# randomness



## ferny (Dec 30, 2006)

Seeing as my site is still being a turd is it alright to randomly add bits to this thread as and when I want?


So, starting off. We've got a large shed at the end of the garden. When I was little I used to have a train set in there but it hasn't been used for years. It got filled full of crap. Three years ago we cleared out the loft and put stuff which was meant to either go to a car boot sale or stuck up on eBay. Up until two days ago it still had all the crap in there plus bits I've taken off of the car (carbs, bits of gearbox, dynamo, etc). I've always wanted a darkroom (well, since I wanted one anyway) so it was chosen to be put there. I phoned up the British Heart Foundation to arrange for them to collect all the **** except for my precious broom broom parts. They said it'd be a week. Get a phone call a few days later and he asks if he can pick it all up sooner. Woo.

So with less crap in there today it was cleared out. A santa and snowman light have been put in the garage ready to go into the loft. Various bits of garden furniture as well. The train set has been stripped and broken up. It was made out of two bits of roofing chipboard so was large. That will now be burnt on the fire in the living room when it gets cold. Wall paper has started to be stripped. Wire has been "obtained" for the safelights. And the same with a Belfast sink. Big heavy sod, at least 25kg in weight. 

Tomorrow more wallpaper gets taken off. A power socket gets moved, a small area where a window was replaced gets some plasterboard put around it, a huge heavy set of draws will be moved.

Later on new wallpaper will go up, the room will be painted, a work area along two walls will be built, a water pipe will be laid all the way up the garden for the sink.

After dinner I'm actually going to test the enlarger and my DuoLab to see if they work. :mrgreen:


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## ferny (Dec 31, 2006)

Enlarger timer is fooked. It always exposes for 25 seconds no mater what I do. So I'll be taking that apart later to find out why. I can't find my B&W negs either for some reason.

Didn't have enough water for the DuoLab. It needs distilled water and I only had one of the two litres it needs so I'll be popping out after my shower.

Had a read of the instructions. I have all I need to process colour positive and negative film. Only 35mm so I'll be looking for the drum which allows me to do 120 as well. I doubt I'll find one. I can do 8x10 and 12x16 paper as well. :shock:

It has three temperature settings which are 24, 35 and 38. Everything turns and gurgles like I assume it should. If the temperatures are out I can easily adjust it as well. So if I really wanted to I could have three different ones to what it should have.


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## Torus34 (Dec 31, 2006)

"Fooked"?


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## ferny (Dec 31, 2006)

Exchange one "o" for a "c" and the other for a "u".
It was just a lose screw Works fine now. As does the Jobo.


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## terri (Dec 31, 2006)

Torus34 said:


> "Fooked"?


Ferny has always talked like a sailor. :meh: It's appalling.


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## terri (Dec 31, 2006)

ferny said:


> Exchange one "o" for a "c" and the other for a "u".
> It was just a lose screw Works fine now. As does the Jobo.


Awesome news - so you're in business now with a working timer. :thumbup: 

I can't wait to see your first prints from this setup! It's always exciting to read along when people are setting up their darkrooms for the first time.  

Hurry up and find those B&W negatives!


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## ferny (Jan 1, 2007)

terri said:


> Ferny has always talked like a sailor. :meh: It's appalling.



Is that not part of my charm?

I cna be good when I need to be. I used to work with kids, remember? Althought there were one or two close calls.


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## ferny (Jan 1, 2007)

terri said:


> Awesome news - so you're in business now with a working timer. :thumbup:
> 
> I can't wait to see your first prints from this setup! It's always exciting to read along when people are setting up their darkrooms for the first time.
> 
> Hurry up and find those B&W negatives!



You're probably more excited than me. I've just been stripping wallpaper and I've had enough. It's a horrible job and gives me far too much time to think...
That and I have to move everything about as I work. Probably got 1/4 stripped today.


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## ferny (Jan 1, 2007)

Oh yeah, and if you ever come over to England you're more than welcome to use my darkroom if you need a fix. (serious offer)


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## terri (Jan 1, 2007)

ferny said:


> Oh yeah, and if you ever come over to England you're more than welcome to use my darkroom if you need a fix. (serious offer)


heh. I plan on making that a destination someday, so you'll be hearing from me when it happens.  It would be awesome just to have a safe place to develop some film before flying home. I've done the "develop in your hotel room" thing and it's kinda nerve-wracking. 

Then we can go for a bike ride or something. :thumbup:


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## ferny (Jan 1, 2007)

terri said:


> heh. I plan on making that a destination someday, so you'll be hearing from me when it happens.  It would be awesome just to have a safe place to develop some film before flying home. I've done the "develop in your hotel room" thing and it's kinda nerve-wracking.
> 
> Then we can go for a bike ride or something. :thumbup:


You'll need to get some practice in if you want to keep up with me. 

Actually, I've not rode my bike at all this year. :shock: And still have plans to get one with an engine attatched at some point.


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## terri (Jan 1, 2007)

Honestly, I didn't ride much, either - started off strong but it got wayyyy too hot this summer, so I let it go. Was busy with festivals during the perfect time of year to ride, too.  

So maybe we'll just go for a stroll while my negs are drying. That way I know you won't run over any squirrels, either. :mrgreen:


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## ferny (Jan 2, 2007)

It was dead before I got there, honest.

Darkroom will be put on the back-burner today.
On the way home from town I popped into the local photography shop to see if they had anything to flush out some gunk from my DuoLab. The developer section and bottle are stained a reddish black. The manual says that Jobo do a flush so I thought I'd try two shops and neither had anything like it. One gave me Jobo's number though. So if anyone knows of anything let me know. And if you want detailed shots of this Jobo say and I'll take some for you. So you can figure out what it is. 

Where was I? Oh yes. Started the car up. It'd been fine all day and it's never broken down on me at all. I heard a loud *bang* so turned it off and inspected the engine. I could feel the fan was loose. Nothing wrong with the engine though. So I drove home with it rattling away like mad every time it was at low revs. Got a huge *bang* as I pulled away from a junction so pulled over and everything still seemed fine. Fan perhaps a little wobblier. Got home and inspected it. It feels like two of the four bolts which hold it on have come off somehow. I found one bolt sitting on top of carb two (the one on the left, the fan is on the far right of the picture below) and a dent in the fan cover on the radiator. That must explain the big bang.








So now I'm waiting for the water to cool off, then I can drain the whole system, take the radiator off, find out if the threads are stripped or if there's another reason for the bolts coming out and then put it all back. 



My site is working now if you want to look at that Holga and B&W stuff. Nothing impressive though.


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## terri (Jan 2, 2007)

This is Sally?!? :shock: 

And I still think you're lying about the squirrel. :meh:


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## ferny (Jan 2, 2007)

Aye, that's her.
I attacked her with some paint and changed the carbs from a single Stromberg to twin SU's.

All sorted. Two bolts missing and a third was very loose. God knows why. Assuming they were the correct bolts. They also had spring washers and all was tight when I took it off before.

Not found the other bolt. But found one washer on the bulkhead and another down by the steering rack. Could have been nasty without that fan guard.

I've cut down a couple of bolts so they're slightly longer than the old ones (they're short enough to not be too long) and put on new spring washer. I'll keep my eye on it. I also found some crub coming out of the radiator even though it's had a recent flush. So at least I got rid of that. 





That's how she used to look.


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## ferny (Jan 4, 2007)

Huzzah! Welcome to my shed. :mrgreen:


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## terri (Jan 4, 2007)

Man....I would love to have a place like that for a darkroom. Looks like you'll have plenty of room. :thumbup: 

Do you have running water in there, too?


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## ferny (Jan 4, 2007)

Will do eventually. Gonna lay some pipe up to it (about £100 all told). No warm water, but I can use a kettle and my Jobo for that.


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## terri (Jan 4, 2007)

That'll work. I'd be happy with _any_ kind of running water - my darkroom is a converted upstairs bedroom, so I have to tote water down the hall for a holding tank for my prints, then use the print washer at the kitchen sink. 

It works, but I do get misty-eyed when I dream of having a real working darkroom someday.


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## ferny (Jan 4, 2007)

Well get your arse on a plane and you'll have access to one. 

Have you got an upstairs bathroom or a water tank in your loft? It'd be easy to get water to the room.


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## terri (Jan 4, 2007)

ferny said:


> Well get your arse on a plane and you'll have access to one.
> 
> Have you got an upstairs bathroom or a water tank in your loft? It'd be easy to get water to the room.


Yep, the bathroom is just a few steps down the hall. I use a very large plastic storage bin thingy and fill it with water. I put it at the end of the lineup of trays on my darkroom table.

It's a heavy bugger to tote, that's all. :x


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## ferny (Jan 5, 2007)

I don't know how your houses are constructed there. Over here all I'd have to do to get water from the bathroom to my room is take up a few floorboards, lay some pipe and that's it. Even easier for me as the hot and cold water are right next to me as well.
Getting rid of the waste is tougher. Especially if you have to do any 45min washing.

Look into it. Sure you've got buns of steel from moving that water around, but it'd make life easier for you.


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## terri (Jan 5, 2007)

ferny said:


> I don't know how your houses are constructed there. Over here all I'd have to do to get water from the bathroom to my room is take up a few floorboards, lay some pipe and that's it. Even easier for me as the hot and cold water are right next to me as well.
> Getting rid of the waste is tougher. Especially if you have to do any 45min washing.
> 
> Look into it. Sure you've got buns of steel from moving that water around, but it'd make life easier for you.


Nah, in the long run it's not worth it to me to REALLY convert what is supposed to be a bedroom into a working darkroom. I'll sell this place eventually and it's unlikely it would be a selling point to have a faucet in the middle of a bedroom. As it stands I'll have a lot of holes to repair and paint over from the extra shelving and safelights, but that's easy stuff. 

Trust me, we've kicked it around. If we decided to really hunker down here, then yes, running a pipe would be very easy since the bathroom is right against this bedroom and the plumbing is right there. When we decided to sell, it could be removed and the wall sealed up. It's how long we'll be here to actually enjoy it that gives pause to the added expense on both ends of the project. That's why I wish I had a basement or outdoor shed or something that wasn't so integral to the interior living space that I could convert.

When we're both retired and spending more time in there, it might suddenly make more sense. In the meantime.....I tote and complain. :mrgreen:


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## ferny (Jan 12, 2007)

update

http://www.blueyedmuffin.co.uk/arse/?cat=7


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## ferny (Jan 28, 2007)

Almost all done. Only thing to really do now is get the water up there. The waste is sorted and I can carry up a big (BIG) bottle of water and stand that on the side. The Jobo heats it all up for me.

Jobs today are just to trim down a bit of board to get it to fit into the window better (the black out boards for the window).
Check to make sure the waste isn't leaking.
Sort out some paper and chemicals and do the two coin test.
Dig out the sewing machine and make up my dust cover for the enlarger (yes, I can actually sew and normaly do it by hand  )

Within the next couple of weeks I'll have running water and I'll have bought some Photocolour II to develop my colour negs.


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## Majik Imaje (Mar 4, 2007)

but why not build a nice wooden sink and keep your trays inside the sink, that way there is no spillage. you can drain into 5 or ten gallon bucket

I read that you have water close by. so why not use a hose, and a pump hung high overhead. flip the switch and it pumps water into your big tank.


I hope you paint that darkroom white.!   black is just so awful for working long extende hours. Kodak gives a whole list of reasons why any darkroom should be white. 

also. getting the "stains"? off your jobo ? drum ?    Lysol toilet bowl 
cleaner! 

I had a Durst Color semi auto color processor and the rollers would get black tar..  Durst said to use Nitric Acid which is too dangerous.

I found a better easier method!  Lysol! toilet bowl cleaner.. blue liquid !


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