Our project forced us to grapple with the inconvenience of having to handle chemicals that are destroyed, when exposed to too much light. The laboratory, that was kindly made available for us, is located in a building with a glass front and many people work there with us. Working protected from light without causing us or others inconveniences seemed impossible. That is how the idea for the “Dark Bench” emerged.
The most important questions we asked ourselves and others working with light sensitive materials were: Does our design really constitute an advantage opposed to the usual solutions like aluminum foil and cardboard? And: Can we make it affordable?

Design

The Dark bench is a light controlled space which facilitates the handling of the photo-sensitive caged amino acids. It is entirely made using laser-cut parts and readily available resources to make it a Do-It-Yourself and inexpensive device. As all the parts are assembled with help of angles and hinges, the Dark bench can be dismantled and assembled with little effort.
It´s features comprise:

1. Convenient hand hole design
2. Sliding drawer
3. Optical window/UV protection window
4. Safelight

Click for detailed information.

Cost Calculation

“Or, if someone else built it for you, how much would it cost.”

That was Dr. Mishlers concern, when he gave us some feedback to the design of our model. At first he seemed to be interested in our Hardware part, but was skeptical if having the advantages would be worth the price. We estimated the costs to build one darkbench at about 200 $.

Click for the detailed calculation.

Assembly

“I think it could make work with photosensitive substances easier. The questions what is the inconvenience to building the box versus he added convenience of using it.”

Video darkbench assemly

Conclusion

We are very content with the design of our “Dark Bench”. We think it is convenient to work with and can help avoid production of unnecessary waste.
The manual for building the “Dark Bench” can be downloaded here.