What's the material of weight bar in weighted film hanging clips?

newtorf · Feb 2, 2014

I have a set of Arista stainless steel film hanging clips, one is weighted with a small metal weight bar. I am curious what's the material of the weight bar. Is it made of lead? Thanks!

Freestyle URL of the clips is here:

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/66361-Arista-Stainless-Steel-Film-Clips-2-pack

cjbecker · Feb 2, 2014

I would assume so. Take something like a paperclip and see how soft the material is.

summicron1 · Feb 2, 2014

just use regular wooden clothes pins. Hold the end just as down, cost less.

Newt_on_Swings · Feb 3, 2014

It probably is lead, as that would be cheapest. If its soft its lead, if its hard it could be tungsten. Like summicron says, the wooden clothes clips work fine. I take apart and flip mine around so they are more precise.

Rick A · Feb 3, 2014

It's a small piece of steel. Don't bother second guessing me, I just checked mine with a magnet.

newtorf · Feb 3, 2014

I did some measurement yesterday, basically the weight and volume. The density is very close to lead.

timor · Feb 3, 2014

Different makers, different material. I have both types.

mfohl · Feb 3, 2014

If you're going to use clothes pins, I would recommend plastic over wood. The wood might bleed. The plastic ones are also probably easier to find (new) and cheaper.

AgX · Feb 3, 2014

newtorf said:
I did some measurement yesterday, basically the weight and volume. The density is very close to lead.

I always thought I was a curious guy. But you have beaten my curiosity by lenght.

I guess you not actually expected depleted Uranium in your clips...

gleaf · Feb 3, 2014

Mine are lead weighted. Until I went fancy I was a plastic cloths pin guy. If you really want to have lead I have about 5 feet of 5/8 inch soft lead rod left from another project.

jochen · Feb 4, 2014

The best would be DU (depleted uranium), from the penetrator of a 120 mm M-1 Abrams shell, spec. gravity 19.16 g/ccm; lead has only 10.34.

GarageBoy · Feb 4, 2014

Side note: where do you guys hang up your negs?

shashinzukuri · Feb 6, 2014

I hang mine from the shower curtain rail, using stainless steel binder clips from The Arthur Platt Company. A piece of twine through the clip arms will hold the top one up.

Their SSB-2 clips are just right for hanging 35mm, and their SSB-3 clips are just right for hanging 120. A couple of the ones I ordered don't quite clamp down hard enough to hold on to a wet roll of film, so I had to Plasti-Dip those to make them just slightly grippier. In general, though, I think they're much superior to the regular film clips, since they grip the whole width of the film (vs one point in the middle) and they're heavy enough that I haven't had any film curl to deal with since I switched. Doran clips are the only other ones I've seen that grip the whole width (only for 35mm) and they cost $10 for a two pack vs $3.46 each or less. By the time you've got enough for your darkroom, you've saved enough to buy a roll of film or two to hang between them!

Newt_on_Swings · Feb 6, 2014

I got like a plastic sock hanger with multiple clips spread out evenly. I usually hang them wherever I have space later at night so people don't walk through it.

AgX · Feb 7, 2014

shashinzukuri said:
I hang mine from the shower curtain rail, using stainless steel binder clips from The Arthur Platt Company. A piece of twine through the clip arms will hold the top one up.

Their SSB-2 clips are just right for hanging 35mm, and their SSB-3 clips are just right for hanging 120. A couple of the ones I ordered don't quite clamp down hard enough to hold on to a wet roll of film, so I had to Plasti-Dip those to make them just slightly grippier. In general, though, I think they're much superior to the regular film clips, since they grip the whole width of the film (vs one point in the middle) and they're heavy enough that I haven't had any film curl to deal with since I switched. Doran clips are the only other ones I've seen that grip the whole width (only for 35mm) and they cost $10 for a two pack vs $3.46 each or less. By the time you've got enough for your darkroom, you've saved enough to buy a roll of film or two to hang between them!

I never saw such stainless binder clips over here. The binders as such do not even seem to to have a long history here.

All special clips made for hanging film clips I remember either had a line of teeth or two pins, all covering the whole width of a 35mm strip.

GarageBoy · Feb 7, 2014

The two pins are my fave (love the Paterson ones, though expensive)
I did develop more film than I had clips for, and even crappy plastic clothes pins work great; I ended up using a metal shower curtain hanger ring and hanging the clips on to that

AgX · Feb 7, 2014

A (stainless) hemostat can also be used.

shashinzukuri · Feb 7, 2014

AgX said:
I never saw such stainless binder clips over here. The binders as such do not even seem to to have a long history here.

All special clips made for hanging film clips I remember either had a line of teeth or two pins, all covering the whole width of a 35mm strip.

Interesting! When I was in school the stainless clips were fairly standard lab supplies, and I thought the binders in general were common in offices everywhere. On the other side, most of the dedicated film clips I've seen only have one or two pins in the middle, and if they cover the width of the film at all they don't actually grip well enough to provide tension anywhere else.

It's hard to beat the big clips for 120, though.

MattKing · Feb 8, 2014

Here is what I use (courtesy of the $1.00 store):

dmr · Dec 28, 2018

summicron1 said:
just use regular wooden clothes pins. Hold the end just as down, cost less.

I use those huge springy paperclips for the bottom and a clip-type skirt/slacks hanger for the top.

ozphoto · Dec 28, 2018

I use one of these, however, when I purchased about 5 years back, they were nowhere near this price!

https://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/70219298/

Fujicaman1957 · Dec 28, 2018

Somebody here posted sometime back that they use binder clips and attach lead fishing weights to the chrome "arms" on the clips. I tried it...works just fine. I used steel clips with rubber coating on the gripping part and a clothes hanger type hook to hang the film in the dryer. I used a 3/4 oz. weight on each of the "arms" on the binder clips

Tim Stapp · Dec 28, 2018

Magnetic binder clips from the office supply attached to the soap dish in the shower. Bulldog brand binder clips on the bottom of roll film attached to the opposite corner for weight.

sheet film is just the magnetic binder clip on one corner so the negative hangs with one corner up, one down. After a few minutes hanging, a paper towel applied to the corner to wick away the drop that sheets off the film

RalphLambrecht · Dec 28, 2018

newtorf said:
I have a set of Arista stainless steel film hanging clips, one is weighted with a small metal weight bar. I am curious what's the material of the weight bar. Is it made of lead? Thanks!

Freestyle URL of the clips is here:

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/66361-Arista-Stainless-Steel-Film-Clips-2-pack

mine seem to be of stainless steel.

guangong · Dec 28, 2018

All of the weighted clips I have from a variety of styles and makes all use lead.

What's the material of weight bar in weighted film hanging clips?

newtorf

cjbecker

summicron1

Newt_on_Swings

Rick A

newtorf

timor

mfohl

AgX

gleaf

jochen

GarageBoy

shashinzukuri

Newt_on_Swings

AgX

GarageBoy

AgX

shashinzukuri

MattKing

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dmr

ozphoto

Fujicaman1957

Tim Stapp

RalphLambrecht

guangong

What's the material of weight bar in weighted film hanging clips?

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