Question about some paper...

I got a bunch of paper yesterday in a group lot of stuff I purchased and am not real familier with this particular type, it is called Rapidoprint TP 6 WP t2 papier, Made by Agfa

Says on the instructions it is waterproof, and has developer in it...I have never heard of it.

Anyone here know anything about this...

Dave

Haven't used the paper for over 30 years.

Basically it's a PE/RC paper with developer incorporated and designed to be used in a Rapid Access machine using Activator & Stabiliser, Iflord made an equivalent - Ilfoprint.

In practice the paper will develop in about 10-15 seconds in a reasonably alkali solution, activators were usually Sodium Hydroxide based, but you can develop in an ordinary print developer, it'll appear almost instantly and deveop fully.

Now stabiliser is Thiocyanate based and these prints usually weren't washed but Fixer works perfectly and followed by the usual washing you will have a normal resin coated image.

The process was designed to produce dry prints in about 40seconds, probably oginally for military uses, stabilised prints are not permanent and degrade quite quickly but later fixing and washing remedied.

Thinking back the first RC paper I bought was ex UK Military/Government surplus stock, and was just prior to the release of Ilfospeed which was the first commercial RC paper.

Ian

It sounds like a paper that made for a processor of some sort, how old is it? The fact that is descriped as waterproof leads me to think that is predates RC.

The paper boxes have a date of 12/95 on them...I didn't know if it was worth play with or not, thanks for the information.

Dave

I would bet that paper has gone to meet its maker; it depends on how it's stored. I wouldn't expect much out of it, but ya never know. You can always make photograms with it. Have fun with it anyway.

jim appleyard said:

I would bet that paper has gone to meet its maker; it depends on how it's stored. I wouldn't expect much out of it, but ya never know. You can always make photograms with it. Have fun with it anyway.

Click to expand...

Don't speak too soon

Yes papers do go off, some more quickly than others.

I have Kodak Bromide paper from the 60' its fine a little slow, NO fogging, same goes for Ilfobrom, far newer Sterling went off. All stored in a cellar so constant <18°C. The Polycontrast 24"x30" box has started to deteriorate so was going to chuck it out, but a test showed the paper was fine again no fog but the grades have dropped slightly, I was extremely surprised

Will I use them ? Yes possibly but not for exhibition prints however they are worth a few trials at the end of printing sessions.

However papers do keep for years and the Agfa Rapidoprint I used in 1972/3 was already well out of date and fine.

Ian

Satinsnow said:

I got a bunch of paper yesterday in a group lot of stuff I purchased and am not real familier with this particular type, it is called Rapidoprint TP 6 WP t2 papier, Made by Agfa

Says on the instructions it is waterproof, and has developer in it...I have never heard of it.

Anyone here know anything about this...

Dave

Click to expand...

I think it is a very high contrast graphic arts paper for making halftone prints for newspaper reproduction. Think Black & White, period! No gray tones at all.

When I was 16, I got a summer job in the darkroom of our local weekly newspaper. The darkroom tech had a system worked out where halftone screen prints could be made directly from the original negs using an enlarger, without making regular continuous tone prints first. It was a cobbled together system that worked surprisingly well if one had good negatives to print from. If done correctly, the photographic reproduction in the paper was not bad at all.

If memory serves, the paper we used for our process was Rapidoprint TP-6 run through in a stabilization processor. When the prints were no longer damp, we would take them to the editor for paste up on the paper pages along with the text.

Mike Sullivan

Don,t worry about the paper get the processers!

I have two of the rapid print machines a 14" machine which prints mono wet to dry in 70sec. 4 baths 1. dev 2. fixer. 3 waterbath. 4 waterbath temp on this machine 32celsius
Machine 2 is also a rapid print machine 20"wide 4 baths although much slower 3minutes
with a dryer incorporated.
if you can get the machines they are a worthwhile project.