Which one mix from scratch Fixer

I would be interested in other workers formula for mixing from scratch a rapid fix.
Currently I am using Hypam but would like to hear about what others here are using.

My fixer, my only fixer, I make it from scratch - is Ilford Hypam. I only need two ingredients - Hypam and water.

How much easier can you get than that?

It's not the answer I bet you were hoping for, but why waste time not using easily obtained ( and great performing) products?

PS - I use Kodak Indicator Stop bath for printing as well...

TF-3 stock solution - 800mL of 57-60% Ammonium Thiosulfite per litre, then 60g sodium sulfite per litre, then 5g sodium metaborate per litre.

Use at 1:4 for film or paper. pH can be fine tuned to be closer to TF-4, so it smells of ammonia less.

My closest supplier that I chose to look for of Amm Thio was Claire at JD Photochem, who has stopped trading. The seal on my last gallon jug from her has recently been cracked.

For the fixing after that I will be going with Ilford Hypam. I picked up 5L of Hypam stock at Film Plus for less than just the 60% Amm Thio per galloon cost me from Claire excluding her shipping costs.

You are right of course, till now that has been my position.
I have been spoiled by Mike Chan of Eight Elm Photo, believe it or not he would deliver to my Lab within 4-8 hours of my call any darkroom consumables I neeed, that included Sat or Sun , as I am a 7 day a week printer. He is closing his business and I will lose this very valuable resource. I kept him active so he could stock and be confident the product would move and I got on demand service.
I have been considering scratch mixing for all my chems, yesterday I was out of hypo clear, so I went to the bookshelf and picked up Anchells cookbook, 200 g of sodium sulfite and water to working and I was good to go, rather than ripping the bag and mixing. So I got to thinking about the others. Dev I can pre mix in containers and just add water , Glacial acid and water both pretty simple.

Rapid fix formula looks a bit more time consuming. Not sure about selenium toner. To chemists this may seem like simple stuff but I am not a chemist. Therefore I am looking for a way of introducing a scratch rapid fix formula into my workflow.

I use so much of this stuff, I would hazard a guess of around 6-8 k for chemicals a year, mixing from scratch would cut that in half, but if it doubles my time then the savings are minimal , as time is money in a darkroom like mine.
Also I am finding paper and chems to be harder to find and get on time. I cannot blame the local warehousers who work with Harmon or Kodak . Contrary to what this site is all about , I feel we are on a knifes edge regarding availability.
The chain of purchase is dwindling and even if there are 50k members here on APUG , I really wonder what % actually order the product lines on a regular basis. I mean fresh product , not trying to scoop 5 year out dated product on the internet for a good price.

Kirk Keyes said:

My fixer, my only fixer, I make it from scratch - is Ilford Hypam. I only need two ingredients - Hypam and water.

How much easier can you get than that?


It's not the answer I bet you were hoping for, but why waste time not using easily obtained ( and great performing) products?

PS - I use Kodak Indicator Stop bath for printing as well...

Click to expand...

Mike - have you tried Nymoc for chems?

Mike Wilde said:

TF-3 stock solution - 800mL of 57-60% Ammonium Thiosulfite per litre, then 60g sodium sulfite per litre, then 5g sodium metaborate per litre.

Use at 1:4 for film or paper. pH can be fine tuned to be closer to TF-4, so it smells of ammonia less.

My closest supplier that I chose to look for of Amm Thio was Claire at JD Photochem, who has stopped trading. The seal on my last gallon jug from her has recently been cracked.

For the fixing after that I will be going with Ilford Hypam. I picked up 5L of Hypam stock at Film Plus for less than just the 60% Amm Thio per galloon cost me from Claire excluding her shipping costs.

Click to expand...

I got tired of the shipping cost overhead on rapid fixes and decided to switch to C41 fix which comes from Kodak in 5 gallon cubetainers, my local camera shop just added it to their regular chem order. The cost is an order of magnitude or so less, including shipping.
Haven't actually started using yet, as I'm still finishing up the last of my old stuff but there are several threads here on using it.

There's always Ole's formula too, (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Oles formula is not viewable?
C41 fix, how would it compare to Hypam?

bdial said:

I got tired of the shipping cost overhead on rapid fixes and decided to switch to C41 fix which comes from Kodak in 5 gallon cubetainers, my local camera shop just added it to their regular chem order. The cost is an order of magnitude or so less, including shipping.
Haven't actually started using yet, as I'm still finishing up the last of my old stuff but there are several threads here on using it.

There's always Ole's formula too, (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Click to expand...

Kodak C41 Flexicolor Fixer could be an excellent option - see this thread here:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

And stay away from making your own selenium toner except as a very, last resort. The selenium dust used to make it is rather toxic.

Here is another, older discussion on using C-41 fix, with some dilution recommendations; (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
In that thread, PE states that it is alkaline;

Properly compounded C41 fix is pH ~6.5. The correct range is about 6.3 - 6.8 for proper activity. (20 deg C)

Click to expand...

Hypam is slightly acid, from the discussions I've seen in here.

Don't know why the link to Ole's fix isn't working, it's in the articles/recipes section; (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

hallo

i mix one (kodak f-8, i think)
works very well
not because its cheap etc. for me it´s fun.
--
thomas

edit:
360 grams of sodiumthiosulfate
50 grams of ammonium chlorid
per liter

I have committed to scratch mixing as many chemicals as I logically can. As Kirk noted, selenium powder is reputed to be extremely dangerous to handle, so I will stick with premixed. Awhile back I costed out the bulk chemicals to make TF 3 (or maybe 4, can't remember now) vs. buying TF4 or 5, and unless I calculated wrongly, the savings were so minimal that I decided to stick with premixed. And I can't find a lith developer formula that works as reliably as premixed, but everything else is scratch made.

What working dilution for working

pcyco said:

hallo

i mix one (kodak f-8, i think)
works very well
not because its cheap etc. for me it´s fun.
--
thomas

edit:
360 grams of sodiumthiosulfate
50 grams of ammonium chlorid
per liter

Click to expand...

hallo

recommended is no dilution
but film clears in the stocksolution within appr. 30 sec.

i´m sur it works also with 1+1 or 1+3
http://www.photokb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/photo-darkroom/759/Kodak-F8-Rapid-fixer

--
thomas

bdial said:

Here is another, older discussion on using C-41 fix, with some dilution recommendations; (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
In that thread, PE states that it is alkaline...

Click to expand...

The pH range he gives in his post indicates it is acidic. It is the post he is quoting that says it is alkaline.

RPC

I have had quotes from Nymoc (John, I think was his name) in the past.

I found that Claire, the Formulary,and Artcraft had him beat on price by quite a margin when I was stocking up on dry chems for the mix from scratch stocks 3-4 years ago.

Now I am getting around to restock on things I am running low on. Some of them the Formulary can't ship internationally. Post 9/11 this is due mainly to the ability to use them for more nefarous purposes than just in a darkroom.

So I may be visiting McGee St in the future.

Mike
If you want we can tag up on an order, I am thinking about September.
I do know John and he is great, so is his son, and they do give great prices on bulk.
I am thinking of these chems, and any Canadians wanting to jump on this give me an email.
BW developer scratch
Glacial Acid
Fix scratch
Hypo Clear Scratch
Carbon material Scratch
Sepia toner scratch
Gum printing scratch

basically the gamut, we will be placing an order and could bulk it up if those of you are serious of stocking up a bit.

Mike Wilde said:

I have had quotes from Nymoc (John, I think was his name) in the past.

I found that Claire, the Formulary,and Artcraft had him beat on price by quite a margin when I was stocking up on dry chems for the mix from scratch stocks 3-4 years ago.

Now I am getting around to restock on things I am running low on. Some of them the Formulary can't ship internationally. Post 9/11 this is due mainly to the ability to use them for more nefarous purposes than just in a darkroom.

So I may be visiting McGee St in the future.

Click to expand...

double post

I am trained as a chemist. The only time I would consider making selenium toner would be when it was no longer available commercially.

I will take that to heart

Gerald C Koch said:

I am trained as a chemist. The only time I would consider making selenium toner would be when it was no longer available commercially.

Click to expand...

I have made up direct selenium toner in the past, with great care, under a fume hood (well, immediately adjacent to the exhaust intake to my HRV that draws at the end of my sink where the fixer tray usually sits) running full blast.

Heating the mixture of the very finely divided Se powder and getting it into a sulfite solution, then heating it, all the whle in nitrile gloves, and wearing a full mouth and nose filtered respirator was a real pain in the ass.

After that first effor I had a few different lots of of KRST come my way. It will be quite a while before I consider mixing selenium from scratch again.