E6 fixer - homebrew?

[Dave_P]

Hoping anyone with an encyclopaedic knowledge of photo chemistry might be able to chip in here...

I'm just approaching the end of my latest E6 6-bath kit and seem to have run out of the fixer before everything else, to the tune of about a batch of film or two. I probably cocked up and mixed the fix up too strong one session. Anyway, while I need to order a new kit for the time being I was just wondering if anyone knows if you can improvise a suitable E6 fixer from any of the chemicals I have knocking around? Stuff I have to hand:

- Ilford Rapid Fixer
- Ilford Wash Aid
- Sodium Thiosulphate crystals
- Sodium bisulphate
- Sodium Metabisulphite
plus the usual household stuff.

I may just chalk this one up to experience, but would be a shame to waste the end of the existing kit as they ain't cheap.

Cheers

 

[Ian Grant]

Simple

Sodium Thiosulphate (cryst) 160g
Sodium Sulphite (anhyd) 10g
Water to 1 litre

pH should be 6.9 to 7

Ilfird Rapid Fixer is a bit too acidic. Metabisulphite is also too acidic.

Ilford Wash Aid is essentially a Sodium Sulphite solution, a bit under 10%, so you could use it.

Ian

 

[Dave_P]

Brilliant, I was hoping something like this would work - cheers Ian!

 

[Dave_P]

Update on this; I ended up dissolving 40g of thio crystals into 250ml of Ilford wash aid. This seemed to work in the sense that the film came out alright and colours were as expected. However, after drying there was still some cloudiness and blotchy marks on the emulsion side which indicates insufficient fixing. So what I made up is probably too weak and/or needed much longer to fix than the 4mins pas per the usual E6 6-bath instructions.

Anyway, once the new kit was here I rewetted the film, refixed it in fresh E6 fixer (which I had made up for a new batch of film anyway), then rewashed it all again as per the usual instructions and that cleared the cloudiness and the film now looks as expected.

 

[Ian Grant]

Sodium Thiosulphate fixers are quite a bit slower than rapid Ammonium Thiosulphate fixers, so 10 mins might have been better.

Ian