Film cleaning

[John Burgess]

i wondered whether film cleaner affects magnetic stripe? Any suggestions, thanks John

[Maurice Leakey]

John
Whilst I have over a thousand 16mm films I only have three with magnetic stripe, a feature and two shorts. I certainly would not use any form of cleaner or lubrication on these as I believe the old stripes on 16mm were attached with an adhesive.


Maurice

[Lee Mannering]

Hi chaps. Back in the 70's my favourite film cleaner lubricant was 2.22 and some of my older STD 8 films still have it on filmed in the 1960's with Dad. If the magnetic striping was poorly carried out it would lift the stripe away from the film. This is not a fault of 2.22 but poor striping. Then I moved onto Thermofilm highly toxic as it turned out but leave your films gleaming with no bad effects to film other than possible death to yourself. Then I got into FilmRenew which I still like as its affordable, cleans well and something I use before a film leaves my hands.
FilmGuard is the best choice today but pricey although a small amount does go a very long way and the main lubricant I use now.

Bottom line with Magnetic Stripe is, if applied correctly and using a good oxide it will last and not lift away. If the adhesive for laminate striping is old or not applied correctly at the time of striping cleaners seep under the edge and will eventually lift the stripe. Agfa F5 was the best and my thousands of feet filmed home movies until recently have that on.

Commercial Paste striping opens a big can of worms as Derann experienced some may remember God bless them when they took over print striping themselves. Problems with getting the correct Oxide mix them sticking it to the film were very troublesome and costly to them let alone getting any film cleaner near the easily rub Paste stripe. From the outset they did overlook one thing and films to be Paste striped need to be washed first (Pre Wash) and this is something that no film leaving Derann every enjoyed leaving room for premature wear.

Here in the UK we also had a small business who offered Past striping working from home and he was a handy chap for short runs in the 70's 80's and never wore off when cleaning.

21st Century Striping.
Thankfully we now have MOVIE MAGNETIC in beloved Italy home of the Vespa scooter and Alberto does do a pre wash to a film before magnetic striping for what I find to be a perfect result. I tried to scratch a little of his striping off and it wouldn't budge also rubbing it with Isopropanol, FilmRenew and Film Guard which did not affect the stripe.
Well done Alberto!

[Tom Photiou]

I also think that the Derann oxide stripe in the long term may have a bad effect on the heads of some projectors, particularly those with softer heads. The oxide stripe is often quite rough and bumpy. If you look at it under a scope you can see this. You can also hear it on some films with the odd pop or bump, similar to super 8 optical prints as these were not given given the final stage polishing that 16mm films had.
Derann obviously had no choice at the time once pre striped stock ran out, but if anyone has a lot of the oxide stripe films in there collections, or simply runs films with oxide a lot, then i believe heads/guides may well wear out faster. A piece of info i did learn chatting to a well know collector recently, is that the oxide paste does have a very high content of glue as it was needed to make the stuff stick to the film. As already said, the one thing they had problems with was getting it to stick. thousands of feet of film were wasted trying to get the right mix.

[John Burgess]

Very interesting replies , thanks to all who posted. I think it best not to use film cleaner in case of damaging the stripe.
cheers John

[Tom Photiou]

Filmguard wont damage stripe, its safe but only use a very small amount. (as i found out)

[Luigi Castellitto]

Do you know if Filmguard is also useful on a principle of vinegar syndrome?

[Dominique De Bast]

Sadly, there is no miracle cure for vinegar syndrome, Luigi. I followed Maurice Leakey's suggestion to expose vs prints in the sun and it works on some copies but on others, it just lower the smell. You may be luckier since you live in a sunny country. I have sun (in good days) only until about 2 pm on my balcony so it may not be enough to be 100 % efficient.

[Joe Taffis]

Luigi, in my experience FilmGuard does not help a film with VS at all...It is great for cleaning and lubricating. Almost every 16 mil print I bought was very dirty. It seems that many 16mm collectors are too lazy to clean their films, because it does take more effort than the smaller gauges...

[Luigi Castellitto]

Thanks, my film has been on the home balcony for two days.
The smell is very little, we hope it will be reduced even more.

Then I will use Filmguard, but, as you say, only to clean and lubricate it.