Current 2x8mm / Super 8 film manufacture (Perforator video)

[Jack Link]

During my search for 8mm / Super 8 perforation repair tape I stumbled across this interesting video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI7SklrSlNU&feature=youtu.be

[Winbert Hutahaean]

Judging from the buttons and digital display this is a new made machine. I wonder how many machines like this are made knowing the 8mm is very niche market. So how the company (who make the machine) can make money?

btw those films are not get burnt with those light and open area? Or this is just to show hot it works?

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

Nope, you don't need anything fancy. An old sewing machine will work just fine.

https://youtu.be/nl28o_O7PCc

[Jack Link]

Judging from the buttons and digital display this is a new made machine. I wonder how many machines like this are made knowing the 8mm is very niche market. So how the company (who make the machine) can make money?

AFAIK those machines are very old - but completely refurbished (by Wittner Cinetech) and upgraded with state of the art components.
So... old machines ... which look like newly manufactured :-)

Yes, normally they work in the dark.... and the good condition is not visible ;-)

[Steve Klare]

Thanks for posting that, Jack. It's a great video!

What beautiful machines: all very fine machine work and very high precision. In their own way they are works of art.


I found these interesting: (We never think a lot about them.)



-they don't get to be in the movie! (-literally!)

(Kind of feel bad for them!)

BTW, Jack: I have Family in Baden-Wurttemberg. We spent a day in Stuttgart two Christmases ago. Willkommen!

[Lee Mannering]

You should have seen the old Walton perf machine going. That was a reel floor shaker at LGP over here.

I believe Wit had a new die made recently and that won't have been cheap either so hats off to them for a superb service.

[Paul Browning]

Quite a lot of this type of precision tooling is now made in china, including the high precision stuff. Its a standard type progression tool, as used to manufacture electrical contacts for the car industry, just as much quality is needed........

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

The precision would be extremely critical if the machine punch a set of perforations, instead of one perf a time.

This screenshot if from latest Kodak negative film stock I just scanned. While reviewing the scan I noticed the perforation was kind of wobbling back and forth in a very rhythmic manner. (See these 2 adjacent frames. Quite subtle, but it's really there.) After skipping through several frames I can count the "cycle" to be precisely every 5 frames - that's probably the number of the punch head in the assembly.

The sewing machine punch in my earlier post would not have this problem, since it would punch one perf. a time.

[Brian Fretwell]

I'm sure the punches used by Larry at LGP had blocks of four frame punches and used a registration pin to ensure they were completely accurate.