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Topic: Film-Tech Media pads

Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-19-2000 11:28 AM

Film Guard gurus, I need to know the recommended method of soaking the media rollers in film-guard. How do you do it? Do you use a small bowl? Spray it on? How? The directions I got aren't that clear, or maybe i'm just that simple and don't get it.. but either way, I finally got the media & assm'y & film guard for my booth and am ready to use it. I just need the recommended method from people in the field who are currently using it.

Thanks in advance...

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The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-19-2000 02:16 PM

What I do is start to wrap the media around the take up core in my hand so I have both the feed and take up cores in the same hand. Then I take the spray bottle and touch the tip to the feed roll and spray. You can see the media pad turn FG colored. I spray at different places around the circumference and then on the ends. I get them really soaked. Then I slide them on their respective spindles. If you don't hold the spray nozzle to the media it sprays all over the place. I get three passes with a 5 reeler and 2 passes with a 6 or 7 reeler.
Sometimes FG works too good. On my first application I tried FG on an old SciFi film from the late 50s. It had a number of black scratches. After a couple of passes the black scratches turned green! What had happened was the scratches were green the whole time but they had filed up with dirt. The FG cleaned them out and now they're green again. What an incredible difference the FG makes. The picture is much brighter and crisper and just plain cleaner looking.
It's amazing to see how much dirt there is on a film.

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut

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Larry Davis
Film Handler

Posts: 66
From: New York
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 12-19-2000 02:23 PM

Hi Jason,
Place the nozzle on the bottle of Film Guard against the pad. Spray it evenly so the whole pad absorbs the Film Guard evenly and completely. I soak one spot then move to another, until the whole pad is soaked. I followed the instructions to the letter and spray until a drop or two drips of the media pads. Make sure the notched ends of the pads face you when you put the pads on the rollers. This way rewinding is a breeze.
< Oops, I din't see Greg had answered you already. >

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 12-19-2000 08:18 PM

That's pretty much all there is to it. The only thing to make sure of is that you load up the dry pads on the cleaner and then press the tip of the sprayer against the pads to soak them. If you soak the pads before you load them onto the cleaner, your hands will be extra slippery for a few hours.

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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man

Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-19-2000 10:23 PM

Brad, what devices will your media pads fit? We are always looking for high quality booth products.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 12-19-2000 11:00 PM

Click on the "film cleaning" link below and you will see a picture of a standard Kelmar web media cleaner. That is the cleaner of choice and the exclusive one we recommend. Christie also used to make virtually the same product, so you may be able to find some of those on the used market.

Kelmar's web site is www.kelmarsystems.com

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-20-2000 08:11 AM

While we're on this topic....
In the box of pads are some black cores and the instructions say to wind the media onto the cores. I tried that once and it I was wondering what the suggested technique for this? Also after you run the pads through once can you flip them over and use the other side? So much dirt is coming of the film that I hate to rewind them and rub the same contaminated surface over the film.

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 12-20-2000 05:46 PM

The pads come with two extra cores simply for using them as "takeup" cores. If you are buying Film-Tech brand media, you do not need to bother with winding anything. If you are using another brand of media, you will need to use the cores that come with the bottle of FilmGuard to wind the media onto and the third to use for "coupling" them together for rewinding.

The media comes packaged without any special instructions and can be used wet or dry. The FilmGuard should have come with a very long two page instruction sheet. Did you get the instructions with your bottle?

You may reuse the same media over and over provided you are using FilmGuard on them. Don't bother with flipping them over. If you are running them (or any media for that matter) dry without FilmGuard, NEVER reuse the pads as you will scratch your films.

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-20-2000 06:48 PM

All I got was a single page instruction sheet. (both sides) I've had this kit for sometime and have just recently started to use it. As far as reusing the media... there's so much dirt coming off, I'd never run the same media over a film again. Even with FG, at least not at this point. I was just wondering if bith sides of the media are the same as far as texture is concerned. Is there and "A" side and a "B" side? Did the FG "kit" change since it was first distributed?

Wait, I just poped over to the FG page and answered my own question. I see the media is blue now, mine are white. Hmmmmm

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 12-20-2000 09:59 PM

I wouldn't even bother flipping sides, as the dirty side would just wind up against the clean side and spread the dirt anyway.

Email me a picuture of what you feel are "dirty pads" and I'll let you know what I think. If you are running older prints that were very dirty to begin with, you may very well not be able to reuse the pads. I've ran pads this dirty before with FilmGuard and no scratching whatsoever (and that's me being real damn picky about it too).

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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-21-2000 05:46 PM

I'm getting ready to screen one of our prints of Cast Away and will be using the FG on initial screening as recommended. I highly doubt that the one roll of media pads are going to last the entirity of the print as it's timed at 2:40 with trailers. I'll be using the blue FT media pads this go around as opposed to the white ones I have used already. FG has already been liberally applied to the media, so I should be good to go...

Will report back later when I get back home...

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The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!

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Josh Kirkhart
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 165
From: Austin/Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 07-16-2003 01:35 AM

Ok, went to a older post as it has the topic needed.

I have recieved my first box of Film-Guard media pads. According to the pictures in the product section, they have changed a bit as mine are a white-golden color, instead of blue. Although that is not my question, was just curious. The pad I recieved felt a bit silky and was wondering is this:

A- Just soft material?
B- Already Film-guarded?

I did not smell any film-guard and although the residue from Film-guard is very unique(in a benign way) I could not tell which was the reason. I didn't see this refered to in any way anywhere here, so I am sure its just 'cuddly' soft, but thought I'd check. I threw Film-guard on them anyway. Great products by the way.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 07-16-2003 01:39 AM

No pads currently come already FilmGuarded. It'd be pretty messy if they did.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-16-2003 02:19 AM

We switched from blue to white somewhere in 2001. People were complaining that the blue color made it harder to see the dirt on the media to judge when to change them out. Of course as soon as we changed to white, people complained they liked the blue color because when the blue turned a pale, light blue they knew it was time to change media or resoak the pads. Ya can't please everyone. [Wink]

Anyway, from your description it sounds like you got a box out of a recent case. We just started shipping a higher grade of media over the last month or two and due to a special arrangement with the manufacturer of the cloth, we were able to keep the price the same. I'm not sure exactly what the pricing is on the competition, but I do believe when a dealer buys by the case we are either the lowest cost, or darned close to it. Plus you get 16 cores in each box which can be recycled and redeemed for more, definitely making it the best deal on the market. Later on in the year I'll bring back the ever-popular manuals on cd collection via the recycling program. This time it will either be a 2 disc set or on a data DVD. Click here for info [Big Grin]

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Carl Martin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1424
From: Oakland, CA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 07-16-2003 05:35 AM

a little while ago when i was having beginners' trouble saturating my pads, i though it might be a good idea for them to be sold pre-soaked, in convenient lengths. they'd have to be individually wrapped, which would be ecologically insensitive, and the end would have to poke out to keep it dry for taping.

i've been more successful lately with my soaking. i do it before loading the media onto the cleaner, as it's easier to get all around the roll, and it seems to help if i keep the bottle vertical. i'm not entirely sure if that's a factor; i'm finishing up my first bottle and it may have a dodgy sprayer.

i'm still not too happy with the scotch magic tape i'm using. it'll hold if i make sure i wrap 2 revolutions of media around the takeup spools, but it could be better. the tape that comes attached to the film-tech pads seems good. what brand is that?

the media in brad's picture above seems to have an odd honeycomb texture. is that an older variant?

carl

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