Cleaning negs before printing

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Hi all,

I have forced air heating, and the dust and static electricity levels are just phenomenal. I have some real problems cleaning my negs before printing them.
I have tried anti-static guns, anti-static brush, camel hair brush, and my latest adventure was compressed air.
The combination anti-static brush and compressed air seemed quite good, and removed the most evil dust, but I got this ice looking coat on the negs from the compressed air, which made me very nervous. It said on the bottle that it was completely dry. Is that really so?

Is there a specific brand of compressed air that you all have had good luck with? Or do you have any other cleaning methods (archival) that you can impart?
I've thought about film cleaners, but since I use a non-hardening fixer on traditional emulsions, I'm a little wary of that.

Thanks,

- Thom

 

[smileyguy]

I use compressed air on mine as well and no problems so far. There is plenty of warning on the can about not shaking, hold it upright, etc., etc. So that may be part of the problem.

I have been using Kensington Duster II, no problems.

 

[nworth]

I found the Belkin Mini Vak at the computer store about a year ago. It's a cheap, battery powered vacuum cleaner, and it works very well. I use it with its slot tool head.

 

[Claire Senft]

I must concede that I have very mixed feelings about using air to blow off a negative. To some extent you are blowing dust around the room. I believe that going to Wallgreens and buying a make-up brush is a better value than the photo brushes with polonium strips.

One method that can work nicely is to use an adhesive tape that has fairly low tac and to gently put it against the negative, lightly rub it in place and then pull them apart. The dust will adhere to the tape. It shoiuld not leave a deposit on the tape. This, of course can also be done with carrier glass.

To clean negatives Pec pads, $7-$10 for a hundred pads work nicely.
PEC cleaner is a good, but expensive cleaner. It is easily used and dries quickly. Alcohol is also usable but not as quick to dry. Techcheminc has, if I recall correctly, a film cleaner at $15/gallon. Should get you thru more than 1 36exposure roll of 35mm! I have not used it. Be very gentle in using a cleaning pad.

Isolating your enlarging station from the rest of the darkroom and having an air cleaner inside as well as higher air pressure at the station can be extremely helpful. This can cheaply be done with black plastic sheeting. Having a induction fan sucking clean air into the enlarging area thru filtration, air cleaner fllters for a car for example, can be very helpful. VERY HELPFUL. This will provide the higher air pressure at the enlarging station.

You may find it advisable to harden your negatives.

 

[gnashings]

I followed Dave's (Mongo) advice: sticky lint rollers. I "de-sticky" them first on a pane of glass a bit - no problems. I used to gently touch with Antistaticum, but I got occasional lint and scratches. This works much better - I have yet to see damaged emulsion at all. I get them a dollar store - dirt cheap and effective.

Of course, recently I have had what looks like some kind of mineral deposits... but that is a whole different story

Peter.

 

[Clueless]

How could you introduce a greater humidity in your heating system?

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

How could you introduce a greater humidity in your heating system?

With a humidifier. Some of the air in the forced air system is routed directly from the return air duct through a humidifier and injected into the supply duct. Most humidifiers are just filter pads which are soaked with water, and when the moving air pass through the filter, it picks up the humidity.
Some humidifiers have fans to force the air through the pad, and some people get so elaborate they get whole house steam humidifiers.

I dry my negs in the winter time in the same room as a free standing humidifier (without fan). This helps in keeping the negatives from curling.

- Thom

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. It is very helpful.

Smileyguy, you are right on the money. I did shake the can first... Read the label, read the label. Amen to that.

- Thom