Problem with stains appearing on my prints. :(

tezzasmall · Apr 19, 2019

bdial said:
The Potassium Iodide tests the fixer, but is not always accurate, and it doesn't test wether or not the paper is fully fixed.

For example, PE mentions it in this thread;

Thanks for that comment, but one can only do what one can do. Various books talk about it so it must have some use, so I'll continue to use it as recommended. I will also look up the other tests that PE mentions in your post.

Terry S

removed account4 · Apr 19, 2019

Hi Terry

Sorry to see your problems. My questions might not be useful but ...
Have you cut a sheet of paper in pieces and seen if it is the original edge of paper
( maybe fogging of some sort and not process related ) . Maybe your box somehow has a leak and got its edges fogged.

Was this paper purchased new?

Good Luck !
John

tezzasmall · Apr 20, 2019

Hurrah! I think I have sorted out the printing problem, but only further printing will tell.

Like many, from the start I thought it was a fixer problem, even though a Potassium Iodide test told me otherwise with two new fixer baths.

Yesterday, I did some more testing with various papers and they all came out stained. I then decided to take a sample out via the tap of the Nova, of each chemical in turn, into a small processing tray so that I could see what was happening better. Straightaway I had my doubts about the developer. It was the required pale colour just a day or two ago and gave good tones in prints but with a stain in the borders. The developer was now a VERY, VERY dark orange. Trying a few bits of various paper in the developer now barely produced anything at all!

I drained out the developer and gave the slot a good rinse and decided to dump the last amount of developer concentrate, about half, in the one litre bottle. Surprisingly it still looked okay as a concentrate, so looks can obviously be deceiving. Then I checked the stop, which has an indicator and that seemed fine and I had already checked the fixer as okay.

The slot had been refilled with developer of the same kind as before, but from a new bottle that had not been opened at all yet. I then did about three prints in the newly filled developer slot with the previously unusable Kentmere paper, which if you remember only stained when lifted out of the fixer bath after two minutes. All three prints and two test prints came out absolutely fine! A few more sheets of 7 x 5 Jessops paper remained totally fogged though, but there's only about a dozen sheets out of a 250 sheet packet left, so they can be used for lumen experiments. Why these last few sheets decided to become completely fogged all over, almost over night, is a mystery, with each sheet having a veil like an 18% grey card?

This outcome is a great relief to me though, as I can now get on with some more printing and hopefully the problem has been sorted.

A few questions do confuse me though:

1. Why did the working solution of the old developer look fine and then change colour dramatically and become unusable almost over night? Remember that I was printing quite happily one day and then two days later, it all seemed to go wrong.

2. Why did any of the papers only stain after being taken out of the fixer bath, after prints had been in there for 2 minutes? Does anyone know what chemically happened?

3. Why did the Jessops paper become totally fogged, again almost overnight, with it being okay one day and then two days later becoming totally unusable?

4. Does a test for developer exist, like the one I have used for the fixer, or is it just a matter of keeping a close eye on it and make it a suspect when / if things start to go wrong in the printing stage?

Now it's fingers crossed that everything will settle down and be fine for me to print. I will know in the future though if the same thing happens, what to suspect and check.

Thanks to all for the input and ideas, they were much appreciated

Terry S

Kino · Apr 20, 2019

Sounds almost like an environmental problem; some sort of gas or aerosol contamination. Have you been using strong cleaners nearby? Anything that might be airborne that could fog the paper and interact with the developer?

glbeas · Apr 20, 2019

It does sound like you are dealing with some kind of contamination in your tank. It might be wise at some point to take a pressure washer or stiff brush after the insides of the tank just to be sure theres no hidden crusts in the bottoms of the slots.
One other question, do you replenish the chemicals as they are used or simply aim for use till exhaustion?

tezzasmall · Apr 20, 2019

Kino said:
Sounds almost like an environmental problem; some sort of gas or aerosol contamination. Have you been using strong cleaners nearby? Anything that might be airborne that could fog the paper and interact with the developer?

glbeas said:
It does sound like you are dealing with some kind of contamination in your tank. It might be wise at some point to take a pressure washer or stiff brush after the insides of the tank just to be sure theres no hidden crusts in the bottoms of the slots.
One other question, do you replenish the chemicals as they are used or simply aim for use till exhaustion?

Thanks for those points guys, I will definitely give the Nova a really good clean as and when I'm able. I don't know what could have happened to do what happened though, other than the developer just going off, as I've used the same procedures in this current darkroom for just over 10 years with no problems with either paper or chemicals at all.

And in reply to the second question, I do the replenishment routine, topping up at the end of each session.

Terry S

MattKing · Apr 20, 2019

tezzasmall said:
And in reply to the second question, I do the replenishment routine, topping up at the end of each session.

You may need to be more aggressive with your replenishment regime - remove some of the developer and then top up.
You may not be taking enough of the spent byproducts of development out with your normal procedure.
Those byproducts may be paper dependent.

tezzasmall · Apr 23, 2019

MattKing said:
You may need to be more aggressive with your replenishment regime - remove some of the developer and then top up.
You may not be taking enough of the spent byproducts of development out with your normal procedure.
Those byproducts may be paper dependent.

Good point there Matt. I have always followed the general instructions given about topping up at the end of each session, but removing some developer before replenishing does sound like a good idea.

Many thanks again to all who have sent comments.

Terry S

Kasper Pihl · Nov 5, 2024

I know this is quite an old thread by now, but all the same … did you find a solution? I have the exact same problem :-(

Cheers,
Kasper

pentaxuser · Nov 5, 2024

Kasper Pihl, have a look at post 28 where the OP believed he found the cause and what was the solution for it

pentaxuser

Kasper Pihl · Nov 6, 2024

pentaxuser said:
Kasper Pihl, have a look at post 28 where the OP believed he found the cause and what was the solution for it

pentaxuser

Sorry, I somehow overlooked that there was a page two

Thanks a lot for pointing me to the answer

Problem with stains appearing on my prints. :(

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