Home made Bleach and fixer for Tetenal E-6 Kit

[avortex]

Hello!

After noticing that one of the components of my Tetenal Blix (the fixer part) went bad, I'm considering to prepare my own separated bleach and fixer baths, based on the formulas found here:

http://www.opie.net/orphy/photo/dr/wkft-e6.html

Do you think this would work combined with the fist and second baths of the Tetenal kit? If that's the case, I'll keep using it from now on, even if the tetenal kit is new...

This is the part I'm planning:
[h=4]Bleach[/h]
Potassium ferricyanide 80.0 g Potassium bromide 20.0 g Disodium phosphate, anhydrous 12.0 g Acetic acid, glacial 5.0 ml Water to 1.0 litre [h=4]Fixer[/h]
Sodium thiosulphate, crystals 200.0 g (or anhydrous 125.0 g) Sodium sulphite, anhydrous 5.0 g Sodium metabisulphite 0.5 g Water to 1.0 litre


Bleach 5 min 33-39 Rinse 0.5 min 33-39 Fix 5 min 33-39

 

[stefan4u]

It can work, but don`t have to...

It depends a bit on the Film emulsion you use and your processing routine. Prior a ferricyanide bleach you HAVE to use a stop-clearing bath (for 2min) and a good wash after (2 min), or you get a pinkish formation of oxidized developer residues. Some emulsions may bleach well in a ferrycyanide blech, some will become reddisch. In former times someone called this “tobacco effect”, you may have to decrease pH towards 5.2 / 5.4 to overwhelm this.

Wash better longer between bleach and fix, something about 2-3 min.
I would use a ammonium thiosulphate based fixer, it´s faster and cheap. Try a cheap c41 fixer, maybe 25% overconcentrated or with slightly prolonged times.

Regards Stefan

 

[avortex]

Thanks a lot Stephan!

So, I guess my best options are two:

- Try the Fuji 6 bath kit
- Make my own E-6 from scratch, but I don't know if the results will be consistent...

 

[avortex]

In any case, what Bleach do you reccommend for E-6?

 

[stefan4u]

Actually I can`t give a real recommendation, I use minilab bleach, bought long time ago.
If this stuff will be over I do plan a ferricyanide bleach too. But I`m aware of it`s possible side effects…

If You don`t have access to reasonable priced raw chemicals, and the equipment (and knowledge) to mix them properly, the Fuji alternative sounds good to me…

Regards, Stefan

 

[avortex]

Thanks, Stephan. I'll give a try to the Fuji Kit

 

[Rudeofus]

Two things: I had exactly the same problem as you some time ago, maybe (there was a url link here which no longer exists) will give you some hints how to proceed. Second: whether you can mix your own bleach and fix or whether you buy some ready made product depends on what you can order from your place and how deeply you want to delve into home brewing.

And one thing right away: just BX1 and water will NOT make a working bleach. You have to either add a source of Bromide to make a bleach, or you add a fixing component to make a BLIX (that's what Tetenal does).

 

[Raphael]

Tetenal Bx part

Hi Avortex,

I don't know where you are living exactly, but in fact I have Tetenal BX in concentrate form, in two parts, 2x 1L unopened bottles, to sell. Can make 5L of BX.

PM me if interested. I can ship it to you if you are in continental Europe.

Best regards,

Raphael

 

[JoJo]

There is a kind of "Multi-BX" from Tetenal which can be used for C-41 as well as E-6. It is avalable in 2 parts for 15L solution, but can be calculated down for smaller batches very easy. I always make 500ml of working solution. I use the same product, but separate working solution for E-6 and C-41.
I use it since 2 years and it works fine.

My bigger problem is, that there is no separate first developer available in small bottles. Color developer and BLIX last for a long time but the livetime of the FD is limited.

Joachim

 

[Rudeofus]

There is a kind of "Multi-BX" from Tetenal which can be used for C-41 as well as E-6. It is avalable in 2 parts for 15L solution, but can be calculated down for smaller batches very easy. I always make 500ml of working solution. I use the same product, but separate working solution for E-6 and C-41.
I use it since 2 years and it works fine.

The problem as stated by the thread starter is that BX2 has a nasty habt of going bad, and this problem will not disappear if he buys 15 l of that stuff. One thing that seems to prolong concentrate shelf life considerably is flooding the bottle with the concentrate in inert gas every time it is opened.

 

[avortex]

Raphael, perhaps that's the solution to finalize my opened kit. I'll PM you.

Rudeofus, did you tested the home-made formula in your thread? I'm curious about the results...

JoJo, I've not tested it, but some friends mix Tetenal Dokumol 1+9 and use it as FD with the developing times of the Tetenal Kit. They say it works as good as the original

 

[Rudeofus]

The formula and procedure in that thread is way too complicated. Look at this (there was a url link here which no longer exists), and especially the bleaching and fixing bathes:

• Your Tetenal BX1 is somewhere between 45-50% Ammonium Ferric EDTA, which is referred to as "Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid·Fe(III)·ammonium·dihydrate" in that link. The recipe lists the solid compound, but calculating how much BX1 you need to match that concentration should be trivial.
• The remaining chemicals most likely likely won't come with BX1 so you have to source them yourselves. Since you appear to be from EU, I suggest Fototechnik Suvatlar (price list here) or Keten. Both vendors have been repeatedly discussed here on APUG, they converse in English so language barriers shouldn't be a problem..
• Looking at the additional chemicals required for bleach, I see KBr (or, even better, NH4Br), Na2-EDTA, Ammonium Nitrate (you can leave that one out).
• As far as fixer is concerned, either mix the one listed in that recipe, or get standard rapid fixer and bump its pH up to 6.60.
• pH matters a lot in E6 processing and if you want to go anywhere near real home brewing, get a pH meter. If all you care about is making bleach and fixer quickly, you should be able to get away with pH indicator paper.

 

[avortex]

Thanks a lot for the great info, Rudeofus!
Here in Spain, I get almost all chemicals from http://www.drogueriatrivino.es/ But I'll check your links

Home-brewed E6 still looks a bit complicated for me, but if the comercial solutions disappear, I'll embrace it without a doubt.
Now I only hope that Fuji keeps producing those beautiful chromes...

 

[JoJo]

Avortex, thanks for the info!

Joachim