For dusting negatives, I have been using an old paint compressor that belonged to my Dad. This thing is ancient and may actually be older than me. It had gotten to the point where it only put out about 40 psi - useless for paint, but perfect for dusting negs.
Like everything else from the darkroom, it has been idle for about a year and a half, but I took it into the new darkroom yesterday and cranked it up. The first time it came on, it didn’t sound right. I shut the switch off and started it again. This time, just a buzz for two seconds and then: SMOKE!
The old machine finally froze up. It’s not worth trying to fix. It has more sentimental value than anything. However, it doesn’t have enough sentimental value to keep. So long.
Now to get the smoke smell out of the darkroom and buy a small fire extinguisher.
October 25, 2010
October 24, 2010
Done! (Almost)
Water – more or less.
More in the sink – less on the floor.
In fact, none on the floor so far!
I am extremely pleased to announce that I have plumbing. One week later than I had anticipated the announcement (see prior post), and weeks (months) later than I would have liked.
I probably should have done this in the first place; but then hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it? Barely $15 worth of parts and material, and not too much time, and I had faucets like I want them. With no leaks!
After last week’s experience of cleaning up a bit of water with the old faucets, I also was determined to test the new ones outside before I installed them in the darkroom. Hooked up to a garden hose, the only leak was in one faucet, which was just not tight enough. A half twist with a wrench and it was fine. None of the PVC glue joints leaked, although I am very paranoid about that. I had one joint leak (out of several dozen) once before, and I guess that’s it. That leak was repaired with a small amount of epoxy, so it’s never the end of the world.
Once fastened down in the darkroom and hooked up to the water line, everything worked great! I can’t tell you what a relief that was. So different from a week ago. I made a couple of small shelf supports for the pipe and faucets. In the prior darkroom, I had attached all of this to a board on the wall, as is traditional. I did have some trouble with the PVC pipes twisting from the weight of the brass faucets, and had to get creative. This time, I decided to be “creative’ and give them some support in the way of shallow shelves. This also allowed the faucets to be a couple of inches further out over the sinks. Seems to work fine.
No hot water yet, but that was planned. The pipes are there when and if I decide to add a heater. So now all that’s left are the dozens of little things. As I’ve said, the darkroom will never be completely “finished”, since I’m always rearranging something. But, there does reach a point of stability where it is fully functional. I could actually work now, but the place is a mess and I’ll wait a bit.
Still need to put up a few more shelves; place the safelights (and test); maybe another task light or two; build the frame for the print drying racks; and, get the stereo going! Next weekend I’m going shopping for the work table. I was going to build one myself, but an analysis of time and material costs vs. just buying something has pushed me to retail. Down the road, I want to fabricate more elaborate storage for things like enlarger lenses and negative carriers, which I can’t really buy retail, but that can wait.
I’m to the point now where I can schedule the opening. Woo hoo!
More in the sink – less on the floor.
In fact, none on the floor so far!
I am extremely pleased to announce that I have plumbing. One week later than I had anticipated the announcement (see prior post), and weeks (months) later than I would have liked.
I probably should have done this in the first place; but then hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it? Barely $15 worth of parts and material, and not too much time, and I had faucets like I want them. With no leaks!
Once fastened down in the darkroom and hooked up to the water line, everything worked great! I can’t tell you what a relief that was. So different from a week ago. I made a couple of small shelf supports for the pipe and faucets. In the prior darkroom, I had attached all of this to a board on the wall, as is traditional. I did have some trouble with the PVC pipes twisting from the weight of the brass faucets, and had to get creative. This time, I decided to be “creative’ and give them some support in the way of shallow shelves. This also allowed the faucets to be a couple of inches further out over the sinks. Seems to work fine.No hot water yet, but that was planned. The pipes are there when and if I decide to add a heater. So now all that’s left are the dozens of little things. As I’ve said, the darkroom will never be completely “finished”, since I’m always rearranging something. But, there does reach a point of stability where it is fully functional. I could actually work now, but the place is a mess and I’ll wait a bit.
Still need to put up a few more shelves; place the safelights (and test); maybe another task light or two; build the frame for the print drying racks; and, get the stereo going! Next weekend I’m going shopping for the work table. I was going to build one myself, but an analysis of time and material costs vs. just buying something has pushed me to retail. Down the road, I want to fabricate more elaborate storage for things like enlarger lenses and negative carriers, which I can’t really buy retail, but that can wait.
I’m to the point now where I can schedule the opening. Woo hoo!
October 17, 2010
Water, water everywhere …
S. T. Coleridge wrote:
Sometime in 2008, I bought out a commercial photographer who had gone completely digital and was selling his darkroom – everything but the room itself. I got a Beseler 4x5 enlarger, several Componon lenses, trays (up to 20x24), tanks, reels, washers, timer, and a partridge in a pear tree. Actually no birds, but there was a 4 ft. temp control sink! The sink was filthy, but I cleaned it up and put it in storage, since there was no room for it in the old house’s darkroom. Someday I would expand. I sold the enlarger lenses and got all my money back, so all this stuff was, well, free.
Beware of cheap/free stuff. The enlarger and lenses were fine, actually, but much of the rest of the stuff was in various stages of decrepitude. All of the trays are/were filthy, but I still have them, just haven’t cleaned (or needed) them yet. I threw out half of the steel developing reels, since they were bent. I actually left several boxes of stuff at the guy’s studio that were in such bad shape as to only be described as trash.
Anyway, the sink, I thought at the time, was a steal. These things are expensive. This is why I held on to it even when I had no room. When fate stepped in and caused me to have to build a much larger darkroom, the sink’s true purpose was revealed.
As you can see from the photo, there is a hot and cold mixing valve, an inline thermometer, and three faucets. All of this is connected in back of the sink by standard faucet supply hoses. Now, I am thrilled to have another 4 feet of sink, and the hot/cold mechanism is just bonus – especially considering that I am not even going to have hot water initially.
The metal stand was badly corroded. (Should have been a sign.) I took it all apart, sanded and repainted, and replaced all of the connecting bolts with brass, to avoid corrosion problems in the future. The stand looks fabulous! There was a pinhole in the sink that I repaired with a little epoxy. It seems to be fine and does not leak. What I did not do, is any rehab on the plumbing. I definitely should have done a check of all this stuff before I installed it upstairs in the darkroom. When I put water to this thing, it was squirting everywhere!
OK, pulled the sink out from the wall and determined that the leak in back of the sink was in the vicinity of only in one hose, it was just a lot of water. After cleaning up the water, I re-did the connection, which appeared loose, and tried again. This time I could see the hole in the hose! Cleaned up the new water and called it a night.
Things often look better in the morning, and that morning I got a new hose and installed it. When I turned on the water, no leaks! That is, there were none that weren’t going into the sink. The mixing valve was dripping, but at least it was going into the sink and down the drain. OK, I can live with that. When I turned on any of the faucets, the thermometer leaked. OK, live with that, too. But the worst was the faucets themselves. All three leaked out of the handle when turned on and sprayed at weird angles.
The weird angles was because of the anti-siphon valves installed on the end of each faucet. Not only did these leak and reduce the water flow, but when I put a hose on one of then, there was no water at all. OK, I’ll just take them off. They are not needed. There is a set screw on the valve. The first one I attempted to remove broke off rather than turn! All of this stuff is corroded! I give up.
I am still going to use this sink! It holds water and the drain works fine. But, I am going to start from scratch as if I had just the sink and it was not already plumbed. This will be simpler and cheaper than trying to fix and/or replace all of the corroded hardware built into the sink, and will be more versatile and practical for what I need anyway. I should have done this initially, but it seemed easier just to use what was there. The mistake I made was not testing “what was there” in the first place. Oh, well. Stay tuned.
“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”
My version:
Water, water everywhere,
Since all the fittings leak;
Water, water everywhere,
I hate this god damned sink!
I had anticipated announcing in this blog, this very weekend, that my darkroom was fully functional, if not totally complete. It may never be totally complete, as many of us are always tinkering, but that’s another issue. However, I thought I had finished all of the plumbing and once I turned on the water, I could at least process film! This was to be a milestone! Well, it was not to be.
Sometime in 2008, I bought out a commercial photographer who had gone completely digital and was selling his darkroom – everything but the room itself. I got a Beseler 4x5 enlarger, several Componon lenses, trays (up to 20x24), tanks, reels, washers, timer, and a partridge in a pear tree. Actually no birds, but there was a 4 ft. temp control sink! The sink was filthy, but I cleaned it up and put it in storage, since there was no room for it in the old house’s darkroom. Someday I would expand. I sold the enlarger lenses and got all my money back, so all this stuff was, well, free.
Beware of cheap/free stuff. The enlarger and lenses were fine, actually, but much of the rest of the stuff was in various stages of decrepitude. All of the trays are/were filthy, but I still have them, just haven’t cleaned (or needed) them yet. I threw out half of the steel developing reels, since they were bent. I actually left several boxes of stuff at the guy’s studio that were in such bad shape as to only be described as trash.
Anyway, the sink, I thought at the time, was a steal. These things are expensive. This is why I held on to it even when I had no room. When fate stepped in and caused me to have to build a much larger darkroom, the sink’s true purpose was revealed.
As you can see from the photo, there is a hot and cold mixing valve, an inline thermometer, and three faucets. All of this is connected in back of the sink by standard faucet supply hoses. Now, I am thrilled to have another 4 feet of sink, and the hot/cold mechanism is just bonus – especially considering that I am not even going to have hot water initially.
The metal stand was badly corroded. (Should have been a sign.) I took it all apart, sanded and repainted, and replaced all of the connecting bolts with brass, to avoid corrosion problems in the future. The stand looks fabulous! There was a pinhole in the sink that I repaired with a little epoxy. It seems to be fine and does not leak. What I did not do, is any rehab on the plumbing. I definitely should have done a check of all this stuff before I installed it upstairs in the darkroom. When I put water to this thing, it was squirting everywhere!
OK, pulled the sink out from the wall and determined that the leak in back of the sink was in the vicinity of only in one hose, it was just a lot of water. After cleaning up the water, I re-did the connection, which appeared loose, and tried again. This time I could see the hole in the hose! Cleaned up the new water and called it a night.
Things often look better in the morning, and that morning I got a new hose and installed it. When I turned on the water, no leaks! That is, there were none that weren’t going into the sink. The mixing valve was dripping, but at least it was going into the sink and down the drain. OK, I can live with that. When I turned on any of the faucets, the thermometer leaked. OK, live with that, too. But the worst was the faucets themselves. All three leaked out of the handle when turned on and sprayed at weird angles.
The weird angles was because of the anti-siphon valves installed on the end of each faucet. Not only did these leak and reduce the water flow, but when I put a hose on one of then, there was no water at all. OK, I’ll just take them off. They are not needed. There is a set screw on the valve. The first one I attempted to remove broke off rather than turn! All of this stuff is corroded! I give up.
I am still going to use this sink! It holds water and the drain works fine. But, I am going to start from scratch as if I had just the sink and it was not already plumbed. This will be simpler and cheaper than trying to fix and/or replace all of the corroded hardware built into the sink, and will be more versatile and practical for what I need anyway. I should have done this initially, but it seemed easier just to use what was there. The mistake I made was not testing “what was there” in the first place. Oh, well. Stay tuned.
October 7, 2010
New link
New link to a website/blog about analog photography. He has a separate thread going on building a darkroom, complete with an 8x10 enlarger!
http://www.darkroomguide.com/
http://www.darkroomguide.com/
October 5, 2010
(D)rain barrel
I discussed this a while back, but here’s a photo of the rain barrel turned drain barrel.I don’t know how the 55 gallon barrel will compare. At least I can see how much water is in the barrel. If it proves to be inadequate, I can add more barrels and connect them together.
September 27, 2010
Cabinets (finally)
I am thrilled to report that the drought of activity is broken. I made significant progress over the weekend, as witnessed by the completion and installation of the enlarger cabinets.
There are two Beseler 4x5s – one is on the adjustable stand in the center. I built two cabinets to flank the enlarger stand. The larger of the cabinets on the right holds the second enlarger. Underneath is storage for easels and possibly the print drying racks – I haven’t fully settled on that yet. The cabinet on the left will be a general work area and misc. storage.
September 16, 2010
Equipment list
I added an equipment page (link to the right) for those who care about such things.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
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