Making D19 - a chemistry naive approach - advice please

mr.datsun

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I'm going to make my own D19 for Super 8 processing.

I have the formula. I can get 80% of the ingredients from Silverprint and can find the Sodium Sulfite from another supplier.

I'm making this at home, I'm used to liquid/one-shot work, but I am essentially chemistry naive.

Is there anything I need to be careful about with the given ingredients?

Any recommended equipment, aside from a 1L mixing jug?

Silverprint have 350g digital scales. Would they be adequate?

Thank-you
 

LarsAC

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Read the material safety datasheets, metol and hydroquinone are poisonous.

Wear gloves, safety glasses, mouth protection. Open a window.

Lars
 

guangong

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Take care. Whatever silver solvent that you use...all are extremely toxic!
 

Gerald C Koch

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Any scale that you buy should be accurate to at least a 0.1 g, better would be a 0.01 g. You can use washing soda available at most markets for the sodium carbonate. Since this chemical is available in several hydration forms check the label. The amount would need to be adjusted. I was surprised a few years ago that the decahydrate was still available in the UK.
 
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mr.datsun

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I hear what you are saying and it's putting me off as I have to do this in my bathroom or kitchen with no windows.

Is this worse than buying a bag of ready-made D19 from Photographer's Formulary?

Are the dangers because of the powder form of the chemical? I always use gloves for handling premixed one-shot developers.
 
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mr.datsun

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The washing soda sounds good.

The scales are from a photography supplier and do 0.1g.

I think none of the chems in the UK are monohydrous, so yes - would have to use anhydrous and adjust.
 
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Rudeofus

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The scale looks perfectly fine for what you are trying to do. Since you are going to handle small amounts of these compounds, I am not sure whether you need gloves, goggles and respirators - in my experience these devices cause more distraction and spills than they will likely protect you from. What you should have ready is a plan for emergencies: what do you do if you have a spill (powder or liquid)? Is there a water faucet near you where you can wash your hands and eyes if necessary? Could you clean up a powder spill in the room you work in without tearing apart your whole flat? Do you know whom to call/alert if something should happen to you? Can you ventilate your room in case smelly and/or toxic fumes are created in the process (shouldn't happen normally, but things happen once in a while).

Another thing you should look for: have enough spoons and beakers, such that you can measure and fill each ingredient with a separate spoon into a separate beaker. Sometimes you get too much compound into your beaker, and you can reclaim chemicals only if the beaker was clean before. Some compounds stick to your spoons, so you can't reuse them either, as washing and drying them between ingredients would be very tedious and time consuming. Also, think about getting a proper stir for your big beaker, since Sulfite doesn't dissolve very quickly and without lots of agitation. Don't even think about reusing these spoons and beakers for food or hygiene purposes, ideally you'd get beakers and spoons that you can tell from your regular kitchen ware.

Finally: expect to spend much more time on mixing than you'd normally think you'll need, start with one hour estimate for one batch of D-19. Some powder compounds (Sulfite, Carbonate) will take some time and plenty of stirring to fully dissolve, and the instructions usually call for dissolving them in the correct sequence and one after another - for good reason BTW.

Other than that: relax and enjoy the process - and the results!
 
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mr.datsun

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Rudeofus.

good advice - and more encouraging. Clearly, I need to think this through before I start.

I think the first thing I will do is buy some pre-made D19 and make sure it gives me the results I need. After that I can plan for making own mix, if I can organise my space and equipment well-enough to make it safely.
 

pdeeh

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I've made D19 a few times.

Don't get overstressed by the warnings about toxicity: you simply need to be as careful as you would with any photographic chemicals, whether premixed or not. D19 contains a lot less that will cause you immediate or longterm harm than a developer like one of the pyros.

You don't need to mix the solution in the darkroom, you can do it outside or in a well-ventilated large space such as a garage. A kitchen is not ideal because of the possibility of food contamination.
Certainly avoid breathing dust. Nitrile gloves can be handy - metol developers have a reputation for triggering a persistent allergic dermatitis in some people.

Once mixed, treat it like any other developer - that is, with care.

If you buy DriPAk washing soda from Tesco, CoOp or whoever, it's decahydrate so you need 2.7x the amount as listed for anhydrous Sodium carbonate
 

Gerald C Koch

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The washing soda sounds good.

The scales are from a photography supplier and do 0.1g.

I think none of the chems in the UK are monohydrous, so yes - would have to use anhydrous and adjust.


Two additional thoughts. Sodium carbonate monohydrate is the form stable at room temperature and humidity. So may be the common form in the UK. You can make the anhydrous form by heating baking soda for 1 hour at 350F. Use a stainless steel or glass pan. Stir a couple of times during the heating. The crystalline baking soda will turn into a fine powder as the carbonate. Most baking soda is very pure. Here in the US it is labeled USP suitable for medicinal purposes.
 

Rudeofus

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One more thing to be aware of (in case you haven't read this hundreds of times already) when you mix D-19 or similar: Metol doesn't dissolve in a solution of Sodium Sulfite, at least not in a time frame you are likely willing to wait. Common practice is to dissolve a "small pinch" of Sodium Sulfite in water first (in order to scavenge aerial oxygen dissolved in water), then add the Metol, and only afterwards add the remainder of the Sodium Sulfite.
 

bernard_L

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Several possible sources of confusion re: water content (a) as specified in the formula; (b) present in what you would buy.
The Na2CO3 specified in the developer formula is not anhydrous. See e.g.: http://www.digitaltruth.com/data/formula.php?FormulaID=117
As to what you actually buy, I believe that pool supplies pH+ is monohydrated; analytical grade reagents are anhydrous. There are ways to check what form of Na2CO3 you have bought (two that I can think of). But that goes a bit too far. If you can buy D-19 pre-made powder, just do it and make sure your exposure, temperature, dev time, etc, are all right. When you have more experience and some reference points, then you can make chemistry experiments.

And +1 on what G.C.Koch posted while I was writing up. Heating is one of the methods I was alluding to. But I would use it (coupled with careful weighting) only to confirm that the original product was indeed monohydrated, and discard the anhydrous stuff that is prone to suck atmospheric water vapour.
 

Gerald C Koch

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I think that there was a bit of confusion. While the loss in weight can be used to calculate the hydration of a sample my post was how to convert baking soda to sodium carbonate. Baking soda is available in most markets in very high purity. Heat it and it is converted to anhydrous sodium carbonate. Sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate a two very different chemicals.

2NaHCO3 + heat --> Na2CO3 + CO2 +H2O
 
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walbergb

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Is this worse than buying a bag of ready-made D19 from Photographer's Formulary?

How much developing with D-19 are you planning to do? If only a small amount, then I would recommrnd buying from PF. If you don't have another use for the raw chemicals, then again I would recommend buying the ready-made from PF. If your answer is negative to either scenario, then buy the chemicals and mix away
 
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