Question for Eumig Owner's!

[Shane C. Collins]

So I was just reading over the owner's manual Stuart sent me in the mail. This is the manual for my Eumig Mark M Super 8 only machine. In the manual it states, one should cut a straight line through the film leader, and through a perforation. On my own films I have cut straight across, but not anywhere near a perforation. The leader seems to run just fine through the projector. So my question is, how many of you do what Eumig recommended, and should I be cutting my leader like the illustration below? As I mentioned, my films run smoothly with just a straight across cut.

[Stuart Budd]

Is it so the claw indexes the film at center of perf for pull down! I use a cutter from a 710 I think. It's angled 45* at the edge.

[Maurice Leakey]

The illustration seems to show a piece of standard/regular 8 film.
I have never seen a suggestion to cut through a perforation for auto thread.

[Martin Davey]

That illustration shows super 8, not standard 8. The instructions for my Mark 8 (dual) say that super 8 to be cut as above, but standard 8 is between the preforations.

[Steve Klare]

I have an 800 series Eumig and my cutter works like Stuart's. There is no indexing pin so the location of the cut is random.

I rarely use it: I find the Eumig processes the Elmo rounded cut just fine but my Elmos choke on the Eumig cut, so Elmo's cut is the standard.
.

[Shane C. Collins]

Thanks everyone for your input! So it seems most cuts will work fine on Eumig machines. I'll stick with my straight across cut then.

[Erik Snel]

aha, well i have a habit that came from the cutters eumig had on the projectors. i allways cut in between perforations and then cut little corners at an 45 degrees angle. it allways works. i often do it with a scissor because i don't allways have the eumig cutter within reach. (well i do but often have misplaced it)

[Osi Osgood]

I personally don't like it, as, sometimes tape splices can seperate some over time, which will make the film "jump". Secondly, by splicing where they suggest, you make a big old splice line, right in the middle of the frame. That's not an issue with leader, but it would majorly suck in actual footage.

[Brian Fretwell]

Are you sure you are in the right topic Osi. There is no mention of splices here, just the way to cut the end of the film you thread into an auto loading projector.

[Shane C. Collins]

So what is the benefit of cutting through the perforation? I cut straight across but I leave a space between the end of the leader and the first perforation.

[Brian Fretwell]

I can't think of a good reason, but I suppose that without a location pin for the film in the cutter that would be the easiest way to make the cutting place consistent between films.

[Shane C. Collins]

I can't think of a good reason, but I suppose that without a location pin for the film in the cutter that would be the easiest way to make the cutting place consistent between films.

I don't currently have a Eumig splicer, as one didn't come with my machine. I actually just use scissors to make the straight cut across the film leader.

[Stuart Budd]

I'm guessing here as I haven't used a splicer yet. Cutting through a perf allows the teeth of the cog to register. The 45° angle helps reduce snags.
Thickness and stiffness of leader is also important. My eyesight and lighting being what it is lends well to white leader of a good length. I can see it's track through the film path of various projectors. White shows well against the black or dark plastic track of projectors. Having a leader as a disposable content to aid film load is of great help. I've done no splicing that can be mentioned as experience. I think I favour tape splices over glue or cement. I must have 20 various splicers but the CIR tape splicer seems my fave. It punches holes or perfs for Super 8. Another CIR splicer is needed for 8mm. I have both gauges. But also a tone of glue type splicers.
The burn I recently had in GoldDiggers of 1933 wasn't due to autoload error but lamp off in stop or pause mode.
From my limited experience there are two arrears of failure. Auto load - have enough waist film or leader to run the entire path of the projector and then some. Give you a chance to say to yourself, "that should be through by now!". The other is stop or pause with the lamp reaming on! That'll cause a frame burn. Leader is just to autoload. Splices and lamp on during pauses are the next points of worry

[Shane C. Collins]

I'm guessing here as I haven't used a splicer yet. Cutting through a perf allows the teeth of the cog to register. The 45° angle helps reduce snags.
Thickness and stiffness of leader is also important. My eyesight and lighting being what it is lends well to white leader of a good length. I can see it's track through the film path of various projectors. White shows well against the black or dark plastic track of projectors. Having a leader as a disposable content to aid film load is of great help. I've done no splicing that can be mentioned as experience. I think I favour tape splices over glue or cement. I must have 20 various splicers but the CIR tape splicer seems my fave. It punches holes or perfs for Super 8. Another CIR splicer is needed for 8mm. I have both gauges. But also a tone of glue type splicers.
The burn I recently had in GoldDiggers of 1933 wasn't due to autoload error but lamp off in stop or pause mode.
From my limited experience there are two arrears of failure. Auto load - have enough waist film or leader to run the entire path of the projector and then some. Give you a chance to say to yourself, "that should be through by now!". The other is stop or pause with the lamp reaming on! That'll cause a frame burn. Leader is just to autoload. Splices and lamp on during pauses are the next points of worry

That makes sense Stuart! The half perforation would engage the sprocket teeth right away as the film entered the slot.