Oops!

[Dave Bickford]

So…this happened last night. It originated with a broken cement splice. How it ended up in that rat’s nest of film is a mystery. Vodka may have been involved, so perhaps it’s not such a big mystery. 🤪 I was able to untangle it and splice it back together today, but it was a huge pain the a**.🤬 Note to self: Do not drink and project film!

[Shane C. Collins]

I've had film unwind, but nothing like this! That must have been some really good vodka... I agree though tangled film is the worst. I'd say drinking is OK during projection, just thread it before you get too much in the bag. I definitely have a couple beers when projecting a film!

[Paul Adsett]

Worst case of PUI (Projecting Under the Influence) that I have ever seen!

[Shane C. Collins]

Worst case of PUI (Projecting Under the Influence) that I have ever seen!

PUI (Projecting Under the Influence) I like it Paul....LOL...

[Douglas Meltzer]

If the projector is well oiled, why not the projectionist?

[Dave Bickford]

“PUI” 😂

The weird part is this was just two 50’ reels spliced together for a total of 100’. The splice broke. You would think there would be 50’ on each reel. There was indeed 50’ on the takeup reel, but the 50’ that should have been on the supply reel ended up on the table. Still trying to figure that one out. I probably don’t want to know.

[Graham Ritchie]

Dave a million years ago when I did my own Super8 striping, I had a cement splice break during that process, that experience convinced me to move to tape splices with the Agfa auto, since then I have never looked back regarding Super8 later came the Wurker. I have to admit though, that with the number of splices required on Standard 8mm film I had been sorting through, with more to come, I have used cement, in that case scraping both faces not just one to be sure, so far so good. I did a test ages ago after scraping both parts to be joined simply to pull it apart and it held, so it passed the test. I takes more care and time scraping both parts but it will give you a stronger join

[Shane C. Collins]

Dave a million years ago when I did my own Super8 striping, I had a cement splice break during that process, that experience convinced me to move to tape splices with the Agfa auto, since then I have never looked back regarding Super8 later came the Wurker. I have to admit though, that with the number of splices required on Standard 8mm film I had been sorting through, with more to come, I have used cement, in that case scraping both faces not just one to be sure, so far so good. I did a test ages ago after scraping both parts to be joined simply to pull it apart and it held, so it passed the test. I takes more care and time scraping both parts but it will give you a stronger join

Graham that is great advice about the cement splices! I too learned the hard way back in the day by cutting corners. I would scrape one side only, and well it didn't hold very long. Once I learned to take my time, and scrape both parts all went well! I however use Super Glue which is probably unconventional. So far it seems to be holding just fine. I'm just hoping someday these Super Glue splices don't snap. If that happens I'll convert back to cement.

[Steve Klare]

It gets even worse!

Years ago I was threading a film and I had a glass of a serviceable Port at hand (it did the job...).

-my mistake was putting the wine on the table behind the machine. When the head missed the take-up reel, it dipped into the glass!

I wasn't prepared to risk the long term chemistry of a British film print dipped into a California Port, so I snipped off the first couple of inches and learned my lesson! (-and HEY! -it never happened again!...or before....either...)

[Osi Osgood]

I hope it was good vodka! I have never been totally smashed projecting, (always afraid of my hanging out of the mouth tongue getting caught in the autoload mechanism ... and resting against that super hot projector bulb? Yeowch!).

[Paul Adsett]

Well the jinx that hit Dave hit me last night, and I had the worst film tangle I have ever experienced. I forgot to flip the little retaining lever on the supply spool of the GS1200, and 5 mins into a 600ft reel the reel fell off. This has happened several times before, and its usually when I switch from having just run some films on my Eumig 820, to running the GS1200. That's because the Eumig has retaining clips which grabs the spool without the need for a flip lever. Usually when this happens its just a minor incident and things are back running in a couple of minutes, but this time it was horrendous, because when the reel fell off the GS spool arm it hit the edge of the table in such a way as to totally separate the 600ft Bonum spool. I had no idea that the Bonum spools are two separate pieces that just snap together but that is exactly the way they are made. Anyway what happened was that I ended up with about 500ft of super 8 film on the floor, much of it still in a rolled condition but totally removed from the spool. I thought it was a simple matter of just winding it back onto a new spool but that was not the case. Every time I wound some film back on , it would generate a twist. Soon I had one hell of a mess of tangled film, as I said, the worst I have ever encountered. It took me over 2 hours to get that film back on a new reel. probably the most frustrating 2 hours of my lifetime cine hobby. Definitely one for the books,

And I was'nt PUI !😀

[Graham Ritchie]

Not the first time that has happened Paul I have done the same with that retaining lever, what is amazing though is how far the take up reel can roll when it hits the floor

[Dave Bickford]

Well the jinx that hit Dave hit me last night, and I had the worst film tangle I have ever experienced.

And I was'nt PUI !😀

I’m glad this can happen when sober! Now I don’t feel so stupid. We may as well laugh ourselves! 😂