8mm Forum: Liquid Film Cleaner

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Posted by Bill Proctor (Member # 6427) on February 01, 2019, 07:06 PM:

Since Kodak no longer makes liquid film cleaner, I was curious as to what others used to clean their films?
Thanks...Bill

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on February 02, 2019, 03:51 AM:

Filmguard.

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on February 02, 2019, 05:54 AM:

Just for film cleaning I've always used Isopropanol particularly prior to laminate magnetic film striping. Its not expensive about £5 UK per ltr and cleans a film perfectly with speedy evaporation.
This is for cleaning not lubrication or preservation. [Smile]

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on February 02, 2019, 08:36 AM:

Agreed with Lee.
It also removes the sticky residue left after removal of long time storage adhesive tape on the leaders. So beloved by many people.

Posted by Buck Bito (Member # 2676) on February 02, 2019, 11:21 AM:

We require a fast-drying cleaner for cleaning thousands of feet of film per day and when our stash of the now banned Trichloroethane-based Ecco VSF299 was dwindling in 2008, we auditioned just about everything on the market at that time (perc was still available from Christy's then) and found Solvon Type 1 (n-propyl bromide) from Urbanski's to be the closest replacement. It is not nearly as effective as trike but is just as safe for the huge range of camera-original reversal/neg and print stocks with and without mag. that we need to work with.
If you can use a slower drying cleaner/conditioner, Filmguard as mentioned by Dominique is a good option.
We have not tried Christy's current cleaner which seems to use two compounds we've not known to be used for film cleaning previously: hexane (CAS: 110543) and methylcyclopentane (CAS: 96377).

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on February 03, 2019, 04:57 PM:

Years ago, Kodak published a list of chemicals suitable for cleaning film. Isopropanol Alcohol (IPA) as used by Lee is one of the few still available. It's also known as rubbing alcohol and is sold at various strengths. I use a 100% solution for cleaning projectors. If you use it on film, you'd need to treat the footage with a lubricant afterwards. FilmGuard doesn't come cheap but it cleans and lubricates and some swear by it.

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on February 15, 2019, 05:16 PM:

I use Filmguard...one large bottle has lasted me about 15 years. I am just about ready to open a new bottle I bought a year ago that will last even longer as my film purchases will slow down (I hope!) I have cleaned a ton of film over these years and have seen no problems using it...only benefits. it really doesn't take much and it cleans off the dirt and lubes the film so it glides through the projector. I buy mine from Steve O at The Reel Image. He is a supplier of Filmguard and has it available at a good price. [Smile]

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