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  #71  
Old 4th July 2020, 04:13 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
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The NOVA cleaner is possibly quite dangerous and I'm surprised they are still allowed to sell it. The fumes are pungent and if anyone had breathing problems it won't do them any good at all.
I have some of the tarbuster and for the RA4 dev slot it is good but the fact you get gloves and a mask tells you a lot. It is not a cleaning job you do without the right protective gear, especially as I found myself having to lean over the slot to aim the tarbuster bottle. For anyone with tarbuster who wants to use it, DO WEAR THE GLOVES AND MASK AND DO NOT GET YOUR NOSE ANY NEARER THE SLOT WHEN SPRAYING THAN YOU HAVE TO. ONCE FINISHED STEP AWAY FROM THE NOVA AND LET THE TARBUSTER DO ITS JOB.

First time I have felt that CAPS are justified in the above warning but in the case of tarbuster it is justified

As John says, if you have any breathing problems do use bleach and a bit of patience instead. These will work albeit more slowly

Mike
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  #72  
Old 4th July 2020, 06:36 PM
Nat Polton Nat Polton is offline
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I have only used household bleach so far.
Out of curiosity, is there a list of ingredients on the tar buster product?
If so, what are they?
Cheers.
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  #73  
Old 6th July 2020, 12:37 AM
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If tar buster is anything like the Kodak Tray Cleaning formulas TC1 & TC3, it will contain sulphuric acid. For a DIY job, you need to start with car battery acid (but you only need a few ml per litre of cleaner so the finished product is not too dangerous). Not tried it myself, but the Naked Photographer on youtube has a video testing TC3 (persons of a sensitive disposition may wish to skip the first 20 seconds : He also suggests using a 10% sodium carbonate solution for cleaning old chemical bottles which I have not heard of before https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtaiM7danTs

Last edited by Bob; 6th July 2020 at 12:57 AM.
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  #74  
Old 6th July 2020, 03:31 PM
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billcowan billcowan is offline
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Denture fizzy tablets like Polident work well for me.
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  #75  
Old 6th July 2020, 06:02 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Denture fizzy tablets like Polident work well for me.
Bill how many tablets per slot? I assume we are talking about the dev slot which is where the Tarbuster comes into its own for RA4 developer tar or is your application for b&w processing?

Thanks

Mike
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  #76  
Old 6th July 2020, 07:09 PM
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I used two and left it for 24 hours. I suppose depending on severity of the tar Repeat PRN. And I did do all 4 slots. The stop slot does discolour too, a bit.
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Bill
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  #77  
Old 6th July 2020, 10:56 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Thanks Bill. So in summary you use two tablets per slot and for all 3 or 4 slots if there are 4? How successful was it in the b&w fix slot?. Those were the 2 that I had most difficulty in cleaning. There was a streak of grey along the base of both fix slots that was clearly deposited by the fix as it accumulated more silver and that was very difficult to remove.

Tarbuster seemed pretty ineffective here and bleach took a long time i.e. days and then required quite a scrub along the bottom with a bottle brush

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Mike
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  #78  
Old 7th July 2020, 02:41 AM
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It wasn't perfectly like new, but I was very pleased with it, not even counting the ease and safety of it. I did assist it with a 1/4 inch bottle brush to dislodge any residual gunk after it had softened.
My system is quite old I think; four slots with top filling warming chamber holes.
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Bill
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  #79  
Old 7th July 2020, 03:36 AM
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For cleaning black and white chemicals from my Nova I've used Steradent successfully in the past. These days I use nappy (diaper) soaker which contains sodium percarbonate which releases oxygen and breaks down some stains. It also contains ordinary clothes washing detergent. As long as the remaining discoloration withstands repeated cleaning, I assume that it's not going to affect processing.

Last edited by Stocky; 7th July 2020 at 03:43 AM.
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  #80  
Old 7th July 2020, 05:52 AM
John King John King is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billcowan View Post
It wasn't perfectly like new, but I was very pleased with it, not even counting the ease and safety of it. I did assist it with a 1/4 inch bottle brush to dislodge any residual gunk after it had softened.
My system is quite old I think; four slots with top filling warming chamber holes.
Regards
Bill
All the heated water jackets in all models of the Nova are top filling, the holes in the sides are to judge the level.

Incidentally I had to speak to Nova yesterday and they are bringing out a modified processor in the Autumn. It is not radically different but some of the components are being changed due to the difficulty in sourcing them now

I also saw heated B&W Nova on sale at Second Hand Darkroom, I always thought that B&W ones were unheated!

Also on eBay there is a 5 bath Nova that is one I have never seen one of those before either. Could it have been designed for use with the defunct Cibachrome process?
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