DIY non-hardening fixer?

Kvistgaard · Sep 25, 2007

Hi,

would anyone have a recipe for a home-made fixer, mainly based on ingredients available from the local pharmacy?

Readymade (liquid) fixer is hard to come by where I live, and online ordering is not an option due to shipping costs, and/or restrictions on export of fluid chemicals.

It needs to be of the non-hardening variety, to not interfere with toners.

I hope you can help!

Thanks
Søren

Jim Noel · Sep 25, 2007

I believe the one chemical you will have to get is sodium thiosulfate (hypo) if you are going to make a fixer. Once you have that you can actually get along with nothing else although some additives contribute to faster fixing and longer life.

fschifano · Sep 25, 2007

Well, you'd need sodium thiosulfate and I don't think you'll be able to get that at a local pharmacy. I'm afraid nothing else, except for ammonium thiosulfate, will do. The rest, sodium sulfite and sodium metabisulfite, might be easier to source.

Tom Hoskinson · Sep 25, 2007

fschifano said:
Well, you'd need sodium thiosulfate and I don't think you'll be able to get that at a local pharmacy. I'm afraid nothing else, except for ammonium thiosulfate, will do. The rest, sodium sulfite and sodium metabisulfite, might be easier to source.

Here is the recipe for Oles Quick Fix: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Sodium thiosulfate is used to dechlorinate tap water for aquariums and to treat effluent from waste water treatments prior to release into rivers.

Sodium thiosulfate is also used to lower chlorine levels in swimming pools and spas following super chlorination. Swimming Pool supply stores often stock both Sodium thiosulfate and Sodium Sulfite.

c6h6o3 · Sep 25, 2007

Try The Chemistry Store. They'll sell you sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate by the truckload. Also sodium metabisulfite. They ship internationally.

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 25, 2007

Sodium thiosulfate is also an antidote for certain kinds of metal poisoning, though I suspect that whatever form it's in for medical use is probably a little expensive for use as fixer.

Tom Hoskinson · Sep 25, 2007

One more thought, Ammonium Chloride is also called Sal Ammoniac and is used as a solder flux. Ammonium Chloride has several medical uses as well and might be available in a pharmacy.

john_s · Sep 25, 2007

Kvistgaard said:
....Readymade (liquid) fixer is hard to come by where I live, and online ordering is not an option due to shipping costs, and/or restrictions on export of fluid chemicals.....

If black and white fixer is not available (and even if it is) you might consider ready-made fixer for C41 (colour) use if it's more available. I use Kodak Flexicolor fixer which is nearly pH neutral (minimal odour) and half the price of "black and white" fixers. Dilute the same as "black and white" fixers. The ingredients iirc are ammonium thiosulphate, sodium sulphite and sodium bisulphite.

Tom Hoskinson · Sep 25, 2007

Ammonium Sulfate can be used instead of Ammonium Chloride (See Kodak F9 Fixer Recipe). Add 60 to 75 grams of Ammonium Sulfate to a liter of Sodium Thiosulfate based fixer.

Ammonium Sulfate is often used as a fertilizer for alkaline soils.

Kodak (Haist)published this recipe for a Sodium Thiosulfate - Ammonium Sulfate Stock Solution:

Water at 50C --------------------------------750ml
Sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate---------------450.0 grams
Ammonium Sulfate------------------------------75.0 grams
Water to make---------------------------------1 liter

This stock solution is useable as a Rapid Fixer as-is.

Discpad · Sep 25, 2007

John is dead-on: Use color film fixer you can get from any minilab supply house. You DO have minilabs in Copenhagen, don't you?

Here in the States, Kodak Flexicolor fixer is $32.95 for a cubetainer of concentrate that makes 25 gallons: I use it for everything.

One word of caution: C41-RA (rapid access) fixer is Very Strong, and Very Expensive... But it will work just fine for B&W & E-6 film as well.

john_s said:
If black and white fixer is not available (and even if it is) you might consider ready-made fixer for C41 (colour) use if it's more available. I use Kodak Flexicolor fixer which is nearly pH neutral (minimal odour) and half the price of "black and white" fixers. Dilute the same as "black and white" fixers. The ingredients iirc are ammonium thiosulphate, sodium sulphite and sodium bisulphite.

Tom Hoskinson · Sep 27, 2007

The original question

Discpad said:
John is dead-on: Use color film fixer you can get from any minilab supply house. You DO have minilabs in Copenhagen, don't you?

Here in the States, Kodak Flexicolor fixer is $32.95 for a cubetainer of concentrate that makes 25 gallons: I use it for everything.

One word of caution: C41-RA (rapid access) fixer is Very Strong, and Very Expensive... But it will work just fine for B&W & E-6 film as well.

Yes, but the original question was:

would anyone have a recipe for a home-made fixer, mainly based on ingredients available from the local pharmacy?

....Readymade (liquid) fixer is hard to come by where I live, and online ordering is not an option due to shipping costs, and/or restrictions on export of fluid chemicals.....

Tom A · Sep 27, 2007

Kvistgaard said:
Hi,

would anyone have a recipe for a home-made fixer, mainly based on ingredients available from the local pharmacy?

Readymade (liquid) fixer is hard to come by where I live, and online ordering is not an option due to shipping costs, and/or restrictions on export of fluid chemicals.

It needs to be of the non-hardening variety, to not interfere with toners.

I hope you can help!

Thanks
Søren

Hi Søren

I live in Denmark too and I have imported a lot of fluid and dry chemicals (fixer and developers) from Germany, without any restrictions. So I think you should give online ordering, at least from the EU, a try.

Hilsen Tom

DIY non-hardening fixer?

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