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  #1  
Old 14th July 2020, 01:27 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Default Cleaning under the lens Ilford multigrade filters.

I've not long bought a new pack of Ilford's 'educational' under the lens multigrade filters; (which is the full grades only, which cost me a lot less than a full set, at about £10.00, direct from Ilford).

Somehow, I managed to splash a few drops of working strength fixer solution on my most used grade 3 filter the other day - humbug!!!

I thought of wiping it off straight away, but in the back of my brain somewhere, I remember reading that you shouldn't get the filters wet, and even more importantly, not to wipe them whilst they are wet.

So, I've let the filter dry, and it seems fine. But is there a way to 'clean' the filter at all, or will it hopefully not cause any problems, and the filter should be fine in the short / long term, until I end up buying another set?

Anyone ever tried to clean their filters, especially with success? But also, does anyone know why we're told not to clean them with liquids? Are they inkjet printed - or some similar process, that is still water soluable?

Terry S
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Old 14th July 2020, 08:52 PM
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Bob Bob is offline
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I believe the dyes are in a gelatine coating so any water will draw the dyes out of the gelatine and render the gelatine soft and so easy to damage.

If you can't see any discolouration or distortion when looking through the filter then it looks like you were lucky and certainly did the right thing in not trying to wipe it dry.
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Old 14th July 2020, 09:09 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Around 25 years ago, when I started using MG rather than fixed grade, I got some below the lens filters, I spilt something on my grade 2 filter, so thought I would wash it, bad mistake, lost the color and got a small hole in it, if I were you I, as long as it is not discoloured or distorted it should be fine, at least I would try it out with a print before |I washed it,
Richard
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Old 14th July 2020, 09:31 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Just out of curiosity Terry I tried to see if I could find anything on Ilford Photo about cleaning these filters and I'll be "blowed" if I could find anything on what to do if the filters are dirty or have any marks on them

I came across, after much searching, a site where one poster confirmed as Bob has done that as they are gelatine ( gelatin?) water must not be used. That poster added that anything without water is OK and he mentioned lighter fluid

The problem with individuals on forums, present forum excepted is that there is no way of knowing if he is simply a "blowhard" as the Americans say or has stated a fact and such fluid is OK

If I have failed to find Ilford advice on cleaning MG filters but it is there, can anyone point me to where such advice is?

If there isn't any there then Ilford have let themselves down as most people would probably assume that water was OK until the dye started to run and the filter is ruined.

Just a pity when you have to rely solely on forums for such advice

Mike
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Old 15th July 2020, 11:28 AM
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Gelatin is the USA spelling. In the UK we like to add random letters to words to confuse foreigners . No one could see a way to shoehorn a 'u' in there so had to settle for plonking an 'e' on the end.

I have some 99.9% Isopropyl alcohol knocking around - I'll see if I have an old filter I can test it on.
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Old 15th July 2020, 12:05 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
If I have failed to find Ilford advice on cleaning MG filters but it is there, can anyone point me to where such advice is?

Mike
Mike, I too could find nothing substantial, in the way of confirmed and proper advise, which really surprised me. For I can't be the first to accidentally spill something on the filters surely? I think that I will drop an email to Ilford and then copy the reply onto here when I get it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob View Post
I have some 99.9% Isopropyl alcohol knocking around - I'll see if I have an old filter I can test it on.
That was also my thought Bob, as I have found it to be a good all round cleaner, especially when it comes to grease deposits. I have small bits of off cuts, from cutting the filters to size to fit the plastic filter holders, so I think I'll do a test or two on these.

But, I'll have another good look at the stained filter before I try any liquid test on it and also as suggested, try doing another print to see if the filter affects it in any way.

Terry S
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Old 15th July 2020, 12:23 PM
Molli Molli is offline
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Granted, this is from 1988, but it's the only one of my boxes of second hand filters that came with an instruction booklet:

Cover Page:



Ignoring the inside flap, this is the first page:

Last edited by Molli; 15th July 2020 at 12:37 PM. Reason: One of these days I'm going to attach an image on the first attempt! Apologies for the excessive size.
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Old 15th July 2020, 01:23 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Thanks for that Molli, although the info sheet doesn't suggest what to do if one does get a filter wet, as I did. Based on this, I think I will still send a quick email to Ilford, to see what they suggest.

UPDATE: I have just taken the old filters that I recently replaced, so that I could test two solutions on one of them.

First, I used a couple of drops, of what is left of a tin of 'Scotch 3M Clean Art', which I have left over from my college years in the early 1980's.(!) I was told later on just to use 'Liquid lighter fuel', which came in a very similarly shaped tin, and cost a lot less, which was a big deal as a student. I have used lighter fuel since, but I don't have any to hand to try, so can only presume that the same result would occur.

Putting just a drop or two on a clean paper napkin, I rubbed a corner on both sides of an old and recently replaced grade 3 filter. It definitely cleaned the surfaces, although the very slightest of the filter colour could be seen on the napkin. Based on this I tried the whole surface on each side, and there was no obvious damage to the colouration of the filter, so I would happily use this again if required.

Secondly, I tried the 'Isopropyl alcohol'. This liquid again seemed to clean another filter, although there was a bit more of a stain on the napkin of the filters colouration, although the filter itself remained usable and looked undamaged.

It should be pointed out though, that this bottle of Isopropyl alcohol is not a new one and is about 2/3's full and has been used to dry films in developing tanks, whilst they were water wet, so some of this water, however small, will probably have leached into the alcohol, diluting it somewhat and could affect the end result. Therefore I would be interested to hear from anyone else like Bob, who is able to try this out, especially with a totally unadulterated bottle of IA. But even so, there was no obvious damage to the filter despite a bit of hard rubbing, so again, I would happily use this if required in the future, although I would purchase a new bottle of IA to use.

Terry S

Last edited by Terry S; 15th July 2020 at 01:26 PM.
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Old 15th July 2020, 01:27 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Thanks, Molli. While that is better than I have found it just tells you what to avoid and not what you can do to clean smears/marks that cannot be wiped with the likes of an anti-static cloth.99.9% alcohol sounds promising unless 0.1% water is too much water

We'll have to wait and see what the experiment with it produces

Mike
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Old 15th July 2020, 04:18 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Not very scientific I know but I have just experimented with the remains of an old grade 2 filter, I cut in in 3, kept one third as a base, then on one third I washed it in running water, for a few seconds, then left it to dry, and it is almost white, just a trace of colour left, the second third I cleaned in some hand sanitiser, a new bottle unopened and 80% alcohol, and while better than the one washed in water, after wiping down with a cloth the 2 is very much lighter compared to the untreated third of the filter, as I said, not very scientific, but certainly both the sanitiser and water have quite an effect on the filter, but just possibly with the original UTL filters as supplied by Ilford the effect would be better as the filter in the holders, as I remember (25 years since I used them is a long time), are heavier, compared to the above the lens filters, and IIRC you replaced the original filters in the holders with above the lens filters cut to size,But I have, in the past, used filters that were stained slightly with no problems that I found, so I would try the filter without cleaning before I tried cleaning them with anything, they don't seem to take kindly to water at all, and even alcohol seems to have some effect
Richard

Last edited by Richard Gould; 15th July 2020 at 04:22 PM.
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