Cleaning used darkroom equipment

Hey all,

got a bunch of trays and beakers from someone but have no idea what's been used for what. I think she did some colour as well a bw. Right now I've got them soaking in hot water. Any tips on cleaning them?

I would suggest a 1% solution of sodium carbonate (washing soda) if any of the equipment was used with color processing. If BW developer has left a stain in plastic this is usually impossible to remove completely.

I like a rather strong dilution of chlorine bleach for removing stains. Developer/silver stains can often be removed effectively by bleaching till the stain has visibly disappeared, rinsing and then soaking in regular fixer for a while. Silver gets rehalogenated and the fixer makes it water soluable. Works well on grungy developer trays.

Stains from developers, especially staining developers (pyro, amidol, etc.) are often nearly impossible to remove unless you use an abrasive. I find Comet cleanser good for some stains, and Bartender's Friend good for others (they use chlorine and oxalic acid respectively), plus a bit of elbow grease, of course.

That said, if stains are really stubborn, they are not going to affect your photographic processes at all. Removing them is purely cosmetic.

Best,

Doremus

Doremus Scudder said:

That said, if stains are really stubborn, they are not going to affect your photographic processes at all. Removing them is purely cosmetic.

Click to expand...

That's what I've been counting on for all of my darkroom gear. If it doesn't wash off when washing it, it's not going to wash off when developing, so just leave it. (and if you really want to prove it, wash it in developer, then stop, fix, and hca. If it doesn't come in any of them, you're fine).

If there is any tar like substances from colour processing (from the developer), then Sunlight dish detergent and a dual sided scrubbing sponge or bottle brush does the trick.

Dr Croubie said:

If it doesn't wash off when washing it, it's not going to wash off when developing, so just leave it.

Click to expand...

Pretty much what I do with one exception. One tray is kept exclusively for gold toning and is never used for anything else.

Chlorine bleach is not good for some plastics. Better to use an oxygen bleach.

Soaking and sodium carbonate (with a very thorough rinsing after) are good enough for most things. You can scrub them with household cleanser (again with thorough rinsing) to get rid of most of the bad stuff. Developer stains can be very persistent, but they are generally harmless. Kodak used to recommend a tray cleaner:

Kodak TC-1 Tray Cleaner
A cleaner which will remove stains caused by oxidation products of developers as well as silver stains and some dye stains.
Water 1 l
Potassium dichromate 90 g
Sulfuric acid (conc) 96 ml

We used to use this in the chemical laboratory to clean really bad stuff from glassware. It is quite unpleasant and potentially dangerous, but it works.

For small beakers, effervescent denture cleaners (Polident, etc.) work well.