think a suitable table is what's going to take more thought. I originally lumped the two questions together because I was planning on building a 2x4 and plywood table/sink combo in one piece. I don't need portability and it won't be moving, but adjustable height would be sweet.

 

[BetterSense]

In the past I built a plywood sink with backsplash and painted it with Moorelastic, but it didn't make the move. I tried one of the under-bed things, but it was too big and floppy to pick up and drai. incidental spills out of. Now I have two big clear Rubbermaid tubs right next to each other on a towel. They are a good size to handle, they nest, they have lids that serve as a makeshift backsplash, and I usd more of the same tubs to store my chemials in. Altogether, it's not a bad setup save for the lack of running water.

 

[Kilgallb]

I built a plywood box the size I wanted, and then bought a 4'x8' sheet of ABS from a local plastics supply house. I cut the plastic to the size I wanted with my table saw, cut 4" high side pieces and then used silicone to attach the pieces together. It's the same stuff that is used for building aquariums. I used Dow Corning 786.

I cut a circular hole in one end of the bottom sheet and put in a shower drain fitting. It is also siliconed to the ABS, and then that gave me a convenient connection to conventional ABS 1-1/2" drain pipe to tie into my house drain.

In my next darkroom I will do that so I can slope to the drain more effectively.

 

[Chris Douglas]

Full strength ascetic acid will attack some plastics. My old Kodak graduated cylinder melted when I tried to use it. I think it was styrene. I think any of the soft plastics will be okay for anything you may use.

 

[MartinP]

For tables/benches, I'd suggest going to a secondhand furniture store. A secondhand, six foot, steel-framed office table will be cheap and strong.

The various drip-tray options (even polythene off a roll) are a very practical alternative to a sink for catching drips and splashes, especially as a sink is really a darkroom luxury-good until you have a specific process that needs it (which might be years, or never).