Barfen Re-usable Cassettes for Bulk Loaders

I have recently obtained a Watson bulk loader and several Barfen re-usable cassettes. They differ from the Jessops cassettes I have in that the inner spool has a half inch slot in the middle in which there is a white plastic insert that can be pushed out.

I think that you can cut the middle of the film leader to fit the slot and then push the white insert back in to hold the film. This makes it like commercial cassettes I have examined and avoids the need to tape the film to the outside of the spool.

However given the need to be sure that the film, if inserted this way, will be firmly held, I should be grateful if any one with experience of Barfen cassettes or others of a similar construction can comment on my assumption and provide advice.

As Jessops cassettes seem to have abandoned the practice of providing this central slot, it does make me wonder if the Barfen slot was an idea that was better in theory than practice and abandoned for that reason. On the other hand it may simply be that the Jessops construction is easier and cheaper to manufacture.

I now know that the cassettes were part of a photographic club that disbanded about 20 years ago so the cassettes are at least that old and may simply represent better construction that became the victim of the cost cutters as so many things have in the last 20 years.

Thanks

pentaxuser

Actually I don't understand the problem. Insert the cut film end, put that wedge, or how one would call it, back into place, apply some pulling force on the film and see what happens; try the same with the cassete inserted in the camera and a typical force applied via the advance lever. That should tell you whether it withholds the film end.
An other issue would be the quality of the velvet and the light tightness of the cap. If it is a srew on cap you could also secure it against turning off by means of an adhesive tape.

I have many cassettes with the centre white insert, they work beautifully. Virtually all of these cassettes I have with the centre insert, are at least 15 years old. Later cassettes I have purchased, no longer have the insert.

My experience is that they work very well, but, and there is always a but, you have to cut the centre piece of film carefully.

The cut has to be made in one clean arc, not a series of 1/4 cuts, somewhere along the way one of the films will tear at the join of two cuts.

I never took the white piece out, I just inserted the film in so that the taper would lock if the film was pulled.

I have had the odd film tear, always the tear was a result of not having a clean single cut, once the film was cut so thin, about 3mm wide, that it just broke.

One of my guiding principles of bulk loaded film, is that you wind on carefully, from about frame No.34. As soon as resistance is felt, meaning you have come to the end of the roll, one has to re-wind slowly.

Sometimes the MD12 on my FE2 tore the film as it came to the end. The MD4 on my F3 cameras has never torn the film, I think it's manufactured to a better standard.

These days I use book binding tape, which is (I think) identical to the tape that is used on sheet film holders for LF cameras. This tape is good in that it is extremely strong, pliable and never leaves a residue after being pulled off.

If I'm out in the sticks and don't have access to tape then I ensure that I carry the cassettes with the centre wedge!

Mick.