Drying fluid like Rapidry or Drysonal

fs999 · Feb 18, 2021

Hello,

Has someone a recipe for making a drying fluid like Maco Rapidry or Tetenal Drysonal as they are not selled anymore.

I know there is some distilled water, alcohol and wet agent in the composition.

What would be the proportions of them and what alcohol exactly is needed ?

Down Under · Feb 18, 2021

A gallon of cheap vodka should do the trick - is there such a thing nowadays as cheap vodka?

Seriously, I'll try to find my copy of The Darkroom Cookbook by Stephen G Anchell as well as its companion updated volume to see if these two tomes hold any formulas that may be of help to you.

Unfortunately, my photo library is packed away in our two-car garage after last year's big move from Tasmania to the Aussie mainland. So someone else may beat me to this. If so, good one!

bripriuk · Feb 18, 2021

I've never tried it, but in the 1950s the RAF used a Methylated Spirit (Denatured alcohol) bath for quick drying aerial film.

Brian P

tokam · Feb 18, 2021

Back in the mid-70s I had a part-time cleaning job at an Auckland newspaper. Part of my cleaning pitch was the darkroom area. Occasionally at night one of the photogs would turn up to process a film or make a few prints. Their print processing was very rapid and usually ended up with a quick dip in a tank of methylated spirit before a wipe with a fine sponge and then hanging up to dry. I don't know if they used a wash aid or whether they used FB or RC papers. I don't think that archival permanence was high on the agenda for everyday news stories.

AgX · Feb 18, 2021

There is no recipe.
Basically any fluid should work that:

-) is evaporating faster than water
-) is mixable with water
-) does not harm the base
-) does not harm the gelatin
-) does not dissolve dyes intendedly incorporated (stained b&w image, dye colour image)
-) does not leave any residue

Benefitital would be if:

-) if it does not harm tank and reel and squeegee
-) if it does not produce explosive vapour
-) it it does not produce toxic vapour

Did I miss something?

halfaman · Feb 18, 2021

Final rinse of B/W films in some sort of alcohol had popularity in labs many, many years ago. Someone told me they used pure ethanol in a small ceramic bowl and passed the negatives through it after washing, you can exchange it by isopropilic if you need extra saftety of no drying marks at all. Film is dry and ready to go in less than an hour.

Nicholas Lindan · Feb 18, 2021

91% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is cheap and readily available. I make up a stock solution of Photoflo and IPA (13ml Photoflow 600, 1l IPA) that gets diluted 1:7 for use. That's about 15% alcohol in the final solution. It seems to speed drying, but it may just be placebo effect.

1 minute in 91% IPA results in a 1 minute drying time.

For cheap vodka, we have Korski, about $13 a jug. It is (or was?) made in Cleveland. Rail tankers of industrial ethanol came to the, er 'distillery' where it was diluted down to make various liquors. With industrial alcohol you know what you are getting - the stuff was made with real QC to a level of purity - rather than some artisanal mixture of ethanol, methanol and fusel oil. For fun let a glass of Stolichnaya evaporate - it will leave a sticky green residue at the bottom of the glass.

fs999 · Feb 19, 2021

Nicholas Lindan said:
91% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is cheap and readily available. I make up a stock solution of Photoflo and IPA (13ml Photoflow 600, 1l IPA) that gets diluted 1:7 for use. That's about 15% alcohol in the final solution. It seems to speed drying, but it may just be placebo effect.

1 minute in 91% IPA results in a 1 minute drying time.

For cheap vodka, we have Korski, about $13 a jug. It is (or was?) made in Cleveland. Rail tankers of industrial ethanol came to the, er 'distillery' where it was diluted down to make various liquors. With industrial alcohol you know what you are getting - the stuff was made with real QC to a level of purity - rather than some artisanal mixture of ethanol, methanol and fusel oil. For fun let a glass of Stolichnaya evaporate - it will leave a sticky green residue at the bottom of the glass.

Thank you Nicholas, I will try it !
So less you add water faster it will drying or will there be drying marks ?

tezzasmall · Feb 19, 2021

Nicholas Lindan said: ↑
91% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is cheap and readily available.

1 minute in 91% IPA results in a 1 minute drying time.

fs999 said:
Thank you Nicholas, I will try it !
So less you add water faster it will drying or will there be drying marks ?

I let my film dry slow and naturally but once or twice in the past I have wanted the film to dry much quicker. So on these occassions I too just dunked the film, still on the spiral, into an empty processing tank then filled with the 91% alcohol. Left for a minute then hung up to dry.

The films dried VERY quickly and there were NO drying marks.

Just make sure you hang the film in an enclosed room - like a bathroom - ideally with an open window and not in a room where someone wants to light up a cigarette etc.

Terry S

Justyjust · Nov 3, 2021

Can you use stronger isopropyl alcohol like 99%?? also will the film dry flat like natural drying?

GRHazelton · Nov 3, 2021

bripriuk said:
I've never tried it, but in the 1950s the RAF used a Methylated Spirit (Denatured alcohol) bath for quick drying aerial film.

Brian P

Do note that denatured alcohol - often denatured with methanol - is dangerously toxic. IIRC it can be absorbed into the body fhrough the skin, by breathing the vapors, and of course by drinking. Best use rubber/vinyl gloves and plenty of ventilation, or better still, use a cheap vodka; a reasonable amount of ingestion is permissable.

Drying fluid like Rapidry or Drysonal

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