I recently purchased a product called Orbit Bath, manufactured by TKO Chemical Co., because the bath/wash times sounded interesting. Haven't used it yet. The instructions indicate, after fixing, a 30 second bath in the working solution with agitation and 5 minute wash for film; and, after fixing, a 5 minute bath in the working solution and 5 minute wash for paper. Does this product really wash out of double-weight fiber paper in 5 minutes? What are the long term results and archival characteristics of this product? I use Kodak chemistry. Is it better than the standard fix-rinse-hypoclear-wash sequence? I don't know of a way to perform a practical longevity test. Has anyone out there tried this product? Results? Opinions? Are there any reliable test results that can be consulted? Thanks for any advice. David

-- David Silvan (dis@internet.com.mx), August 07, 2001

Answers

I've used Orbit bath, and treat it as if it were Kodak's Hypo Clearing Agent. No problems.

The film times are OK to use, but I invariably wash my film longer, since I use the wash time to clean up the darkroom and that always takes longer than 5 minutes.

The only time I'd use a wash as short as 5 minutes for paper is for RC. For FB, follow the HCA instruction. I doubt it can wash DW FB papers in 5 minutes.

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), August 07, 2001.

I've used Orbit Bath for about 30 years, but I've used it as if it was ordinary HCA, which is what it is. That means I give two or three minutes for film followed by a 20-30 minute wash and 10 minutes for paper followed by a one-hour wash in a decent washer. I just use Orbit Bath for convenience rather than mixing powder since I use a lot of HCA.

TKO has published those wash claims on the bottle for all this time but so far as I know has never made available any supporting evidence or documentation.

Somewhere or other I saw an MSDS for it; it contains sodium sulfite and sodium bisulfite...aka HCA.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), August 08, 2001.

Orbit bath is similar to all the other wash aids on the market (Kodak HCA, Permawash, ILFORD Universal Wash Aid). The ILFORD processing sequence recommends fairly short wash times for fiber based papers, but not quite as short as the times you mention. Critical parts of the ILFORD recommended sequence are that the fixer be non-hardening, and that fix times be kept to about 60-90 seconds. Use of a hardener, or longer fix times, will require more washing.

David Carper ILFORD Technical Service

-- David Carper (david.carper@ilford.com), August 10, 2001.