Stained trays

[rexp]

I have always been able to keep my white plastic trays quite clean. I always wash them out & wipe them down, and have always used tongs to handle prints. Recently, I have done some batch printing of proofs where I would to 10 prints at a time, and I handled them with bare hands. Cycling thru them moving each from the bottom of the stack to the top.

Lo and behold, my developing tray now has a dark stain. I presume it is from the oils on my hands, as I have not changed developers and the only thing different I can think of was that my skin was in the developer. I tried soaking with a warm bleach solution, with no luck.

I suppose I could quit worrying... actually I am not worrying, nor am I excessively anal about keeping things clean, but it is interesting this happened.

 

[Jeremy]

switch to stainless steel trays--no more stains. Personally I like a little stain in my trays, gives them character

 

[raucousimages]

It is a build up of silver oxide I think. Tray cleaner will bleach it but it shows up with new developer. Remove the loose layer with a scotch brite pad or rough cloth just dont scratch your tray. the loose (soft) layer will stain prints but the hard stain only looks bad. If it will not rub off with your finger dont worry or switch to stainless.

 

[rexp]

Well it certainly doesn't rub off with a rag. I will just use it & quit worrying. I was hoping for a magic solution to rinse it clean with. Sort of like the "Scrubbing Bubbles" commercial...

 

[clogz]

Plain old household bleach will do the trick.

 

[Bruce Osgood]

Plain old household bleach will do the trick.

That's all there is to it. Fill the tray with water and a couple of table spoons of household bleach, soak over night.

 

[Bob F.]

As others suggest, I always just fill the developer tray with water, add a smidgeon of bleach (or 2.75 glugs, to use metric units)... Leave for a few hours/overnight and the stain should be history.

Tetenal, Jobo and others have chemical cleaners intended for cleaning processors which will probably work too, but I have never bothered - diluted bleach has always worked.

Bob.