Cleaning developing trays
Barbarosa
a best way to clean that out?
B
Doug Dreger
risk of contamination. I prefer a product made by Edwal, called Tray and
Tank Cleaner. Sells for about $8 for a one-liter bottle, mixes 1 to 3
with warm water. Works like a chram. A caveat: follow directions
carefully, and wear rubber gloves . . . it's fairly toxic stuff.
Richard Knoppow
Hypo by itself won't work because this is metallic silver and hypo
is a poor solvent for it.
A bleach is necessary first. A plain ferricyanide bleach as in
Farmer's reducer will convert the metallic silver into a form that
hypo will remove.
The classic cleaner is a solution of potassium dichromate and
sulfuric acid in water. It used to be sold off the shelf and may be
what the above is. Both components are considered hazardous. the
chromate is a carcinogen.
I repeat the caution above, use gloves and be careful. The stuff can
be used over and over so pour the used solvent back into the bottle.
The tray should be thoroughly washed after bleaching it. Any
staining can be removed by sloshing some full strength Kodak Hypo
Clearing Agent around the tray.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, Ca.
dick...@ix.netcom.com
Art Reitsch
will work. My tray is building up that crud too, but I plan to continue
using it until it's too grody to look at, then toss it and buy a new one.
Art
SPECTRUM
I just use chlorine bleach.
Regards,
John S. Douglas Spectrum Photographic Inc
Photographer http://www.spectrumphoto.com
Darkroom processes, formulas, facts and information.
Weddings,portraits,commercial and stock photography
On Sat, 25 Sep 1999 05:39:13 -0700, Art Reitsch <ar7...@olympus.net>
wrote:
b10...@my-deja.com
removes the plasticizers thus making the trays brittle and susceptable
to cracking. I have been cleaning the same trays since about 1970 so I
guess after 29 years of the bleach treatment I can expect the need to
replace them anytime now.
Mike
In article <9sLsN5TSctTnHl3=ONu4=2x0...@4ax.com>,
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Jimfinkle1
>From: SPECTRUM spec...@spectrumphoto.com
>Date: Sat, 25 September 1999 08:41 AM EDT
>Message-id: <9sLsN5TSctTnHl3=ONu4=2x0...@4ax.com>
>
>Posted and mailed !
>
> I just use chlorine bleach.
>
>Regards,
>
>John S. Douglas Spectrum Photographic Inc
>Photographer http://www.spectrumphoto.com
>Darkroom processes, formulas, facts and information.
>Weddings,portraits,commercial and stock photography
>
>On Sat, 25 Sep 1999 05:39:13 -0700, Art Reitsch <ar7...@olympus.net>
>wrote:
>
>>B: The other replies to your inquiry look very sound and I'm sure they
>>will work. My tray is building up that crud too, but I plan to continue
>>using it until it's too grody to look at, then toss it and buy a new one.
>>Art
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Maybe if we let it build up enough our supplier will take it in as an even
trade for the silver value.
Myself, I wipe it out with a paper towel.
Jim
Gene Alan Townsend
Barbarosa wrote:
> A lot of dark material is building up in my developing tray. Is there
> a best way to clean that out?
>
> B
My $.02 on this subject:
I've used ordinary scrubber powder with bleach for this. Works fine, but
does rub away a little plastic: Generic AJAX type scrubbing powder/with
chlorine bleach.
GAT
Steve1chsn
**** steve ****
Edd, The Alexander
> > A lot of dark material is building up in my developing tray. Is there
> > a best way to clean that out?
> >
> I've used ordinary scrubber powder with bleach for this. Works fine, but
> does rub away a little plastic: Generic AJAX type scrubbing powder/with
> chlorine bleach.
The tray I'm most interested in cleaning is the one at my Jr college
photo class. Something, presumably silver, is occasionally coming off the
bottom and staining our prints, a spray of brownish spots. One of the other
students has been reprimanding me for agitating the tray while I develop my
prints because, she warns, it brings up silver which stains "everybody's"
prints. But agitation seems important.
Somewhere I remember hearing that Brasso will clean tray bottoms. Any
truth to the rumor?
--
Edd
Type 2, Dx'd 1/94
A little walking here and there, an occasional Tae-Bo video,
and still grudgingly trying to come to terms with my bad attitude toward
diets
I'm Off Glucophage and doing fine.
mailto:edd...@jetlink.net
The trouble with being infallible is that you have to put up with everybody
else's
mistakes.
Emperor Cartagia, "Babylon 5"
Richard Knoppow
>Gene Alan Townsend wrote:
>
>> > A lot of dark material is building up in my developing tray. Is there
>> > a best way to clean that out?
>> >
>> I've used ordinary scrubber powder with bleach for this. Works fine, but
>> does rub away a little plastic: Generic AJAX type scrubbing powder/with
>> chlorine bleach.
>
> The tray I'm most interested in cleaning is the one at my Jr college
>photo class. Something, presumably silver, is occasionally coming off the
>bottom and staining our prints, a spray of brownish spots. One of the other
>students has been reprimanding me for agitating the tray while I develop my
>prints because, she warns, it brings up silver which stains "everybody's"
>prints. But agitation seems important.
>
> Somewhere I remember hearing that Brasso will clean tray bottoms. Any
>truth to the rumor?
>
Brasso is a combination of acid and some jeweler's rouge. I would
never use it on a tray. In fact I would not use any abrasive on a
tray. It will destroy the glaze on plastic and damage stainless steel.
I am afraid the best cleaner for trays with really heavy silver
build-up is still the old chromic acid cleaner although I would
certainly try houshold bleach or a permanganate bleach followed by
hypo or a ferricyanide bleach followed by hypo first. Older
photographic handbooks abound with formulas.
You may want to check the chemistry department of the college to see
what they have, they may even have some chomic acid cleaner made up,
it used to be the standard cleaner for lab glassware.
It isn't dangerous if you use simple precautions, mainly keep it off
your skin, and out of your mouth and eyes. Maybe take the tray with
you and let them clean it.
If the students in this class can't agitate stuff without getting
staining its pretty bad. Adequate agitation is pretty basic to getting
good results from most photographic processes.
Maybe its time to retire this tray.
Tammy Major
<19990925130727...@ng-ch1.aol.com>...
>I like a 1 horsepower 4 inch belt sander....Arrrrr Arrrrrrrr Arrrrrrr!
>
> **** steve ****
>
I just whip out the molecular de-stabilization transducer. A 20-30 second
direct blast will cause the peptinites to uncouple just before the phase
shift actuator kicks in which, in turn, releases any residual erythorbic
acid. Just be sure to activate the capacitive dylimination switch-down (just
listen for the "click... click... whiiiiiirrrrrr") before the entire tray
turns to goo.
Greg
Houston, TX
Dave Sisley
>shift actuator kicks in which, in turn, releases any residual erythorbic
You write for Star Trek, right?
Dave Sisley
DelSol SS
> I just use chlorine bleach.
>
>Regards,
>
>John S. Douglas Spectrum Photographic Inc
>Photographer
How long do you have to let it sit in the tray? Do you dilute the bleach? My
developer tray is so stained that even Edwal Tray Cleaner had no visible effect
on it. That's a dirty tray!
Regards,
Susan Spencer
Richard Knoppow
Use laundry bleach and just dump it in and swirl it around a while.
If the first try leaves some residue do it again.
I am not sure what is in current Edwal tray cleaner. Some years ago
tray cleaners were made of potassium or sodium dichromate and sulfuric
acid. Chromium compounds are considered both an environmental hazard
and carcinogens so this type of cleaner is not generaly available now.
It is about the most effective cleaner for silver stains.
Tim Daneliuk
Comment: I usually use one of the commerical tray cleaners which works fine,
but I discovered that Farmer's Reducer Part 'A' bleaches the snot out
of the deposits (this is the formal scientific description of such
processes I learned in school). You don't need much to do the job and
the only caveat I have here is to really thoroughly rinse the tray when
finished or the residual Farmer's will noticeably contaminate the developer
on next use. Another very effective tray cleaning technique I've
found (which is much less violent) is to scrub it out with a product
called Photo Finish which is a mildly abrasive biodegradable paste specifically
made for darkrooms. I also use it occasionally to brighten up my stainless
sink without adverse effect.
Question: I have never found a good way to clean the tray I use for
selenium toning. After the better part of a decade of use, this tray is
stained a dark ugly, um well, *selenium* color and I'd love to clean it up
a bit. Again, Photo Finish does a fairly good job via abrasive removal,
but this is way too much work for elderly folk like me ;) Any ideas?
> ---
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles, Ca.
> dick...@ix.netcom.com
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Daneliuk
tun...@tundraware.com
Barbarosa
> dels...@aol.com (DelSol SS) wrote:
>
> >>
> >> I just use chlorine bleach.
> >>
Okay, so I took a bottle of Chlorox to class tonight and suggested to our
instructor that we clean the developing trays, because other students were asking me
not to agitate as it was stirring up silver and staining our prints. I showed him a
stained print. Told him I wanted to apply clorox followed by a fixing bath.
"Nope," he said, "might be dangerous." Fixer is an acid, he explained, and
mixing bleach with an acid might result in chlorine gas, an explosion, or something
else unpredictable and dangerous. No clean da trays. It's the school policy to
clean them once a semester. If prints are being stained, it's not from the
agitation, it's from *lack* of agitation. The prints are settling to the bottom
where they come in contact with the silver and get stained. Solution: agitate
instead of cleaning the trays. Later he said scrubbing with a little Ajax might be
okay. And he didn't seem to have much objection to the Brasso I mentioned. He
wasn't too concerned with the glaze on the trays.
Then in a demonstration of something that's not clear to me, he soaked my
stained sample print in water and then cleaned most of the spots off with negative
cleaner. Did a half decent job too. Not sure what it had to do with dirty trays,
but it was pretty impressive. Didn't realize those stains would come out.
B
Richard Knoppow
Oh Brother!!! There isn't any danger, the bleach is going to be
washed out first. In any case it can be done outdoors.
I think this is an example of doing things wrong because someone is
afraid of being sued. Perhaps you should threaten to sue on the basis
that the equipment is kept in such poor condition that normal
processing procedures can not be used.
The fact that the instructor tolerates such conditions is
reprehensible. For one thing, cleanliness is of paramount importance
in darkroom work. It should be taught as part of the course.
I am assuming you are paying something for this class. If so you may
want to complain to the school authorities. The fact is the students
are being cheated. Even if the class is free the students are being
asked to invest their time.
It would be interesting to see what the home economics classes look
like.;-)
Dave Grossens
Grossens, Seeker of Truth, Beauty, and Clean Trays
-----Original Message-----
From: Barbarosa <epid...@hotmail.com>
To: rec.photo...@list.deja.com <rec.photo...@list.deja.com>
Date: Wednesday, September 29, 1999 5:23 AM
Subject: Cleaning developing trays
> Message from the Deja.com forum:
> rec.photo.darkroom
> Your subscription is set to individual email delivery
>>
>A lot of dark material is building up in my developing tray. Is there
>a best way to clean that out?
>
>B
>
>
>
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