Removing Chemical Stains

[Dave Jenkins]

I stashed my darkroom stuff in my son's garage about 15 years ago when I switched to digital photography. Last week I brought it home with the intention of cleaning it up and selling it.

I have quite a few Unicolor plastic film reels and various sizes of enlarging trays, all with some chemical stains. I don't think they do any actual harm, but I'm sure my stuff would sell more readily if I could get the stains off.

Any suggestions?

 

[Darthfeeble]

Likely they won't be able to be cleaned, plastic absorbs to a certain degree. Try an Oxyclean solution to soak them in.

 

[Dante_Stella]

They used to make HCL or H2S04 “tray cleaner,” but it was seriously nasty stuff. Not worth it.

 

[leicapixie]

Sell a darkroom! LOL.
Best bet donate to a young film lover.
Cleaning stains is possible, but plastic is kinda porous.
Think of a mesh with opening slightly smaller than water droplets..
Steel reels easy, with hot water, vinegar or stronger cleaners.

 

[BLKRCAT]

I found that my silvery patterson reels came out nice and white after I did a roll of C41. Maybe the blix has something to do with it?