(Century w/turret and Speco LP-270 platters)

When you examine the film, there's a narrow strip of abrasion on the 'inboard' edge of the film, just inside the sprocket holes. It's only about 1/8 inch wide.

I've checked the roller alignment and there's nothing scraping the film. I've also checked the proj. itself for burred rollers or out of line film path. (I check all rollers every month or so PLUS quick checks every morning.)

Only thing I can guess is somethng in the platter's brain, or maybe the trap is somehow scuffing the film.

Our platters have the 'old' kind of brains without the guard rollers around the outside. (Like Potts/Strong brains)
They've been a pain in the butt since day one.

The reason I say maybe the gate is scuffing is because that happened on another proj. It used to have a major 'dandruff' problem. It looked like it was running IB-Tech even when it wasn't! (That was fixed long ago.)

Thanks for any help!

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Running soundtrack down puts the emulsion on the abrasive side! I think what you had Rick was a fluke and nothing more. I'm not so certain it is on the platter anyway. The only way a SPECO could scratch film would be if there was a misaligned roller or if the film got caught in the brain and dropped down in between the two small rollers that fit together (just after the feed arm). The only other idea I have on that is the secondary roller, just after those two sandwiched rollers. As you've probably no doubt seen, the film will straighten up and almost lock in a straight flat position as the SPECO brain pulses between on and off, commonly forcing a little extra film through the other end of the brain. When it tightens back up, it might be jumping that second roller.

Personally, I always skipped that roller as not threading around it added just a touch more of tension and provided a protection roller, similar to a Strong platter's brain for startups, since the SPECO platters always wrap a full time at the start of each show. (By the way, I'm referring to the older SPECO non-removable brains.)

The only way running a print soundtrack down would make a difference is if the last roller in the chain was precisely mis-aligned just perfect enough so it would just barely scratch on the edge of the film...BUT when you flipped it, it would've been causing severe emulsion scratches to the soundtrack! Look at the odds here. That must've been something else as it wasn't the soundtrack down thing.

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Assuming all the platter rollers are freely turning and there is nothing projector related causing a problem, there are only a few places where a SPECO (older model) could possibly cause a scratch.

#1 Everyone knows that the large roller in the brain is darn near impossible to get to spin. Running soundtrack up puts the base side on it with no damage, whereas running down puts the emulsion on it laying light scratches the SDDS and SRD tracks! Granted the tension here is very minor so this is usually not a problem for awhile, but will show up on prints after a few months. Yeah, that's a good idea. Who cares about digital sound anyway?

#2 Everyone knows the SPECOs can't get fully up to speed upon startup and a full wrap around the brain always occurs. Well, if your soundtrack is down on the platter, you've got yourself nice wavy emulsion scratches for up to the first 30 seconds of your first trailer! Hmmm, a nice way to start the show. First impressions, remember?

#3 Look at the two (now 3) stationary rollers at the top of the elevator. Let's say the projectionist misses one of them or during threading the film pops off of one of them. Well, if it falls off away from the platter, the failsafe will not allow the machine to run. However, if it falls in the direction of the shaft, you're running soundtrack down and taking into account the high tension of the takeup...you'll get horrible emulsion scratches running vertically thorughout the print! Wouldn't that make for a fantastic presentation? It's happened and is very easy to do.

#4 Take a look at the last roller in the chain. In the mid to late 80s there was a retrofit for this roller assembly so the operator could pull a knob and release the entire roller shaft to move to another deck. This metal is made out of extremely flexible material and is very easily bent. If it is bent just a little bit too far down, and you're running soundtrack down, then you've got yourself glorious diagonal emulsion scratches! Wow, just sounds too good to be true, eh?

And if that isn't enough, I've personally been studying the effects of winding emulsion in vs. emulsion out for many years. All of my findings clearly result in winding emulsion out on ALL polyester prints. But don't take my word for it, nor the very, very old SMPTE recommendations, conduct experiments for yourself.

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