Hi Bob
Do you have experience with brittle or wrinkled film? The web sites for
Vitafilm say it can rejuvenate a bad film so that it can be projected
again (scanned in my case).
Shai
On 7/30/2010 4:08 PM, Robert J Hodge wrote:
> Hi,
>
> To be perfectly clear from the onset, I have no financial ties to Vitafilm! It's just what I started out with and have found no reason to change.
>
> My cleaning agent of choice is Vitafilm, but I know many people who also work with film, whether nitrate, di or triacetate, cellulose acetate or polyester all have their favourite cleaning/processing agents- I.E. Renovex, Filmrenew.
>
> I have used everything from a clean lint free cloth moistened with the cleaning agent, to immersion, to a Neumade film cleaning machine for this. Immersion is done for 24 hours after which the film is removed and the agent allowed to permeate, and the stock to absorb the remaining fluid in a closed can for 2-3 months. This restores flexibility to the most dried out stock.
> Cleaning without a cleaning machine requires turning the cleaning cloths (PLURAL!) many times to avoid scratching either the picture element or optical soundtrack from the dirt the cloth removes. I've no room for cleaning machine in the house and I don't handle enough film to make it economically feasible.
> Neumade produced some small bench top film cleaning devices, but they aren't much better than the constant change of cloth technique I presently use.
>
> The 16 or 35 mm mag stripe or fullcoat that I've worked with has never suffered from deterioration after being cleaned.
> Some 8 mm mag stripe used adhesive to bond the stripe to the film after it was processed, so I would use a piece of test strip beforehand!
>
> However, Vitafilm will dissolve the adhesive used for tape splices or plastic reels or cans. I put the film on either metal reels with a metal hub (some are plastic) or on a metal core in a metal can to avoid this. It doesn't harm well made cement splices in any way. But of course if those splices were already coming apart for whatever reason, it will not repair those!
> And despite the claims of the manufacturer, and as much as I would like to believe otherwise, I have my sincere doubts about their claim that it reverses vinegar syndrome or stops nitrate decomp. It seems to me that proper storage is just about the best thing one can do to slow it down.
>
> I have no experience with the other film cleaning agents.
>
> I'm sure others will ring in on this. I just know my methods work for me and I've yet to scratch or damage something using them.
>
> Bob Hodge
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anton Hagop
> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 1:16 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Cleaning magnetic sound film
>
> This is a general call for information from list members about how they
> are approaching the problems involved with preparing magnetic sound film
> for preservation and copying. Most members would be aware that magnetic
> sound film is particularly prone to the ravages of a range of chemical
> processes such as vinegar syndrome and binder breakdown, and presumably a
> number of institutions have developed their own techniques to address the
> various problems these conditions can cause. We would be very interested
> in learning about experiences and experiments that preservation
> practitioners have encountered in dealing with these problems on 16mm,
> 17.5mm and 35mm. Are people finding that painstaking manual application is
> the only way to get the best possible results when cleaning magnetic film,
> or have some clever list members devised their own machinery to solve the
> problem. Are list members aware of off-the-shelf equipment that does the
> job effectively? Any information would be gratefully received.
>
>
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