Cement Splices

[Graham Ritchie]

A couple of day ago during sorting out more film for the heritage society, this time being Super 8 not Standard. I thought I might try using cement. Now in truth, I have a real dislike for cement splices, since the days of home striping with a Rexette, a brilliant machine by the way, during that time of striping films I had the odd cement splice fail, plus some of the cement splices I have seen folk do are lumpy, really not nice at all.

I made the move to tape Agfa F8S Automatic and later the Wurker and never looked back, so this time, in a long time the first with Super8 in about 40 years I would give it a go. I found it more time than tape as I was scraping, not just one end of the film but both parts, always cleaning as I go with a tooth brush.

Now for the moment of truth, how was the GS1200 going handle those cement splices?, well to my pleasant surprise they went through very quiet and smooth, there were about 10 splices in a complete 400ft reel, no problems at all, in fact you would hardly know they were there.

So there you have it, I have to take back all I used to think about cement splices, well almost .

[Maurice Leakey]

There is nothing wrong with a well made cement splice providing that fresh film cement is used. I used to take a small amount at a time from my cinema who used so much that they bought it in 1 pint bottles.

[Shane C. Collins]

I gave up film cement, and switched to Super Glue. I have splices I made 15 years ago with Super Glue that are still like new. I never found film cement to hold all that well. Super Glue is well super strong. I use a toothpick to apply the glue and clamp the two ends using the same cement splicer Graham is showing above. People may laugh but Super Glue is amazing for using with film.

[Brian Fretwell]

As soon as I found out that Kodak had a part in developing Super Glue I thought they may have done so for splicing the polyester (Estar) film stocks.

[Martin Davey]

I recently got a load of standard 8 amateur holiday film, probably about 2 ½ hours of footage shot mostly on Kodachrome. It has been well shot/ exposed, good smooth camera work, titles and actually has a sound track (which I can't play). The film maker used cement splices, maybe about 30 per 400ft roll and they run perfectly. The film maker took care over his productions and the same care is shown with the way he made the splices which effortlessly run through my P8. These spices were made back in the 1960s!

Its funny looking on youtube at some of the so called 'tutorials' where some millennial demonstrates how to make a cement splice. They treat it like welding two steel beams together and the idea that they should be made carefully to run through a projector has not occurred to them!

[Maurice Leakey]

Whilst it is obviously necessary to scrape away the emulsion, it is not often known that it is recommended to also gently roughen the other half's base side of the new join.

[Osi Osgood]

Cement splices do run through, but honestly, I prefer tape splices, which always run through wonderfully, where cement splices are more intrusive to the experience. My experience, personally.

[Martin Davey]

I tend overall to do tape spices for convenience though I can do cement joins if needed. But the important thing is that no matter which technique is used it should be done well. It seems an obvious thing to say but when I import new 16mm films in to my collection most of the time splices are poor, no matter how they are done and I end up redoing most splices. Elfs are very fussy with splices and its important to make sure that a natural curve flows through the join as well as making sure the sprocket holes are clean and line up. The surprising thing is that some of these splices may have been done 'professionally' at film libraries.

[Philip Hamilton]

I've been using 8mm tape splices - Kodak and they work really well for me and are easy. Seems like these are less likely to break during projection although a good cement splice won't break - usually.

I was just so bad at it that oftentimes it was hit or miss when using cement. Not so in college when we used a heated cement splicer for 16mm. Those worked perfectly and held.

[Graham Ritchie]

Just adding to what Maurice states, this is what I am doing. I do use the left side of the splicer to clamp the both parts to be joined scraping one at a time with the same scraper to achieve what is shown below. I have to be careful not to scrape to much and also cleaning the scraper a lot, just to make sure there is no build up on the cutting edges.

I did give the bottle of cement a good shake beforehand, I cement still seems to work well, if I take the time to scrape both parts. I did try to pull a splice apart early on to see how the cement was and without pulling to hard, I was satisfied it was strong enough. Another thing was after the splice was made, was to feel the film edges, to make sure the edges smooth, and there was no need to lightly trim the edge with some scissors.

It certainly takes more time to do a cement splice than using tape, but so far the results have been good.

[Janice Glesser]

This might be a good spot to remind folks of my cement splicer tutorial. It also shows how to use Super Glue.

[Burton Sundquist]

...I read somewhere that cement splices should only be done on acetate prints. Will not work on poly stock. Either way the process etches away a good frame of film now lost forever.
The CIR splicers currently available that cover 2 frames have held in films I have aquired thus far: in my opinion : Go for CIr

[Brian Fretwell]

As I implied earlier only Super Glue will work on polyester stock as it is a glue and does not have to melt the base like the acetate cement to make the join.

[Joseph Banfield]

I always use cement splices on acetate films. They never come apart. Even if I try to break the splice it always breaks before or after the splice. Unfortunately on polyester I have no choice but to use the CIR tape splicer.

So yea, I'm definately a cement fan. And like Maurice mentioned, using a splicer that scrapes both sides is paramount for a solid splice!

[David M. Leugers]

Properly done, cement splices will outlast you. Splices I made almost 50 years ago still hold strong. The issue is in the quality of the splice and the freshness of the cement when made. Always use fresh cement (make a test splice and do a pull test). The equipment used is not necessarily more important than the operator, it is just that using professional level equipment makes a successful outcome so much easier to achieve. I prefer the B+H (Maier/Hancock) splicers but there are certainly others that work well. I always use cement on 16mm and 8mm acetate films, but mostly use cement on S-8mm for head and tail leaders and on silent film but use either a Fuji or Wurker tape splicer on S8mm sound film. I also use Kodak splice tape on polyester films, so far only 16mm. For that I use a metal straight cut 16mm perforated tape splicer. Many are around for almost nothing as thousands were used to edit work prints when 16mm film production was prevalent. Once you use one for tape splicing with the Kodak tapes you will throw away all your plastic ones. I have seen incredible numbers of poorly done film splices and most still hold together somehow but I replace all the bad splices when I get a print.