Making my own HCA

[Mats_A]

I promised some friends to make them some long overdue FB prints from their wedding. I think I even promised to have them done by monday. Looking through my chemistry set I noticed that I'm out of HCA. All left is some stock Kodak HCA mixed up in march.

To my (meager) understanding HCA is basically table salt. So could I make my own HCA by mixing 2 tablespoons of table salt in 1 L of water? Or should I tell them that "Monday is off. Sorry. The cat ate the developer."

r

Mats

[Ian Grant]

Salt will work it's not the most efficient, but should preferably be Iodide free.

Agfa recommended Sodium carbonate, but the best choice is Sodium Sulphite, either of these as a 2% solution.

Ian

[Worker 11811]

Sodium carbonate is what coffee pot cleaner is made from. Isn't it?
Read the ingredients carefully and you might find what you need sitting on the shelf in the grocery store.

[Wes Medlin]

Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda is pretty much pure sodium carbonate. I buy it for about $3 in the laundry aisle. It's pure enough I've used it to mix developers with, and yes, I use it to make HCA. Haven't done it in a while, and I don't remember the amount.

[Gerald C Koch]

HCA is sodium sulfite buffered to a neutral pH and containing a sequesterning agent for hard water. Check the APUG formula section for the recipe.

[Mike Wilde]

The only downside with the washing soda is now it has some tiny sort of perfume in it. When I use it to mix developers a scum layer will form. After a day the scum can be lifted off with a spoon, so I fill bottles to the top, or pack ina pastic squeezable bottle for th first day until it has been de-scummed.

Usually I use sulfite for Hypo claearing. A local wine making store should be an easy source of this.

[Robert Hall]

Sodium sulfite 15g/L
Sodium metabisulfite 1 gr/l optional as it simply brings up the ph as to not curl film.

This amounts to about a table spoon per liter.

Changes to sodium sulfate in about 4 hours in the tray reducing it effectiveness.

Don't waste your time with sodium chloride as the idea here is to reduce wash times from about an hour to about 10-15 minutes.

Check for residual fix is to place a drop of selenium (1+9 mix) on the rebate area of the print. If there's a stain, there is residual silver in the print and it needs more time in the fix or fresh fix.

Archival fixing, btw is 4 8x10 prints per gallon of fix. One can fix much more than 4 prints per gallon, but this is the archival standard.

[Rich Ullsmith]

Salt is fine. If you used a single bath fixer, or if you intend to tone the prints I would be inclined to use the dog story for your friends. That's a good idea, going to a winery or supplier for sulfite.

[Mats_A]

Ok. Thanks. I'll check for the sulfite. That is the stuff you get in a "wine making set" for cleaning the equipment? Or am I wrong on this also?

r

Mats

[Robert Hall]

Water treatment plants need it. If you have any pool suppliers, that would be a good place to look. I am lucky enough to have chemical establishments near by.

I can even buy rapid fix if I buy a 55 gallon drum (275kg)!