Support our Sponsors, they keep FADU free: AG Photographic The Imaging Warehouse Process Supplies RH Designs Second-hand Darkroom Supplies |
> Print washer up to 12x16" |
*** Click here for the FADU 2015/2014 Yearbooks *** |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread | Display Modes |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
For many years - in fact until a few months ago - I washed all my (fibre) prints in the bath. I stuck about 8 inches of 2-inch-diameter plastic pipe into a spare bath plug and thus into the waste outlet. I drilled holes in its sides until I got the rate of water flow I wanted. To make sure the water entered at the other end of the bath and was turbulent, I lay the shower hose down in the water among the prints. This was all wildly inconvenient for the rest of the family, and probably wasteful of water, but it worked really well. Prints didn't clump together as you might expect. So I suggest it as the best archival washer for those on a tight budget.
In 2021 I bought a Nova Eco washer, making my garden shed darkroom fully self-contained. It seems to do a good job of washing prints, it is easy to regulate the flow to the best balance of economy and effectiveness, and it does have a water dump facility if you need it; but it definitely isn't perfect. It needs just as much attention when operating as my bath method did, has less capacity, and must be dismantled and looked after when not in regular use. The separators warp readily, though they can be flattened out again; and prints stick annoyingly to the smooth surfaces of the separators/slots as you slip them in. Water supply connections are less sophisticated than I had expected (basically garden hose fittings), and their positions on the washer limit the ways it can be situated in the darkroom. Probably similar frustrations apply to all washers, I have no other experience. I appreciate the convenience of the dedicated print washer, but I miss the simplicity of my bath method. |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Your washing process in the bath is similar to what I used to do when I started out as a teenager, many moons ago now.
FB papers were the only ones available at the time and in a book I chose, (and still have) which I won at school for doing well in my art classes, it mentioned the process of just leaving the prints in a couple of inches of water, and changing the water a few times, with a couple of tablespoons of washing soda / sodium carbonate mixed in the first bit of water. Then come forward just under 50 years, and some of the prints that I still have from then, although far from perfect in exposure, don't have a single stain of any kind on them. Before I discovered that sodium sulfite was suggested, that was all I used and still is, if I run out of the former. It's well worth browsing some of these older books, as you can pick up all sorts of tips, although I haven't found any lith formulas...yet. Terry S |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Terry
https://www.digitaltruth.com/data/fo...p?FormulaID=25 Have a look at Agfa79 and Agfa81, are these the sort of thing you are looking for? Also have a browse through the books at the following link. Most are free, but some like The Darkroom Cookbook require you to sign in. All free as far as I have seen so far. Lots of old books on almost every subject.https://archive.org/search.php?query=agfa+formulas Sorry to wander away from the original topic a bit. Cheers.
__________________
It will all be over by Christmas. |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Thanks for all that Nat.
Might be better to post the links and formulas across on the lith discussion thread. : http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.or...t=13858&page=2 Terry S |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
Support our Sponsors, they keep FADU free: AG Photographic The Imaging Warehouse Process Supplies RH Designs Second-hand Darkroom Supplies |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Wanted: 4 bladed easel - 12x16" | jeztastic | Sale or Wanted | 16 | 13th July 2017 05:39 PM |
For Sale: LPL Easels 12x16" and 10x12" | jeztastic | Sale or Wanted | 0 | 7th July 2017 11:52 AM |
16x20" Trays, print washer wanted | jeztastic | Sale or Wanted | 1 | 17th February 2017 01:00 PM |
For sale: 16x12" Nova print washer | Timrudman | Sale or Wanted | 3 | 30th January 2012 01:20 PM |
11x14" or 12x16" | Sandeha Lynch | Monochrome printing techniques | 22 | 29th November 2008 06:21 PM |