Perceptol Mixed Wrong... then what?

[Pastiche]

I made a classic pseudo-newby mistake - I assumed I remembered the instructions for mixing up Perceptol from powder, and got it wrong...
The little bag goes in 3/4 of the vol of water FIRST
AFTER it's dissolved the big bag goes in... top off once all dissolved....

OK - Question is - Have You done this yourself, and do you know if the Dev is OK? If someone has done this and tried using it anyway, only to find it's a waste, I wont waste my time doing the same...

Lacking any info - I'll run a neg or two thru anywho . ..

as an asside - anyone know how to do a search of the forums for multiple terms... ? I tried putting the terms in

quotes

, but no avail...
I was looking for

Perceptol, wrong, mixed, mistake

tried several variations and none went thru the sys.... Tried Google advanced search, and it only turned up two threads, neither of which dealt dirrectly with the topic above . . .

TIA

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

It's just metol and sodium sulfite I believe (and maybe some buffers for water quality issues, or anti-caking agents). You're probably okay. Usually, if the mixing order is really critical, you'll know, because something will precipitate out or one of the chemicals will never dissolve, and the solution will obviously be bad. Run a test, but I doubt you can mess up Perceptol.

 

[Pastiche]

ooohh... that sounds like nails on the lid. .. . there IS something that never dissolved... that is what caught my attention and made me go look at the instructions again....

Then again, the last batch I used - I forgot in the freezer overnight... and after it had thawed there were lots of precipitated crystals that never went away . . . but it worked just fine! I've just run out of that screwed up gallon of Perceptol, after putting 40 or so 4x5's thru it w/o issues...

Well, it looks like I'll be giving it a whirl tomorrow morning - I'll report back here with results.

Thanks David - Hey! you have any answers on the search functions?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Well, see if it dissolves eventually. Maybe it'll be okay. I usually mix most powdered chemicals a day in advance anyway, just so everything settles.

Not sure about the search functions. I doubt there are more than two threads about problems mixing Perceptol. There are more about the availability of Perceptol.

 

[Pastiche]

thanks again David.
Actually, the results I got were from Google... niether on mixing Perceptol, just on uses...

forget the Perceptol thing.. how do I perform multiple term searches of the forums w/o going to google? is there a FAQ available on the technical side of posting/searching/etc. here on APUG? -off to try a search for FAQ

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I just tested a few different searches, and it seems that if you just list the terms with no punctuation, then it searches for items that have all the terms listed.

 

[Pastiche]

David... THANKS!
With as much info as there is on this site, knowing how to get thru to the forums in precise ways is priceless.
I had tried MORE and MORE punctuation.. not less... muchas gracias!

 

[Pastiche]

Ok. . .
well, the Perceptol, despite having little clumpy, white, lint-like curdled snot in it . .. seems to be working just fine... won't win any friends while on my shelf.. . but it works!

Score yet another way to ***uk up the chemistry and still have it work. (the other way of screwing up, as I said above, is to freeze it overnight, which gave me spiky crystaline precipitate after thawing. . . but did not seem to affect it's action)

Dead Link Removed

the above goes to a sample image developed this morning. . .

 

[chiefstoker]

Generally speaking, Perceptol is a Metol/Sodium Sulphite developer, with a small quantity of additives. The important point is that Metol will not dissolve in the presence of more than a few milligrams per Litre of Sod. Sulphite, which is the reason for adding the Metol (in the small A Packet) first and stirring until dissolved completely in about 75% on the final volume, at about 30 degrees (C). In practice,a tiny amount of Sod.Sulphite is dissolved in the water, before adding the Metol, to inhibit oxidation of the Metol.
I suggest that what you have is a solution of partly dissolved Metol, sufficient to give a 'workable solution' whilst fresh, but rapidly declining as the dissolved Metol is used up. If you try 'One-Shot' at dilutions of 1:2, or 1:3 you probably won't have enough metol preesent to develop a film to its optimum result.

 

[Pastiche]

Thanks Chief - . . ..
I'll keep me lids peeled for declining performance. . . as is, I've already used up 1/3 of the gallon. I've used all my developers as one shot only, and at full strength . ..
I have not gotten into dillutions as I'm not trully sure how things will change.. and have not felt like I've got the time to experiement in that dirrection anyhow. . . at least not at this moment. .

stock stregth, single use, and by the end of this week, it will be all gone. Till then, keep your thongs crossed for me....

 

[jim appleyard]

If it doesn't work for film, it might just work for paper. That's what i do with my mistakes, use 'em as paper dev.

 

[Gerald Koch]

Metol will dissolve in sulfite solutions, it is just more difficult. Heat the solution to 125F and be prepared for a bit of stirring to get it to completely dissolve.

 

[Pastiche]

Jim & Gerald - thank yas both. Ill keep both recomendations in mind, for this, and future goofs...