For the Love of All Things Holy: The DD-X Cap Won't Budge

[kiss-o-matic]

Google showed me this thread here which makes me sound like a girly man as I can't get the cap off on try 2. This stuff is crazy expensive here, so I can't just throw out the remaining .95 liters.

The air in Tokyo in the winter is brutally dry, which means my hands crack a lot. So, maybe I can't put as much elbow grease into as I could before. I think I'm going to do the hole poking thing... just not sure where exactly I should do that. Any advice? Top of the cap? I guess I"m more worried about it flying all over the place and being potentially hazardous.

I assume pouring it into any 1L bottle for stock developer should be fine.

 

[maddoc]

Same problem here, cap got stuck after about 10 times opening/closing ... brute-force helped but "modifying" the cap seems to be a good option ...

 

[kiss-o-matic]

So assuming I can't get it off, should I poke a hole in the lid and just empty it into a bottle I've got for mixing stock? I actually have a stabbing instrument, for lack of a better word.

BTW -- did you pay the crazy price it seems to demand in retail here?

 

[rolfe]

I think its not just DDX, it is ALL the Ilford bottles. You have to press down really hard and turn, but the problem is that as some liquid is used up, when you press down hard you are just collapsing the top part of the bottle.

Happened to me last week with a bottle of Ilford fixer. I understand the desire to child-proof the bottles, but I think the current solution is a bit excessive.

 

[Murray Kelly]

When all else fails I use the multigrips :-D
Child proof tops? The devil's invention. I often pull out the inner cap and use that alone. Having arthritis doesn't help.

 

[jammcat]

This happened to me with a bottle of Rodinal. I ended up cutting off the cap and transferring the remaining liquid to another, smaller bottle. No biggie.

 

[alienmeatsack]

I had the same exact issue with my DDX bottles when I used it. It was actually kind of infuriating. I'd make a special effort not to put the lid on too tight the previous use and it still would not come off.

I'd end up having to press the top down so hard to get the lid to grip and losen that I'd smash the top of the bottle in. I just did as others here said, I "opened via alternative methods" and poured it into another bottle to use. When I got DDX after that, I just put it into the new bottle first thing.

 

[StevenJohn]

The outer black cap can be taken off with pliers. I then use the pliers on the inner clear cover.

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Okay, at least I know it's not me. 🙂 Now to go buy yet another bottle.