Best Way to Clean Glass Carriers?

[tgtaylor]

What's the best way to clean the glass on a Universal Glass carrier without any residual effects on the negative? Warm water, warm soapy water, windex, alcohol,....?

Thanks,

Thomas

[Richard Wasserman]

I use Windex and Kimwipes.

[Filmnut]

Any good quality glass cleaner, and a lint free cloth/ wiper will work fine. There are some specialty glass cleaners designed for the graphic arts field that will leave an invisible anti static film on the glass, but I have never found them worth the money over good old Windex.
Keith

[Jon Shiu]

If it just has smudges from general use, just wipe with microfiber cloth.

Jon

[Stephen Willard]

Be very careful not to build up any static charge on the glass as you clean it. If you should do so, then dust will become your worst enemy. Trying to remove dust from a charged glass carrier can be a nightmare.

[John Powers]

Be very careful not to build up any static charge on the glass as you clean it. If you should do so, then dust will become your worst enemy. Trying to remove dust from a charged glass carrier can be a nightmare.

How do you build up a charge, or more importantly how to you avoid doing it?

John

[Stephen Willard]

How do you build up a charge, or more importantly how to you avoid doing it?

Cleaning a glass negative carrier, the film, and the many mask I use has become a very big issue for me since I have started printing really big stuff such as 20x50s and 30x40s. A very tiny speck of dust in the assembly can turn into a bowling ball when making large photographs.

Cleaning the glass is easy, getting rid of dust is a whole other matter. The simplest thing you can do is do NOT rub dry glass repeatable with a cloth. That will surely build up charge. The dryer your climate is the more pronounced it is. If there is a static charge on the glass and you place the negative on it, then the charge will migrate to the film as well and collect dust like I hoard money. Blowing compressed air across the assembly can also build up static charge just like a cloth can.

Kinetronics makes number of products that are designed to help you clean materials and minimize the static charge build up. They work to some extent. You can also oil your negatives to hide dust, but that is messy. I have tried it, and it works great, but it is too messy for me. The oils are also highly flammable and sliding them into a hot enlarger does not make me feel safe.

I have been investigating dust for a number of years and found that dust and static charge are one in the same. What follows are the things I do to fight dust in the negative drawer:

1. I use an powerful air brush compressor (1/3 hp at 60 psi) that is coupled with and anti-static ion generator. The air is filtered and the ions will completely remove any charge. The trick is that you have to a strong compressor that can dislodge stubborn dust particles. Most air brush compressors are 1/8 hp to 1/6 hp. Kinetronics offers an anti-static dust gun for around $350, but I found a better gun on ebay for around $50.
   
2. For really stubborn dust particles, I use the Kinetronics 4" wisk brush with a ground cord. The B&H Photo URL is http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...s=REG#features

I would start with the second item because it is the cheapest. If you are producing prints 20x24 and smaller that may be sufficient, but you still will have some spotting to do.

Hope this helps...

[Stephen Willard]

I also forgot to mention just sliding your negative out from the plastic sleeve you store your film in will place a static charge on the film. It is easy to know what is going on when you have surfaces with strong static charges. You can easily see the dust being "sucked" onto the charged surface, and in some cases you can actual feel the charge.

However, those surfaces that have a small charge on them are the ones that are problematic because most people have no clue what is happening. The only thing they know is no matter how much they have cleaned the carrier and film there is always dust to be spotted. You can bet if there is dust then there is static charge lurking in the shadows of your negative assemble.

[Richard Wasserman]

I print to 16x20. The best thing I did in my darkroom to control dust was to use a humidifier. The Kinetronics brush looks good, I'll order one–thanks Stephen!

[tgtaylor]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Some really great information here!

I'm placing an order for the Kinetronics brush. I have a small one but never knew of the one posted above.