Missing the inner spindle part on my bulk loader

[Danny D]

Hello!

I have a couple of Watson bulk loaders, and today I noticed just one of them has the plastic part I outlined in this photo:

Now my hope is that this is a universal part, like type EE or U 35mm take up spools (?) or is it Watson bulk loader specific? Curiously enough almost none of the other loaders on eBay of this model come with this part.
So does anyone know what it is?

Thanks,
Danny

 

[Don_ih]

It's the core of a bulk roll of film.

 

[abruzzi]

that isn't part of the loader, its the spool that the last roll of film came with. Today, many bulk rolls don't come with a spool.

 

[Danny D]

Well I must be confusing things, because the 100ft rolls I have came on 2 inch cores - the thing I'm talking about is like half an inch across. The 2 inch cores fit right onto it. I guess I'll grab my darkbag and see what HP5 uses then, as that's what I'm using a second loader for. Case closed (? ) thanks.

 

[abruzzi]

Sometime we'd get movies shipped to us without the usual flanged reel. Instead, 2,000 ft of film would be spooled onto one of those things. We'd also always get trailers shipped to us on those things. I used to have hundreds of them lying around, but those were only 200-400ft of film, depending on the length.

 

[Disconnekt]

For the film core, if your local library has a 3D printer you can get one 3d printed there. I was able to find one on thingiverse (here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3843203) to use in my Alden-74 loader, it did come out bigger than the one in your photo but it fit in there in my loader just fine (used it to peel off 100' roll of film from a 400' roll of Kodak 50D a friend gave me)

 

[pentaxuser]

I once had a Watson and can't recall it having a separate piece in the middle which you describe

pentaxuser

 

[JerseyDoug]

The little spool in the OP's photo is an original part of the loader. It is removable because some bulk film rolls needed it and some didn't. All of my Watson loaders have them. Unfortunately they are missing from many of the loaders for sale on eBay. The Alden 74 came with one too. It is made of the same yellow plastic as the dials and the crank.

 

[JerseyDoug]

The other piece that is frequently missing from bulk loaders on eBay is the grey shim in the Watson 100 that is removed for using the loader with Leica FILCA cassettes. It should be in place for all other cassettes.

 

[Disconnekt]

For the film core, if your local library has a 3D printer you can get one 3d printed there. I was able to find one on thingiverse (here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3843203) to use in my Alden-74 loader, it did come out bigger than the one in your photo but it fit in there in my loader just fine (used it to peel off 100' roll of film from a 400' roll of Kodak 50D a friend gave me)

Here's a photo of the 3d printed 35mm film core in my bulk loader for reference, there is some wiggle room for the film in there if youre putting 100' rolls in there if you put film onto the film core.

 

[pbromaghin]

Why did this even go beyond a couple posts? It isn't part of the loader. It either comes with the film, or it doesn't. Either way it doesn't matter. The worst that can happen without it is the last couple inches of film get scratched, and they're part of the leader, anyway.

 

[Tel]

Hmmmm...that's a pretty exact replica of a Kodak Type U 35mm camera core. All 35mm motion picture camera films are supplied on these. I used to have a box with 50 or more of these I got from FPC division of Kodak. Editing cores are a larger diameter.