4x5 Cutting jig

[peter_guo1]

Good evening.

Any suggestions or tips of how to cut large roll of film(5''x500'') into size 4x5. Or experienced making a jig...

I know 4x5 is actually smaller, so I probably need to trim it twice along each side.

 

[koraks]

Fashion some kind of holder for the roll. Line it up with a rotary trimmer. Line that up in turn with a stop that you set at the required 4" length.
This is essentially how I cut RA4 color paper for a couple of years. Works quite well.

I know 4x5 is actually smaller, so I probably need to trim it twice along each side.

You can most likely get away with leaving them 5" long in the long side, and just cut the individual sheets from the roll to the 3.9" (or whatever it is exactly) correct width. There's very little margin for error in the width as the film won't slot into the holders unless they're pretty much exactly of the correct width, but length-wise, there's a slight fudge-factor.

 

[MCB18]

5” wide film is 125mm in width. Cut to 99mm length and you have perfect 4x5. I just put the roll on a holder and use a Rototrim with a stop at 99mm. Then just cut cut cut. I also have a corner punch gig to make the notch.

 

[blee1996]

I guess you are one of us who bought those large rolls and enjoy working in the dark.

I will recommend the Fiskars rotary paper trimmer. I normally use a craft/popsicle wooden stick as the stopper, fix to the base board with double-sided tape. In your case, at 99mm. This way, you will be safe and efficient in the dark. Make sure the table has large enough surface area in your totally dark room.

For my own use, I typically don't bother with edge marking. Since the sheets are from big old rolls, they always have this natural curl towards the emulsion side. But clipping off one corner is always a good practice.

One warning though: those roll films typically have thinner base than regular 4x5 sheet film. So it could cause problem in loading/unloading the film holder, as well as developing (e.g. use Mod54). They might pop out at unfortunate times.

 

[peter_guo1]

5” wide film is 125mm in width.

So that means I don't need to worry that side.

 

[peter_guo1]

Fashion some kind of holder for the roll. Line it up with a rotary trimmer. Line that up in turn with a stop that you set at the required 4" length.
This is essentially how I cut RA4 color paper for a couple of years. Works quite well.


You can most likely get away with leaving them 5" long in the long side, and just cut the individual sheets from the roll to the 3.9" (or whatever it is exactly) correct width. There's very little margin for error in the width as the film won't slot into the holders unless they're pretty much exactly of the correct width, but length-wise, there's a slight fudge-factor.

Thanks for the infos, I will set every thing up, and waiting for my roll.

 

[peter_guo1]

I guess you are one of us who bought those large rolls and enjoy working in the dark.

I will recommend the Fiskars rotary paper trimmer. I normally use a craft/popsicle wooden stick as the stopper, fix to the base board with double-sided tape. In your case, at 99mm. This way, you will be safe and efficient in the dark. Make sure the table has large enough surface area in your totally dark room.

For my own use, I typically don't bother with edge marking. Since the sheets are from big old rolls, they always have this natural curl towards the emulsion side. But clipping off one corner is always a good practice.

One warning though: those roll films typically have thinner base than regular 4x5 sheet film. So it could cause problem in loading/unloading the film holder, as well as developing (e.g. use Mod54). They might pop out at unfortunate times.

In that case my finger is saved in the dark.

 

[peter_guo1]

One warning though: those roll films typically have thinner base than regular 4x5 sheet film. So it could cause problem in loading/unloading the film holder, as well as developing (e.g. use Mod54). They might pop out at unfortunate times.

This should be fine, I've load kodak 3412 which is 0.06mm in the dark. Took me almost half hour to get it in to the tank. Never wanna try that again

 

[MCB18]

This should be fine, I've load kodak 3412 which is 0.06mm in the dark. Took me almost half hour to get it in to the tank. Never wanna try that again

Yeah, this is why I do not offer IR 200 in sheets. If I ask nicely, Astrum will cut it in sheets, but it is ultra thin and I have no doubt that a lot of people would be very unhappy with it. I gave some to my friend who says that it was not fun at all to load, and the two that he did load he ended up creasing a bunch, so the results weren’t very good.