Dirty film reel

Just bought a couple of film reels from eBay. They are a little brown. Is there a way of cleaning them? They are jobo reels

If it doesn't easily come off (it might be inside the plastic) then it likely won't affect anything.

 

Some have suggested dishwashers, likely without a hot dry cycle.

(I always have my dishwasher dry turned off.)

 

Nikor suggests nitic acid for their stainless steel reels. That reforms that passivation

layer, and also cleans off just about everything else. Some lower quality SS might not

take it as well.

 

Kodak actually makes a "developing system cleaner", more designed for machinery

than individual tanks, but probably works:

 

StackPath

 

It doesn't say what it is, though, except that it has the ability to remove silver.

You could try common household bleach, but I suspect the stain has entered deep into the structure of the plastic.

 

Many developing agents are chemically related to dyestuffs, and in fact many hair-dyes contain the developing agent paraphenylene-diamine, para-aminophenol or similar. As you can imagine, the stain from oxidation products of these substances is very difficult to remove.

 

Anyway, the deep stain won't affect the function of the reels, but surface scum and dirt will increase friction and make reels more difficult to load. If that's the case, just give them a soak in limescale remover and a strong solution of water-softener and they should be OK again. Scrubbing them isn't a good idea, since it'll roughen the surface of the plastic and increase its friction.

 

P.S. The MSDS for Kodak developer system cleaner shows that it's just a mixture of sodium sulphite and bisulphite.

I suspect that commercial food container cleaner/steriliser solution would perform the same function.

Edited December 13, 2018 by rodeo_joe|1

 

(snip)

 

P.S. The MSDS for Kodak developer system cleaner shows that it's just a mixture of sodium sulphite and bisulphite.

I suspect that commercial food container cleaner/steriliser solution would perform the same function.

 

bisulfite is pretty acidic, which I think is what does the work.

 

There is also the neutralizer.

They sure make this hard to figure out.

 

It looks to me that the cleaner is potassium permanganate and sulfuric acid,

and that the neutralizer is sodium sulfite and bisulfite.

 

Some MSDS say one, and some the other, and ones that say the latter seem

to say neutralizer.

 

Give that the purpose of the MSDS is safety, it shouldn't be so hard to figure out.

Thanks for the ideas the reels are for sheet film does that a difference?

Thanks for the ideas the reels are for sheet film does that a difference?

 

- No. Except you shouldn't have any difficulty loading them, since there's almost no friction involved.

 

This is the 2509 6 sheet spiral for 5" x 4" right? It loads easily, so even if it's dirty you won't have a problem. They're quite delicate though - don't drop it!

 

Some people seem to have difficulty loading the reel and need the loading base. I never had any issue loading mine freehand, and actually found the base more awkward to use.

 

If you're using this with a rotary processor, then you must use a pre-wetting bath. Otherwise you'll get filling lines and/or foaming marks.

Yes i think it's a 2509 which tanks are best? I have quite a few which I assumed were best for 35mm at the time. Are they suitable for both?