Basic maintenance cleaning kit for your film projector Newbie guide..

[Lee Mannering]

This is for newcomers to using cine film projectors which I hope is of help to you.

Its important to clean the film guides and gate aperture (behind the lens) before or after projecting a few films and these are the basic items you may want to invest in.

1: A soft small brush to clean the gate and film path. The white one shown is a genuine brush by Elmo but you can use a soft make up duster brush. In the UK you can get these from the pound store.

2: Small hand held vacuum to reach difficult places

3: AIR DUSTER aerosol for a final blow of air

4: A good LED torch which will highlight and foreign objects. This one is a Bell & Howell tactical torch which you can zoom the beam in and out. Very bright indeed.


The film path in any film projector should be carefully kept clean to avoid scratching your films and so it is worth investing around £20 in this small group of essential items. Carry out with the projector completely powered down for safety and when the lamp has not been used so as not to burn your hand.

Other than that enjoy the show!

[Paul Adsett]

All sound advice there from Lee. My preference is to use an LED headlight, which is very bright, to keep both hands free during any cleaning operations. I also wipe the gate and all the film guides with Pledge Furniture Polish to get a smooth shiny surface. I think its also worth noting that cleaning the interior of the projector, as well as you can without massive disassembly, is well worth doing, particularly fan blades and air ducts and blowing dust off circuit boards, All that will increase the life of the projector.
I actually enjoy cleaning my projector more than cleaning my car!

[Ali Hipperson]

Great advice Lee and Paul 👍

Ali.

[Brad Kimball]

Paul, do you really apply Pledge to the rollers and stuff? I would think it would leave a yucky residue on your prints. I’ve never heard of that.

[Paul Adsett]

Paul, do you really apply Pledge to the rollers and stuff? I would think it would leave a yucky residue on your prints. I’ve never heard of that.

Yes, absolutely Brad. I apply a little of the pledge to a q-tip and wipe across all the film contact surfaces, gate, rollers etc. Then i polish with a clean dry q-tip or micro-fiber cloth, followed by a blast of compressed air. There is no residue left. The gate in particular benefits from the resulting bright and shiny highly polished surface. Plastic film guides also benefit. In fact I use Pledge just about everywhere (except the lens!) to keep my projectors looking and running great.