Fixer recipes, etc

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I am currently living in a small town with no access to
photographic
chemicals. I would like to manufacture my own
anyways.....

I need recipes for Fixer and wetting agent...

Thank you in advance to your replies and also, please send
the replies
via e-mail

Thanks,

Larry
All of this stuff can be gotten mail order, try
Freestyle Photo since they seem to be able or willing to
ship stuff that B&H claims is restricted. Also, there are
web sites with large collections of formulas for nearly all
photographic solutions.
I don't have a formula for a wetting agent but virtually
all of the commercial wetting agents are based on a
substance sold as Triton-X. This is a very highly
concentrated chemical and a little will last you a lifetime.
Kodak Photo-Flo 400 is a mixture of Triton-X and another
wetting agent, I am not sure what. More concentrated
versions of Photo-Flo seem to be Triton-X alone. I think it
would be easier for you to obtain a large container of
Photo-Flo than the ingredients to make it.
In use I make a combination of Photo-Flo at half
strength with about 30ml of rubbing alcohol per liter. This
makes a sort of super wetting agent which is less likely to
leave a residue on the film. The rubbing alcohol should be
70% isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) without oil of
wintergreen or other flavorings in it. Pure alcohol can also
be used, just use a little less.

I don't have formulas for rapid fixers, which use
ammonium thiosulfate in place of the sodium thiosulfate in
standard fixer. Ammonium thiosulfate is not very stable as a
powder so is usually supplied as a liquid concentrate so the
formulas vary according to the concentration obtainable. For
powdered ammonium thiosulfate use about 60% of the amount
specified for _crystaline_ sodium thiosulfate. For liquid
concentrates calculate the amount from this and the
concentration. Other than the use of the ammonium salt in
place of the sodium salt the formulas are identical.
A form of rapid fixer can be made from sodium fixer by
adding ammonium chloride to a standard bath but mixing
directly with ammonium thiosulfate is, in general, more
satisfactory.


This is a standard formula for an acid, hardening, fixing
bath for film or paper, Kodak F-5. If you want a
non-hardening fixer just leave out the potassium alum or use
F-24, which follows below F-5.

Kodak F-5 Fixing Bath

Water (at about 125F or 52C) 600.0 ml
Sodium thiosulfate, crystalline 240.0 grams
Sodium sulfite, dessicated 15.0 grams
Acetic acid, 28% 48.0 ml
Boric acid, crystalline 7.5 grams
Potassium alum 15.0 grams
Water to make 1.0 grams

Notes: 1, Use crystalline boric acid, the granulated type
dissolves with great difficulty.
2, If sodium thiosulfate, anhydrous is used the amount
should be reduced to 154.0 grams and water not over 90F
should be used for mixing.
Note also that crystalline thiosulfate is is very
endothermic and will quickly cool the water as it goes into
solution so some heating may be necessary to insure it
dissolves completely. Anhydrous thiosulfate has little heat
of solution so cooler water should be used to insure against
decomposition.

Kodak F6 Oderless Fixing Bath

Water (at about 125F or 52C) 600.0 ml
Sodium thiosulfate, crystalline 240.0 grams
Sodium sulfite, dessicated 15.0 grams
Acetic acid, 28% 48.0 ml
Kodalk (sodium metaborate, see below) 15.0 grams
Potassium alum 15.0 grams
Water to make 1.0 liter

Notes as above for F-5
This bath must be preceded with an acid stop bath.
If you can not find Kodalk you can made the equivalent
as follows:
In order to make 1.0g sodium metaborate tetrahydrate, mix
0.692g borax and 0.145g sodium hydroxide. When dissolved in
water, these two make the equivalent of 1.0 gram of sodium
metaborate in solution.
Note that while Kodak has referred to Kodalk as the
octahyrate is is actually the tetrahydrate in modern
nomenclature.
Sodium hydroxide pure enough for photographic purposes
has long been sold as Red Devil Lye but may be hard to find
these days. 20 Mule Team Borax is chemically pure borax
suitable for photographic purposes. Again, its harder to
find than it used to be.

Kodak F-24 Non-Hardening Fixing Bath

Water (at about 125F or 52C) 500.0 ml
Sodium thiosulfate, crystalline 240.0 grams
Sodium sulfite, dessicated 10.0 grams
Sodium bisulfite (or metabisulfite) 25.0 grams
Water to make 1.0 liter

Notes as above for F-5

It is strongly recommended that any fixing bath of any
type be used in a two-bath system. This not only insures
complete fixing but is economical because the capacity of a
two bath system for complete fixing is from four to ten
times that of a single bath.
Full instuctions for two bath fixing are in several
Kodak publications such as the _Kodak Black-and-White
Darkroom Dataguide_ and have been posted to this group by
myself and others.



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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA