Cinema Product Reviews
Neumade 35SS tape splicer
Manufacturer: Neumade Products
Rating: A+
Reviewed July 2003 by Brad Miller
Here is the benchmark tape splicer of the industry. No other
splicer makes as good of tape splices as this one. This splicer doesn't
really need much description, as anyone who has ever used one (that wasn't
damaged, of course) knows you can do no better. Let's look at a few
of the key features.
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The handle forms a nice loop making it effortless to carry without dropping.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this splicer is harder to
drop when carrying it around the booth than a typical guillotine type of
splicer simply due to this handle design. It also provides a better
grip when punching the splice.
-
The cutting blade doesn't have that foolish spring action like many cheap
splicers do. When you have finished making the cut, the blade remains
in the downward and safe position, rather than in a position that could
draw blood.
-
The punching assembly is top notch. Perforations are punched effortlessly
and accurately. The cutting blades are also easily aligned to ensure
that the finished splice does not have any overhang of the tape.
-
The splicing tape holder is mounted in the rear. Splicing towards
you is much easier to achieve a perfect splice with than splicing away
from you. Examples can be seen in the Splicing
Tips page in the Tips Warehouse.
The registration pins are comfortably located a perforation away from
the edge of the tape. This allows the operator to smoothly rub their
thumb (or finger) over the film to ensure a perfect splice without the
pins getting in the way or preventing the edges of the tape from properly
adhering to the film.
Now let's look at the negatives:
-
If the splicer is launched from a spinning platter, upon finishing it's
flight the handle may suffer damage. But then again, that's an operator
error, not a design error.
-
After a certain amount of abuse, the feet may come loose. Of course
this is quickly fixed with replacement feet at a cost of about $2 at any
office supply store.
-
The splicer can only hold about 18,000,000 splicing tape perforations in
the compartment underneath. Of course cleaning it out is effortless
and the cover prevents the little bits of tape from invading your projection
booth (unlike other undesirable splicers), so this really should belong
in the "positives" list above.
Neumade recently started to have a knock-off of this splicer manufactured
in the USA. Upon the switch the quality control took a noticeable
drop. As of the publishing of this review Neumade still sells both
the Japanese made version and the American made version. So
make sure you check with Neumade before ordering to ensure you are buying
the Japanese version of the splicer as it is a much higher quality product.
(Tip: the Japanese splicer will have a "SOMAR" stamp on it from the
manufacturer.)
Bottom line: You can do no better than a Neumade 35SS tape
splicer.
-Brad Miller
Neumade may be reached at www.neumade.com
Brad Miller is that guy who runs this web site. He runs an independent
engineering service company by the same name of "Film-Tech" and the company
also manufacturers film cleaning products, notably FilmGuard. On
the side and for fun, he has always kept a projectionist position at a
local theater because "A: I love it and B: it gives me a chance to test
and demo my film cleaning products in real life situations".
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