I'm still using the sink and backpanel I put together in the late 80s.
It looks somewhat like the sink in the link from f/256, except all the
copper pipe is behind the panel. A bit more trouble, but the front of
the panel is cleaner and leaves more room for hanging little racks for
thermometers, stirring sticks, measuring cups and the like. It's
attached to the sink, but is easily removed. I've moved it twice
since building it, and each time have been glad I had the sense to
make it detachable. Also, the base disassembles easily.

By undoing one screw at each end, the panel tilts forward, in case
anything needed to be done in back, though in the 17 years since I
built it, I've never had to do that.

The back panel is two 1" x 6", giving a height of about 10" above the
back of the sink. It's finished in marine varnish. It has filters on
the intake. The sink was built with ACX plywood coated over with a
two-part clear coating like what is used on bartops. After all these
years, just two spots near the drain show signs of seepage. It was
originally 11 ft long, 33" wide and 8" deep. It turns out I never got
into prints big enough to take advantage of the 33" width, so I might
make it a little narrower if I had to do it again. On the top edge of
the front side, where you would rest your elbows, put a piece of 1" x
3" fir, nicely rounded, smoothed and varnished, for leaning on. Makes
a nice elbow rest and was well worth the effort. The original height
was 36" at the sink bottom, but I've cut it down by 3" (I'm 5'5"
tall). I just finished installing it in its latest location and two
weeks ago printed for the first time in 6 years (!) so I'm just
getting used to some of the other changes I made. It wouldn't fit into
my present space, so I shortened it from 11 feet to 6, losing one
faucet in the process. I now have one unregulated faucet instead of
two on the developing/left end and one regulated faucet on the
washer/right end. The regulated faucet has two hoses, one for mixing
chemicals and the other for the print washer. I miss the faucet I
took out and the sink length too. Also the spacing of the faucets is
not optimal, but I was too anxious about getting it all back together
to do anything about that.

Good luck and have fun

McLeod wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 24 May 2004 19:29:39 +0200, Gilbert Dumont
wrote:


In "The new darkroom handbook" (Focal press) you will find just what
you are looking for.

Gilbert

Yes, I have that book. It has some very good examples, but I was
looking for real world advice. If someone has recently plumbed a sink
and discovered that they would do something differently next time, I
would be interested in that type of thing. How many water outlets
they would have, how many temperature regulated hoses, any sink
finishing advice, etc. I'm looking for potential improvements to my
sink and plumbing I haven't thought of. Would you make the sink
ribbed so water can flow under the trays or would you leave it flat
for easier cleaning, etc?