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plastic reels

rphenning

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
341
Location
California
Format
Med. Format RF
Well, just lost another 2 rolls of film to plastic reels. Spent close to an hour and a half trying to spool 2 different 35mm rolls onto two different reels and finally gave up / lost my mind. I am very angry. I tried a straight cut edge, rounded edges, going with the curl of the film, against, and nothing worked. The reels were bone dry. This is the sort of shit that makes me want to shoot digital again.
 
I know, buy metal reels. I can't. I got screwed by my employer and am so far in the red that a Matador could use me as a flag.
 
Which reels?

Patterson and Jobo reels need slightly different methods but with a little practice both aren't hard.

Take a roll and do it in the light until you think it's a natural motion. Then close your eyes and do it some more. Odds are with the lights on you've picked up some bad habits. So practice in the dark. Practice the way you play.
 
Did you tape the ends of the film together and roll it as one? Works for me
 
If they are Patterson with the ball bearings, ditch the bearings and try again. Those nasty ball bearings can prevent the film from moving onto the reel.
 
Krzys said:
Did you tape the ends of the film together and roll it as one? Works for me
Click to expand...

explain that a bit more?

Yeah they are patersons and they are incredibly fickle. Sometimes they work without a hitch, and like now sometimes they don't work at all. I cannot find a common denominator for when they don't work they just decide not to sometimes.

Really bummed out on blowing 2 rolls of film.
 
Try stainless reels. Much easier to load and clean. Reels and tank dry faster after washing and are easy to dry with cloth.
Volume of chemicals needed is less as well (250ml for 1, 450ml for 2 135 films).
 
Try NEW and UNBENT stainless steel spirals, preferably Hewes, available from Freestyle in your neck of the woods. Generic stainless steel with clips will expand your expletives vocabulary very quickly. Practise first, Arista 135 is only 2 bucks a roll, sacrifice a few unexposed rolls.

Regards - Ross
 
I don't have a problem with the Paterson reels. I used to have difficulty with 120 MF roll film in a changing bag, but in the darkroom, I remove the spool and the film loads beautifully. 135mm is not a problem. It is practice that makes a difference. How many times have you loaded these in the day time outside with a test film roll? Often, it is a slight change in angle that allows the leader to load. I keep the canister on 135 attached and hanging to allow enough tension to straighten the film and only pull out 6 inches or so, load that and then another 6 inches etc...then cut the canister off. It will be fine...K
 
Although I've got jobo plastic reels...I've found a solution for non-cooperative film: if the film can't be made to go further into the reel, I push the threads of film which are already on the reel a bit up-and-down. I do this at the area of the reel where you touch the side of the film with your finger to load the film into the reel (hard to describe nicely in words ).
This seems to loosen the film, and I can continue loading without a problem.
 
Until a few weeks ago, all of my reels were secondhand and my film loading efforts ranged from very easy to the type of frustration which leads you to invent new swear words.

I have recently bought a new Kaiser tank with two plastic reels. these reels have large tabs on the spiral entrance as guides and seem to work really well. I can get a whole 120 film onto the reel without using the usual twisting motion as it can be just pushed straight in.

I am going to try two 120 films taped together soon. My instinct is that it wil be o.k.


Steve.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have used plastic reels for over 40 years. They never give me any problems so long as they are clean and dry. Rinse the reel with HOT water and let it dry completely before loading film. Any fotoflo residue or any residue of any kind will cause the reels to bind. Plastic reels don't work well in changing bags due to the humidity that rapidly builds inside the changing bag as a result of the moisture from your hands. There are many threads on this site about the treatment of plastic reels in order to ensure proper functioning. After use, I rinse with hot water, and air dry.
 
I find that if the leading edge of 35mm is cut square-straight and between the sprocket holes it loads much more easily.
Having the edge of a sprocket hole on the leading edge causes the film to jam and twist and then i shout !
When rewinding the film back into the canister at the end of shooting try to leave a little bit of film poking out so you can pull this out and trim squarely between the sprocket holes.
 
Steel for me...

Dutchshooter came up with a solution that might work: if the film does not want to go any further, tap the reel gently to loosen it again.

Paterson reels have to be loaded with the little balls on top I think, so not horizontaly but verticaly.
I had my share of troubles with them though.

Peter
 
What I still don't understand is why people still use plastic reels when they have almost ZERO advantage over stainless and plenty of disadvantages.
 
My access to plastic was much better when I started doing my own development.
Plastic reel&tank were cheap.
The "trick" of loadings plastic reels is very simple, after 2 practic sesseions I loaded (and still load) a plastic reel in 30 seconds, with almost never any problem.
I thus don't see any reason to "upgrade" to SS
 
Where in Southern California?

I think I have some 35mm steel reels for you. PM me.

Steve
 
I often had trouble with paterson reels with bot 120 and 35mm but switched to AP plastic reels and not had a problem loading a reel since.
 
clayne said:
What I still don't understand is why people still use plastic reels when they have almost ZERO advantage over stainless and plenty of disadvantages.
Click to expand...

The learning curve on plastic reels is less steep. It still has a positive slope (as evidenced by the original poster's question) but it less so.

I can load a roll of 36 onto a plastic Paterson reel in less than 30 seconds once I have the film free of the cartridge. In fact, most times I can load it in a lot less time than that.

I will agree that with 120 film, metal reels are probably easier. I find 120 film slightly difficult to start in Paterson reels, but once it's in it's easy to load. It's a little easier to load onto metal reels.

The big reason I stick with Paterson reels is that I have a good variety of tanks, up to and including 8-roll tanks. The quick filling and draining of these tanks makes the big tanks practical.
 
I never had any problems loading my old Yankee reels. I crushed my right hand, so I bought a Paterson tank, and cant get it to load to save my life. Thank God I have a ton of stainless tanks and reels. Even with my dibilated hand I can load them with little trouble. I still have an old Yankee tank, alas, the reel is long gone--I wish I had another, I really liked it.
Rick
 
clayne said:
What I still don't understand is why people still use plastic reels when they have almost ZERO advantage over stainless and plenty of disadvantages.
Click to expand...

My plastic reels handle 35mm and 120. Can also handle 46mm/127. The same tank can take 4x5 .

A set of Hewes reels to handle just 35mm and 120 would have cost multiples of what I spent on my Jobo reels. Then when I bought all that surplus 46mm what would I have done? Plus the cost for new tanks to handle 4x5. Then new tanks to handle prints.

 
Unless you use your reels everyday, you may be better served by a daylight practice session just before going in the dark with the real thing.

That said, over the years, I have found plastic more problematic than SS. The Jobo plastic are the best I have ever used but given a choice, would choose SS for any size film, first.

I just got some Hewes and while they are nice, the Kinderman, Nikor, and many no names load just as easily. I guess once you get the hang of it, all SS is easy to load.

Again, try a practice session just before doing the real reel thing.
 
Oh, one more thing, after you can load ok in the daylight, do the same thing in daylight with your eyes closed. For some reason, you might be changing your method ever so slightly in the dark and this will help you to remain consistent.

Good Luck
 
What options are there for 127? My Jobo reels only adjust for 135 and 120/220.
 
Stainless steel Hewes reels have saved me so much trouble. I wish they'd use them in photo schools rather than the plastic stuff. I understand why they do it, of course: the plastic is cheaper, and wasted student time doesn't cost the school much. But I think a lot of students would come away with a slightly more positive view of DIY film development if they used the foolproof steel reels.
 
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