Bulk 35mm film - reel vs core

[wintoid]

Hi,

I've ordered myself a substantial quantity of Double-X, which comes on 400ft reels. To use it in bulk loaders, I need to spool it off onto 100ft reels. There's my problem. I have some cores from used bulk rolls of HP5, but I recall that Legacy Pro 400 used to come with a nice metal 100ft reel, which would do the job nicely.

So, my questions are:

1) Does any currently available 100ft bulk film come with a reel instead of a core?
2) Does anyone have some empty 100ft reels that they would be interested in parting with?

Thanks,

Simon

 

[MartinP]

If you can possibly find yourself a truly dark area for loading then I'd suggest not bothering with the bulk-loader. Things go much more quickly, you don't have an exposed 'tail' of film at the cassette and you can measure out your 64 1/2" between two nails in a piece of wood, or pegs in holes on your workbench etc. If you have a flat surface to work on then a piece of masking tape and couple of hardback books, or a pair of beanbags, will be fine for keeping the bulk roll under control. I used to load cine-film (only from 200' reels though) crouched in the loft, at night, using an old door as a work-surface - it was only later that I discovered bulk-loaders existed and then there seemed no reason to change a successful method.

Edit: I'd be curious to know if the XX is on centre-cores, open sided reels or daylight-load reels (solid sides).

 

[Pioneer]

My XX comes in a metal film can on a center core.

 

[frobozz]

You can pick up the "daylight spool" (solid side) metal reels pretty easily, but beware that they are a tight fit in some bulk loaders. For instance in a Lloyd's style loader, you have to not *quite* screw down the red knob all the way, or the ribs on the inside of the lid will rub against the metal spool and make it too hard to spin.

To do it the right way, you need a pair of rewinds, split reels (a 400' or bigger for the original roll of Double-X, and a 100' or bigger for the 100' spooled down roll), and some more cores for spooling on to. Those 1" cores from your HP-5 won't go on a split reel, so you'll need 2" ones. The above-mentioned method (two nails on smooth wood) can also be used to spool from the 400' roll to the 100' roll (even using your old 1" HP-5 cores) but it's tedious.

Duncan

 

[MartinP]

The two nails method I use(d) means simply to hook the loose end of film through the perforations with one nail, unwind the roll to the other nail, hook another perforation, cut the film, secure the reel, put the cut film on to a cassette spool using a pre-positioned piece of sticky-tape (along the side of the workbench, for example) while leaving the other end of the cut film under control with the nail, reinforce it on the spool with another piece of tape, roll up the film on the spool, unhook the end from the nail and put it into the cassette, close the cassette, repeat. I was not referring to re-rolling bulk reels on to smaller ones.

 

[wintoid]

Thanks for all the great responses. Any idea where in the UK I would be able to find split reels (and the 2" cores) or daylight spools?

Thanks,

Simon

 

[sepiareverb]

I use 35mm 100' Microfilm reels in my Lloyds bulk loader. They fit fine and are easy for respooling from the 400'. There's likely a UK supplier of these, perhaps a libraries supply house?

The Split reel does make things easier and keeps the film from getting away from one, I got one on ebay,

 

[btaylor]

Split reels and rewinds should be very cheap on ebay. I think they are usually thrown away these days. Not many people editing 35mm mp film.

 

[cmacd123]

It always pays to retain the "spool" anytime you get bulk film wound on one. The metal spools are sometimes called "eyemo" spools after the main camera that used them, or #10 spools which is how Kodak used to stamp them. If tying to buy some both of those terms may help in a web search.

The Legacy Pro film DID come on a 100ft spool which interestingly enough was Stamped "FUJI FILM"

In the Motion Picture world it is common for 100 ft loads to come on a spool, while 400 ft load typically come on a 2 inch core with a 1 inch hole in the middle. 1000ft loads may come on a 3 inch spool-again with a one inch hole. The One inch spools that Kodak and some other bulk film comes on are also handy to have as they fit the hole on the 2 inch Cores and allow the film to unwind freely without flopping around in the loader.

(TERMINOLOGY ALERT: A "spool" has solid sides while a reel has openings in the sides. hence 120 film comes on a 120 spool)

100ft 35mm Microfilm spools can be used if you can find a source of them they are almost identical to the movie film spools except they are often made of Plastic. The movie spools are generally of Metal to help keep Static down.

Some of the Smaller loaders will only have enough room for film wound on the 1 inch cores. I recall a data sheet that some of the Kodak Still Camera Colour bulk films were supplied on a 2 inch core at one time.

 

[Subversive Mk II]

Couldn't find 100ft empties, so made a couple from 0.45kg gasless welding wire spools. Cut out the centre, made a new centre from a short piece of pex pipe, and filled in the webs with polyurethane foam.
I'll be using them soon, will update with success or failure.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Sometime ago film manufacturers began selling 100 ft rolls without any reel or core. Such a device is really not necessary and reels may prevent some loaders from closing properly.. Use the board and two nail setup. Make a "spool" from the first few inches of film. If necessary use a bit of tape to hold the "spool" together. When handling bulk film you really need to use a pair of dust-free cotton gloves.

 

[Xmas]

If you can possibly find yourself a truly dark area for loading then I'd suggest not bothering with the bulk-loader. Things go much more quickly, you don't have an exposed 'tail' of film at the cassette and you can measure out your 64 1/2" between two nails in a piece of wood, or pegs in holes on your workbench etc. If you have a flat surface to work on then a piece of masking tape and couple of hardback books, or a pair of beanbags, will be fine for keeping the bulk roll under control. I used to load cine-film (only from 200' reels though) crouched in the loft, at night, using an old door as a work-surface - it was only later that I discovered bulk-loaders existed and then there seemed no reason to change a successful method.

Edit: I'd be curious to know if the XX is on centre-cores, open sided reels or daylight-load reels (solid sides).

5222 400foot centre core.