Loading heavily curled film onto developing reels

Carriage · Aug 4, 2015

I was loading a roll of 35mm hp5+ on a reel for developing last night and I had a hell of a time getting the last foot or so of the roll on to the reel. The film was strongly curled (as wound) and would jam up against the reel. I ended up using my little fingers to hold the spool away from the reel to straighten the film while I wound it on but still took a couple of goes and there's a decent chance I got fingerprints everywhere.

Is there a way to stop it curling so badly, is there some trick for loading it I'm not aware of or do I just need to practice? Post development I can deal with the curl, but leading it to develop was a real chore.

Gerald C Koch · Aug 4, 2015

What type reel, plastic or stainless?

Carriage · Aug 4, 2015

Plastic, but I'm fairly certain it's not the film that's already in the reel that's jamming, but the stuff still on the spool not wanting to unwind. I'll make a note to give them a proper clean and dry after I develop the film in any case.

Ronald Moravec · Aug 4, 2015

cut the corners off the edge that goes onto the reel first. 3./32 is enough.

If you have photo flow or color stab on the reel, junk it. Apply wetting agent to hanging film with spray bottle.

If you did all that, hold the reel in both hands chest high and let the reel fall gently and have the film tangent to entry ports on reel.

Change to stainless ASAP. Find some old Nikor reels, reel ones not generic

Pioneer · Aug 4, 2015

Why would you junk a reel because it was used with photo flo or color stabilizer? I have been doing this for quite awhile and never experienced any problems loading a reel that was clean and dry whether or not it was dunked in photo flo or not.

Occasionally I have experienced some grief while loading curled film (usually 120 roll film not 135) but that had nothing to do with the status of the reel. As previously mentioned, if I do have to pull a strip of film from a reel that just doesn't want to load I just trim a little bit off each corner (as previously mentioned.) So far this has never failed to work.

I tell you what. If you are tossing reels because they have been used with photo flo or color stabilizer send me a note first. I will happily send you a shipping label so you can send those offensive reels my way.

Carriage · Aug 4, 2015

Already trimmed the corners.

If you did all that, hold the reel in both hands chest high and let the reel fall gently and have the film tangent to entry ports on reel.

The problem I'm having is, is that this isn't possible. It's too tight around the spool the film came on. It doesn't hang.

Sirius Glass · Aug 4, 2015

You done didded good by using your fingers to hold the film back from the reel.

Pioneer · Aug 4, 2015

Have you tried pulling the film from the reel and loading it from the end first?

Carriage · Aug 4, 2015

Nope. Good idea. Might be a bit tight in a changing bag but should be worth a shot. Thanks

jeffreythree · Aug 4, 2015

I have some heavily curled, expired film I have been working with lately. I put it on the reel(plastic) straight from the unopened canister, pulling a bit out at a time and letting the weight of the canister tame it a bit. Reel it on, pull a bit out, reel it on, pull a bit out, until I reach the end and cut it loose.

Jon Shiu · Aug 5, 2015

I usually wash my hands before loading and haven't had any problems with fingerprints. The method I use is to push the film into the opening with my thumbs and let the roll lay up against the edge of the spool. In any case, keep your thumbs over the opening place where the film goes in to guide it from jumping out.

Jon

Xmas · Aug 5, 2015

I wash hands first - then use one smallest finger to unroll film from spool the others on spiral - when this fails normally with a foot or less remaining on spool - I unwind the film from spool and snip the end at the spool with the scissors.

So it is a problem with Ilford and other suppliers as 135 but less so with bulk reloads.

My Patterson spools are always in surfant, never clean them over 50 years or so, but always bone dry like from Death Valley at noon.

If the camara is a barnack clone with reverse curl it is simplest to not process it for 24 or more hours after rewinding to avoid the reverse curl.

zanxion72 · Aug 5, 2015

Fingers rarely cause loading issues on plastic reels. It is most likely that sweat from your hands cause trouble event to loading film on clean reels. A hint someone in here had given me in the past and it is working all the time is blowing the reel with a hair drier before loading up the film. Any moisture on the reel gets dried and the warm reel does not get any moisture from the sweating hands. Load the film as quickly as you can.

bsdunek · Aug 5, 2015

Pioneer said:
Have you tried pulling the film from the reel and loading it from the end first?

I use stainless steel reels, but this often works for me. The other thing to try is loading the film emulsion side out - that can help too.

Jeff Bradford · Aug 5, 2015

Try wearing surgical gloves to prevent finger prints and to keep film dry while handling.

jtcliff · Aug 5, 2015

My method evolved over years is to have hair dryer lying on the bench. I stand the spools in front of of a medium speed and medium heat for a minute or two before attempting to load film. I also cut the corners as mentioned above.
More recently, I have found that running your spools through the dish washer wash and dry cycle every so often is very beneficial.
Lastly see if you can find the infra-red goggles that Walmat May still sell as an alternative to the changing bag if you have dark room.The moisture generated by hands in a changing bag in a panic situation only makes things worse. Moisture, humidity is a no-no.

Moving to Arizona might be another solution.

Bob Carnie · Aug 5, 2015

Its probably pretty dry in your area right now, I have more trouble in the winter loading roll film when its really dry compared to right now when its really humid.

If possible see if you can humidify the room you are rolling in and let the film absorb some of it , may help.

Big problem for me .. Also old film can give he headaches.

just saw the above post... now you have exact polar opposite advice.

nosmok · Aug 5, 2015

To get reels really dry, stick them in the oven if you have a pilot-lit gas range. Those run about 120 degrees F with just the pilot light on, dries everything out really fast and well. Just don't forget to take them out before you bake! (learned this the hard way).

jtcliff · Aug 5, 2015

Interesting, Bob. Living in Michigan tends to preclude static electricity which probably causes "film cling" too. Here humidity and film are a pain. It is a work of art to get 35mm film strips into the storage pages.

I withdraw my suggestion to move to Arizona.
John

grommi · Aug 5, 2015

Incredible thread.

No one tried to bend the curled film heavily, almost folding, the first 2 or 3 centimeters (about 1 inch) against the curl, before spooling? Works always for me even with 15 years old curling-like-hell Efkes. No matter if I washed my hands or not

But if you are going to scan or enlarge the negs and the curl still exists, you are almost lost. By better films on acetate base.

Pioneer · Aug 5, 2015

HP5 is usually a pretty good film with limited curl problems. I am not sure how you buy better film?

I have wound the film backwards, against the curl, and put it back in the cannister for a day or two. But I have only had to do that a couple of times and not with Ilford films.

Loading heavily curled film onto developing reels

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