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Cleaning Reels (Paterson Plastic)

Brian M Harris

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
Apr 2, 2017
Messages
35
Location
London England
Format
Multi Format
I have quite a few sets of reels, whilst I do give them a very good wash when finished they are starting to look a bit grotty.

What is a good cleaner to use that wont leave any chemical residue behind.

I am sure a read somewhere that Bicarbonate of Soda is suitable to use.
 
I scrub them with a toothbrush and baking soda. Wet the brush, dip the bristles in baking soda, scrub, rinse, repeat.
 
I rinse mine with hot water after every use and that seems to keep them clean. Sorry I can't help with cleaning them, but don't be afraid of hot water, they are designed to be used with 100 deg F chemicals.
 
oh, and never let them sit in Photoflo solution....
 
A good cleaner of most photographic darkroom equipment is ordinary household bleach. About 100 cc to a 2 gallon bucket of water (UK Gallons). Left for around 36 - 48 hours it will take most staining off.

Also anyone using Tetenal E6 processing kits will have seen on their processing instructions that the same measuring beakers should always be used for the same chemicals because of chemical traces are very difficult to eliminate from plastic. Soaking them in the same dilution of bleach will eliminate this problem. Any residual traces of the bleach will decompose over a matter of a few hours.
 
I use toilet Duck.....about a 100ml to a litre more if really grotty soak then scrub

Johnkpap
 
Having done a lot of homebrew, I use VWP. It's a cleaner/sterilser sold in the UK. It might be a repackaged version of what gets used to clean the beer lines in pubs, it works as if that could be true.

Smells like it has bleach in it. Must have other stuff too because it's magic at loosening dried up crud. Some use it in their dishwasher to bring an extra sparkle to their cut crystal.
 
There's a Kodak formula for tray cleaner I've used. Works great on developer stains. Potassium Dichromate and sulfuric acid. Nasty stuff. Paterson reels are cheap. Buy some new ones keep our friends at Paterson employed .
 
Denture cleaning tablets sometimes work (basically citric acid if you look at the ingredients) when used with an old toothbrush to get into the slots. Don't use a metal brush or heavy abrasive on nylon reels as it will roughen the surface. I'd start with something gentle, and work up. I would also suggest gloves and eye protection if you are using some of the acid or caustic items. Cleaning things always splashes.
 
Things are getting mixed up. There are various residues possible on reels and tanks. And basically they need a different (chemical) approach:
-) gelatin
-) metallic silver
-) dyes
-) carbonates
 
The Steradent tablets I used to use for my Nova slot processor had sulfamic acid as the active ingredient. I now buy powdered sulfamic acid.
The problem with proprietary products is that they might be available in different formulations so you won't get what you thought you were getting. A good example is Calgon, which is different in different countries and at different times. They may well all work for their intended purpose, but if you want a particular ingredient for a developer, for example, they may well be different.
Bar Keepers Friend exists in different versions too, I think I read, one without abrasive and one with.
 
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