|  IP: Logged

I have done some extensive tests (and am still testing on the quest of perfect presentation).

How fast you go is not as big an issue as you might think. I have varied the speed of the rewind bench from about 15% to about 50% (using 4500' reels with 8" hubs) to try and induce a scratch...so far, safe at 50% out to about a 21" diameter pack (the film is booking through the cleaner). I run it slower because _I_ am not comfortable with it at that speed. My policy has been 20% on the first pass (the application pass) and 30% thereafter until fresh media/film-guard is applied.

The liklihood of scratching, I have found, is a function of the cleaner vintage (old chain drive vs new newer machined gear drive) and the media itself. The older cleaners are more fussy about which media will yeild scratch free results. This is true for on the rewind bench, on the platter or on the projector cleaner mounting.

Steve

I have been away from a booth for 11 years, when I left we were still running reel to reel and carbon arcs. So any help with all this "new" stuff is greatly appreciated.

It will cost you around $500 to get one unit and film guard, and possible three additional brackets.

Use the cleaner on build up, and rotate the cleaner through the week as the prints run. It will give you impeccable performance and your customers will notice.

I would sell blood if I had to to get the cleaner. In a theater, you really can't live without it, and still have great presentation.

Customers don't notice when its perfect, and dont say anything until it starts to suck...

And they notice when it sucks!

I take it you're applying during rewind, after making up onto a 6k reel? Or is it OK to apply to each reel as you're building/inspecting?

And I take it that two passes/applications are needed? Like once during building (if that's OK), and again during rewind?

Cheers!

As to a platter theatre such as yours, most people clean their film while showing the movie. That is, you should either have a platter mount (Crown's standard) or a projector mount film cleaner bracket.

Steve

I hand apply FilmGuard to 16mm prints for the wet-gate properties and scratch protection, and the best way I have found, if you don't have a Kelmar machine, is as follows.

I thread up the film on the rewinds with a high rewind tension, using a split reel as the takeup reel. I give each side of the film pack about two full spray shots of FilmGuard, spreading it as evenly as possible. Then I spray one shot onto a coffee filter, fold the coffee filter once around the film as it passes through the rewinds, and hold the filter between three fingers, so that the wetted paper contacts both side of the film evenly as it passes through. Filter paper is lint-free, great at absorbing dirt, and, when saturated with FilmGuard, it's so slippery that it won't scratch the film. Coffee filters are also about as dirt cheap a cleaning media as you will ever find.

Next I wind the film onto the takeup reel. I probably wind at 5X projection speed. The filter paper acts as a buffer, evenly spreading the FilmGuard onto both sides of the film. I watch the filter paper and when it starts to get dirty, I refold it to expose clean paper to the film.

Once the film is completely wound tightly onto the split reel, I separate the split reel and wipe both sides of the cored film with a clean, dry cloth to absorb any excess FilmGuard that may have been squeezed out during the wind.

I let it sit for a little while at this point, to allow the FilmGuard to dissolve the dirt, but I don't know if that is really necessary.

Next, I rewind the film back onto the original reel, using a new, coffee filter slightly moistened with FilmGuard. This is where the dirt really comes off. If Im still getting dirt on the second pass, I'll sometimes make more passes, until the coffee filter comes out clean.

Once the film is rewound, it's ready for projection. Did I say CLEAN? The base scratches disappear. The dirt is gone. Unless the film has emulsion scratches, the image is generally about as close to perfect as you can get. I LOVE the stuff. The only problem I've ever had is that the sprayer mechanism died halfway through the bottle, and I had to replace it. Other than that, no problems at all. It even smells nice.

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

Here's a dirty, worn frame from an unknown silent movie on kodak 1917 stock:

A quick wipe on both sides with a filmguard wetted cotton ball ...

Ahh! Much better.

Afterwards, I wiped off the filmguard with fast-drying film cleaner.

BTW, anyone recognize any of the actors?

Then I wound it back onto 2000' reels and ran it through the Kelmar to clean it up. Although there is a sleight warp to the first few hundred feet of reel one,(the overture) the rest of the warping is gone and I am very happy with the results.

Of course the vinegar is still there and I keep these four reels seperate from the rest of the print.

The results were amazing. The day before projection we ran each reel seven times through a series of cloth rags (no cleaner availabe to us at the time). When the print hit the screen that night for preview, it was friggin amazing. Not a speck of dust or a scratch in site.

As for the vinegar, it was faint but not too noticable after the film guard. The reason we didn't just get a different copy was that this particular film had no other copies available at the time and we did not want to cancel the showing if we didnt have to.