Second hand reels and tank. I'm back

Yesterday i got my package delivered. I found a guy online who'd sell me a 120mm reel for R$35 which is a fair price. He also had at least one 35mm so I told him I'd keep both. I actually said something like "listen mate. I need it and need it for yesterday. Don't really care the price tag just tell me how much & send me the gear."
He's done so and now I've got: 2-tanks;  1-120mm  & 3-35mm reels. :-)
More than I need but......at least I will be able to resume works. Innit?!

Spools - reel

So...bought the reels yesterday. On the mail.

Keeping up with my cost informing the whole thing plus courier came to R$122.00
Decente price for one tank - three 35mm reels - one 120mm reel and overnight shipping. Second hand goods in great state and since i now have two tanks i may sell one to recover some money!
Cheers

Developing Tank Arrived today. Hurray!! But not quite...

Disappointent--------

So just got my dev tank by mail today morning, after 2 months trying to get the hold of one. It's cute, small - fits in on hand. BUT it came without the reel!!! Quite disappointing....I checked before buying and was really certain the reel would come with it.
So I'll try today without it, just placing the film in whatever manner it comes into de tank and see what my results will be. I JUST CAN'T wait any longer.....
Will be trying to get a reel for the future.
Now, it's time to finally start Caffenol-ing

cheers

Photos:

The package:

The Box

The tank: opening the the chemicals and parts apart

Washing Soda - At last!

GOOD FRIDAY !

Right. Got back from the market with my pots and coffee (instant) yesterday - even posted about it.
Now this morning I woke up and took a trip to the stove to destroy a few of my wife's kitchen utensils. That, was not the original idea........believe me......

Main idea here: one can successfully turn sodium bicarbonate into sodium CARbonate (washing soda) by heating the baking soda which releases teh second "C" (from teh BIcarb) leaving a mono C....Carbonate. Tadah.
I bought two small 100g 100% pure bicarbonate pots at the local pharmacy near work. Paid quite a lot (R$ 7.40 each) and for sure I won't be using that place ever again!!!

Before I continue I will offer a word of advice. Don't be too stupid in the kitchen ok. Mind that things burn and melt ;)
I, somehow yet to be established, managed to melt the teaspoon measure, make two holes in of my new pots (the small red one) and deform its bottom, and burn the end of a silicon spatula. So beware of idiots in the kitchen; and if you're one yourself, have an adult come take care of you......

I had now less than 100g in the pot because I'd been testing if my washing soda was indeed soapier than the original pot content (baking soda). Let's call it from now on WS and BS, respectively ok....

So things to test for:
-WS weighs LESS than BS. by some 20%.
-WS has less volume than BS, so you'll end up with less in the pot than you started with. I'm counting on less than 20% loss....
-WS is indeed soapier (by a lot). BUT it makes NO FOAM okay. That's detergent.
-WS  will form a few big clusters of powder when cooking
-WS will turn out a very thin powder
-It smells strong and sour when WS starts to change so you'll know easily when the process starts (and works).
-WS dissolves really well (nothing shows up) in water

I let the pan on medium-high flame for some 10 min at least. It's good to be sure that all the BS turned into WS.
Mix the stuff from time to time. Again, use a silicon spatula or a wooden stick
Put a lid on to make things hotter inside the pan and have your WS quicker.

Nothing else of importance to mention here.
But
I put the WS inside the BS original pot, because it was tight and had a screw-on lid. WS in contact with air and moisture (air) will eventually trun back into BS !!
I cooked the WS in two batches and used a funil to put the resultng WS into the BS pot. BTW I placed all BS in the red pot before starting...

Great stuff. I'm stopping here.

Below a pic of the little frying pan I used. BS pot and dissolving some residual WS from the pan. Clear water.

Easter shop. Sea salt and instant soluble coffee.

The truth that Carrefour queues are kilometric are carved in stone. Why did I come to this place....during Easter holiday eve??
Well. Shopping list amongst my wife's regular stuff: cheap instant coffee and some sea salt for fixer.
Pimpinela Tradicional coffee. Huge glass 200g. Apparently it s a 200 cups jar of coffeelitious worthiness. R$ 11
Cisne sal. Sea salt for sure. Iodine in too. Multiwashed whatever that means
Very white fine to med crystals. R$ 1.50 1Kg.
I checked a jar of 100% pure Vit-C for .... guess....Brasil....R$99.90.....yep gptta love this country.
Ah!!! Almost forgot. I also bought three clear plastic containers to mix everything up and concoct the solution. They al have measuring rings on them so i can get rugh equivalences in ml. The big one is for the fixer and goes over 2L. The two others are 400ml. They all have lids so i can shake when needed. About R$8 and 3.
Pics below

Turning Baking Soda into Washing Soda with a frying pan ... (First attempt ever)

Yep....the title tells it all. But since this is my first-ever blog, blog post and subject I reckon I should add some history for starters....

I love photography and am a geek, so one can imagine I have a serious interest in lens math, techy details and so on. Digital was not enough because it's too easy, too perfect and comfortable so I had to try out something harder. My grandad's Rollei, 60yrs old 120mm in great shape. After a few go's it stopped working. Why not, right....I'm not the luckiest bean on the can so I took it to the repair shop and, when it came back, one word: WOW. Loved it. It's perfect, works great. It was almost mint for a 60y old bird but now....
So here I am. Shooting with my granpa's camera has a special sensation to it, being the 3rd generation shooter.

Next step buying some film. Next over....problem....what the hell how am I going to develop this crap!?!
Days on the net looking for options the final answer came to me as a bonus. Doing it myself, at home.
Challenges: lots of chemicals. I don't like chemicals....big problem but cutting short I came 'round Caffenot and suddenly my problems seemed to disappear. Or did they.... The first big issue (second if compared to the frigging fixer but let's forget about that bastard for now, shall we) was the blooming sodium carbonate.
Let me explain you something. I live in RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (yep, samba, beach, Christ the Redeemer, pagode, funk, pickpockets, favelas and so on) and apparently, for such disorganised place chemicals are quite well regulated and hard to find.... (do you remember I hate chemicals....something to do with flunking Chemistry perhaps.) and then I can't get washing soda and thiosulfate that easily. Drastic measures were needed, I had to find a way around it. And quick...I was shooting my third roll of film already and the fourth and last was soon to be called upon.

Looong post, introdution lets go to what really matters.
I shall be registering here my steps attempting Caffenol, entirely green and home made developer, and also, substitutes for fixers. Soon to come but already onto it!

TODAY, first day at all.

Got home with 100g of pure baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), placed 1 tsp on a frying pan and tried to turn it into sodium carbonate, this nasty blite that one can't do without for Caffenol. People really try and scare you off using baking soda instead, saying you'll lose your negs (and get forever cursed) if you do it (baking soda). The internet (flickr) was particularly helpful to provide info about this. So check this link if you're just starting: http://www.flickr.com/groups/33051635@N00/discuss/72157623206385484/#comment72157629741968069

I allowed it to fry for a couple minutes to do the test. Apparently you should see kind of volcanos erupting, plus a bad smell. Remember, baking soda + heat = washing soda + CO2 (Stop bitching I told you I flunked Chem...)
Safe. No explosion. You can also try it at home! Smells bad but nothing horrible.
The test consists of rubbing some of the aftermath with water in your fingers. It should be very soapy now if it is sodium carbonate (washing soda), just like soap. So I did it and then compared to water + baking soda. There was a BIG difference. Bingo! I hope.

Ending here. Long post... Next step making a bigger batch of washing soda.