Metal and chemicals

[Greg Blank]

Here's one of the trays I mentioned. This corner is welded and apparent to my eye are all the others.

[D. Bryant]

some of the more arcane 19th century processes will cheerfully eat holes into stainless steel and emit poisonous fumes while at it...

Such as?

[Sevo]

Such as?

I'd have to dig through the books - but I have encountered quite a few recipes with strong acid etches, including plenty of sulphuric and chromic acid. Many of them use chromium compounds themselves, so you could care less about the extra pollution from the stainless steel until it eats through the tray and spills on the floor - but you'll probably run into inconsistencies if you dissolve too much of the metal.

[davidwrogers]

I'll be building some trays for developing C-41 4x5 negatives. I live in south Louisiana so machine shop fab work isn't too expensive. They'll be TIG welding 16 gauge 316 stainless for me. From what I've read so far, there isn't too definitive an answer, but it seems I'll be alright. Gotta experiment, I guess.

[Henry Ambrose]

You do know you can buy these things?
Or do you have some special needs?

You'd be surprised what you might find at a used restaurant supply house.