Reusable stop bath formula from vinegar and sodium hydroxide

[john_s]

I still haven't heard a good reason for doing what the OP is suggests. It's a solution in search of a problem.

The article I posted above gives a reason which I think is justifiable.
For fibre prints my stop is metabisulphite solution. It smells worse than acetic acid but I think it's more compatible with my neutral fixer and has cured some occasional staining once and for all. It's in a slot processor. It's quite unsuitable for open tray use.

 

[CMoore]

FWIW.....after 2 years on The Forum, i have ditched liquid (concentrate) Stops.
Film - I use straight water.
Prints - I use Citric Acid.
My measure is One of those plastic spoons (of acid) you get from a restaurant, into One Liter of water.
I make new Stop every day.....whether it has been 24 hours or 9 hours. It is so cheap and easy, i dump it out and start new every time.
I do not do this because i "know" it works, but because my "Betters" have said it does.

 

[faberryman]

The article I posted above gives a reason which I think is justifiable.
For fibre prints my stop is metabisulphite solution. It smells worse than acetic acid but I think it's more compatible with my neutral fixer and has cured some occasional staining once and for all. It's in a slot processor. It's quite unsuitable for open tray use.

OP has suggesting using white vinegar with a sodium hydroxide additive instead of Kodak indicator stop bath or Ilfostop to process film for reasons which are unclear. It is certainly more expensive and requires more storage space, which OP is short on. Not sure how using a metabisulfite solution in a slot processor has any relevance to the discussion at hand.

 

[john_s]

...... Not sure how using a metabisulfite solution in a slot processor has any relevance to the discussion at hand.

You are right, strictly speaking. But other stop baths have been mentioned, and buffering referred to. On rereading the article I will start using metabisulphite buffered with sulphite to raise the pH a bit without making it so dilute that it needs frequent replenishment. In that way there is some relevance to the OP.

 

[timmct]

The Sprint product has the sodium acetate engineered in, as a buffer, right at the start of the batch and has a LOT of vanillins in it...BC purple, too.

 

[etn]

Funnily enough, what used to be a very cheap product has become ridiculously expensive in Europe as far as I can tell. It's cheaper to buy acetic acid and the indicator dye itself and mix your own!

Which one are you referring to?
I just looked around (not exhaustively) around online stores here in Germany, the highest price which caught my eye was 35 Euros for a bottle of 473ml Kodak stop bath. This might sound steep but, being developed 1:64, this brings the price of final product to about 1.15€ per liter.
I personally use Adox Adostop, which costs 8 Euros for 1 liter concentrate. Diluted 1:10, so about 80 cents per liter of final product.
Considering how long the stop bath lasts, this is only a fraction of the other costs involved (mostly film and paper), so I don't bother too much and use that.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Which one are you referring to?
I just looked around (not exhaustively) around online stores here in Germany, the highest price which caught my eye was 35 Euros for a bottle of 473ml Kodak stop bath. This might sound steep but, ...

Yes, that's the one I'm talking about and it is steep, considering what the actual ingredients are and that it has indefinite shelf life. I used to buy Kodak's Max Stop for 4,5€/l. That is diluted 1+15, but more than double in quantity, so in effect the price of stop bath has practically quadrupled. It doesn't add up much to the cost of film and paper processing, just seems too expensive for what it is.