Reeking film holders

[Wayne]

Seeing as there's no definitive answer to this, I decided to take up the matter with two Toyo holders that arrived recently.
They smelled strongly of stale pee, i.e., human urine.

1. My first idea was to get something at the pet store, an odour neutralizer, and I spent $20 on their best product.
Applied some to a soft cloth and wiped the holders.
Result: very little change.
.

Was their "best product" Nature's Miracle? If not, try it. I've used it to get rid of skunk odor and it works awfully well, so I'd be surprised if it couldn't get rid of some mere pee odor.

[Ari]

Was their "best product" Nature's Miracle? If not, try it. I've used it to get rid of skunk odor and it works awfully well, so I'd be surprised if it couldn't get rid of some mere pee odor.

No, it's called NOK-OUT. The problem with those neutralizers is that the plastic really has to be immersed in order for the product to attack the odour.
Also, the plastic is not an ideal "carrier" of scents, so it's hard for the neutralizer to get some "tooth".
In short, it's easier to rid an animal of a smell than it is to rid a synthetic product of the same smell, especially when using a product made for animals.
Anyway, vinegar works so far and it's cheap.
I just sprayed my second coat, the smell is 90% gone. I'll do a third spraying to be sure.

[Jim Noel]

I recently bought some Toyo-View 4x5 filmholders. Unfortunately they have changed their design and now use a plastic darkslide. Worse than that, they absolutely reeked, a kind of aromatic benzene odor that didn't go away despite two weeks in the open air. I returned them. What's the next best 4x5 filmholder? I have had problems with Rite-Way filmholders scratching the back side of the film sheet. Also, anyone else had a negative experience with the new Toyo film holders?

I have 100+ Riteway holders, and have never had a problem with scratches.

[Willie]

Have any with the holders tried putting them a container or small room and running an Ozone Generator? It is used to get the smoke and burned smells out of homes and building that have had a fire. Also gets rid of a lot of other smells. Might be worth trying here.

[Sal Santamaura]

...Maybe repeating the procedure 2-3 times will get rid of the smell for good...

Don't (do? ) hold your breath.

[Ari]

Last spray using vinegar only.
There is still a hint of the smell, it's been mostly neutralized by the vinegar, and what's left is not strong or pungent.
After this a good cleaning is in order.

I'd say the smell is 90% gone, not much better than it was after the first application of vinegar, but hey, it's 90% better than it was yesterday.

[Jonathan Barlow]

Could the smell be from some sort of chemical bath used to clean the plastic after it's assembled and finished?

Or perhaps just an unfortunate plastic recipe from a new supplier?

Could the plastic be outgassing?

Why wouldn't the manufacturer notice an awful smell in the factory; especially since film holders require a lot of hand assembly?

Are the new TOYO holders still made in Japan?

[B.S.Kumar]

I've not come across any of the so-called "reeking" film holders here in Japan. The newest Toyo holders have blue lettering. They are made in Japan, and say so on the holder itself.

Kumar

[Sal Santamaura]

...The newest Toyo holders have blue lettering. They are made in Japan, and say so on the holder itself...

"Made" means assembled. That doesn't indicate the parts were molded in Japan. Didn't Toyo offshore parts manufacture to China? Do we have any idea what is in the plastic since this problem began?

[Ari]

Sad to say that the smell has returned after a day, though nowhere near as bad as when I started.
It's merely annoying, rather than offensive and eye-watering.

I contacted MAC Group in NJ, distributors for Toyo in the USA, they said they had heard of the problem, but didn't know the solution.
They added that getting information from Japan HQ is difficult at best.