Originally Posted by
KennyMark
Vinny,
If you subscribe to the opinionated Mr. Picker's writings and research, he made several claims about archival washing based on his tests.
1) because hypo is denser than water, it will pool at the bottom of the tank unless the chambers drain through the bottom. I believe that he claimed this is the case even with bottom feeding designs based on testing residual hypo in the print.
2) panels separating prints and negatives prevent cross contamination of neighboring sheets if added to the tank at different times.
3) in order to control the rate of outflow and thereby the rate of fresh water needed to keep the tank filled, he made his bottom draining washers with a trap on the sides (that are also connected by tubes). This also allows one to keep it full when the water supply is shut off.
If you're only looking to wash film, then I guess archival washing is probably different than for prints.
Please document your process to share, or at least invite me over to see your finished product!
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