Sprint Chemistry: reasons not to use it

StoneNYC · Nov 17, 2014

erikg said:
Here's a note about the Sprint spigots. They don't make them of course, they are sourced and the manufacturer has given them a design "feature" that Sprint is aware of and that they wish wasn't there. That is that the spigot is fully closed at 90º but the spigot itself will turn past that point so if it's pushed as far as it can go towards the box the valve will be open just a little, causing it to drip. If you look at one closely you can see why. When I managed a student lab and we had the big cubes in use I gave up trying point this out and I just made drip cups from old milk bottles instead. In my own darkroom I just tip the box on it's back just as you do. Sprint has tried to source a different spigot but so far other samples are not threaded the same as the bladder they use. They have also asked the spigot maker to put a stop on the lever but they said it was too costly to change. You may have noticed that they are now applying labels to the bottom of the 5 liter cubes so the box is easily identifiable when it is tipped on it's back.

I noticed that, the label change must be new as they had both the old and new labels in the school darkroom.

mgb74 · Nov 17, 2014

Greg Davis said:
If you have never put a spigot on a cubitainer, lay it on its back and pull the bladder out of the box opening, then screw on the spigot and make sure the spigot is off before tilting the box forward. Also, the spigots drip when closed, so you may want to keep the box on its back when not in use to prevent that....

If they drip when closed, then I assume they allow at least some air in when the box is on it's back.

removed account4 · Nov 18, 2014

Michael R 1974 said:
Perhaps I should have posted this in the other Sprint thread, but I just noticed something interesting in Sprint's description and MSDS for Block stop bath. It is a buffered acetic acid-sodium acetate stop bath which operates at a higher pH of about 4. This is closer to an "ideal" acid stop bath formula than plain acetic or citric acid stop baths. I didn't think any commercially available buffered stop baths existed. Just found a few others from Freestyle. Anyhow, there you go.

exactly ... they make good-stuff, not materials specifically made to mask insufficiencies of poor student and otherwise incompetent photographers .
i hate to say this but i think the teacher who claims how bad it is probably is like all the folks who refused buy a speed graphic, or a graflex view camera
because of "entry model-itis " . sprint chemistry is used in schools, so it must be a terrible, entry level system.
both statements couldn't be as far from the truth as could be. speed graphics+graphic view cameras have been used by professionals for more than half a century
and the sprint system can hold its own against pretty much anything out there.

ymmv

37th Exposure · Nov 18, 2014

When I was in high school ages ago, the darkroom was stocked with Kodak, Ilford, and Agfa chemicals. Paper was Kodak FB single weight. Students without their own camera could borrow a Nikon FM2 and Nikkor lens. Film was Kodak Tri-X then later Tmax 400.
For best results avoid these brands

Sprint Chemistry: reasons not to use it

StoneNYC

mgb74

removed account4

37th Exposure

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