8mm Forum: Film cleaners and lubricants

This is topic Film cleaners and lubricants in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Alan L. Hitchcox (Member # 598) on December 02, 2007, 05:00 PM:

I'm sure this topic has come up before, but I didn't see it when I checked on recent discussions.
I have purchased a film & projector cleaner & lubricant on eBay. It works well, and I have seen a few different brand names. But they are all very expensive.
I seem to recall hearing that you can use denatured alcohol as a cleaner, and that Goo Gone makes a good lubricant.
I'm not willing to try either until I get some feedback.
Anybody have experience with effective "home remedies" to clean and lubricate film?
Thanks for your help.

Posted by Keith Ashfield (Member # 741) on December 02, 2007, 05:32 PM:

Hi Alan. I would suggest you go to the search facility and type in "Film Cleaning". There are a miriad of topics apertaining to this subject there. All the best.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on December 02, 2007, 05:37 PM:

Hi Alan,
You have really opened up a can of worms! [Eek!]

But I would say that the general opinion around here is that Filmguard is an excellent cleaner and lubricant. For 'home cleaners', DO NOT use alcohol!! This will dry out your films and probably make them very noisy in projection. Personally, I use ArmorAll Protectant Wipes, which do a fairly good job of cleaning and providing some silicone lubricant to the film surface.

Posted by Mark Mander (Member # 340) on December 02, 2007, 05:48 PM:

Hi Alan,Paul is right you have opened a can of worms.I use Filmguard that i think is an excellent product and have also used the Armorall wipes as a quick way of applying some lube to the film and those seem to work also.The one thing that i've found is with Filmguard if you use too much it can dissolve tape splices if you use them Mark

Posted by Alan L. Hitchcox (Member # 598) on December 02, 2007, 10:02 PM:

Thanks for some great adivce, guys.
I tend to pick up movies at estate sales and such during the summer, then I sell the ones I don't want in the winter. I always try to run films through my editor before putting them up for sale.
I'm looking for an inexpensive way to condition films I'll be previewing. (Recently I found a 60s era adult film that was in a Pierre Bear Castle Films box.) If end up keeping a film, I'll condition it with a name-brand cleaner-lube.
The Armor-all wipes sound like a good option, so, again, thanks.

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