is this fixer any good?

[mitch brown]

yet another question.
i got a jug of Kodak rapid fixer part a from a lab that has gone to the othewr side. it is unopened . ther seem to be parts of solid material stuck to the sides and bottom. i stired it and knocked these area s loose and them mixed it 1 : 4 as directed , there are particles of undisolved very small yellow flakes. the question is , is the fixer any good and hoy can i test it to make sure.
thanks

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Use the "Ole' clip test method".Clip the end (about 2 1/2 inches) from a roll of film and fix it for about 5 mins. If it turns clear your good to go.
I use this all the time to test the usability of my fix.

 

[removed account4]

mitch as mike suggested

take a piece of your favorite film, and in the light see how long it takes to clear.
your fix time will be double the time your piece of film clears.
since you don't have a benchmark to see what your fixer would have cleared at when it was fresh
search here using your fix name in quotes to see what others have suggested it clears when new ...
you will know when to re-cycle your fixer when it takes two times your original fix time to clear.
(or your hypo check turns 1oz of your fixer white/cloudy and after a swirl it won't go back into solution ).

good luck!

john

 

[fschifano]

Does it smell of sulphur? I'll bet it does. It might still be able to work as a fixer, but don't count on it. What you've got there is the sulfur precipitating out. The sulfur isn't going to re-dissolve because it from the thiosulfate breaking down. If it's not already completely gone, it's almost gone.

 

[PhotoJim]

A good rule of thumb is that if there are floaty bits of precipitate in the fixer (and particularly if they're yellow), you should pitch the fixer. The fixer might work, but it's a real question mark. Fixer is one thing you don't want to mess with because film or paper that is insufficiently fixed may look just fine at first glance; the damage can take years to become visible, but if the paper or film isn't sufficiently fixed, the damage is inevitable.

 

[Photo Engineer]

When the film or paper is swollen, the smaller flakes will become lodged in the swollen gelatin matrix and can cause spots to appear in the final image. If in film, this damages the film and the spots appear huge in prints. If the fixer appears to work you must filter out the flakes first before you use it.

PE

 

[thebanana]

Fixer is cheap. Why take the chance? I'd toss it.

 

[Anscojohn]

Don't trust it for film. I knew a guy who used old fixer to kill the weeds in the cracks in his driveway. He said it worked; but never tried it meself.

 

[Neal]

Dear Mitch,

Years ago the same thing happened to me with Helix house brand rapid fixer. I filtered out the particles using a coffee filter and tested it with film leader. It worked fine.

Having said that, fixer is cheap. I only made the effort because I needed fixer that evening.

Neal Wydra

 

[ricksplace]

I got about 200 litres of part A concentrate fixer free from a lab that closed down. It has the precipitate in it. I filter the precipitate out with coffee filters. It works perfectly. I mix it at the recommended dilution without part B (hardener). It clears film in 30 sec. Clip test shows it clears film in the same time as fresh stuff. Since I'm a cheap SOB, I'll continue to use it. It smells a little funky but then again, you can fart in your darkroom and blame the fixer!

 

[mitch brown]

thanks the idea of blameing the fixer for a fart has merit but i guess i will just toss it. thanks