Home made film cleaner

[Graham Ritchie]

I use Diggers an Aussie brand also if a film is a bit jumpy, I give it a very light coating of "Armor All" that particular product was suggested by a forum member, it seems to work fine In saying that once a film is cleaned, I tend to leave it alone after that, making sure if you own an Elmo that is, that those green guides and anything else you can think of, that are prone to scratch films, are either replaced or modified is really a must.

Isopropyl is fine on polyester films. but I did read years ago, you had to be careful with acetate films. In saying that I do use it on acetate as well. But as for all cleaning, just enough to clean and hopefully dry between the hand rewinders, most of the time I will go back over the film with a soft lint free cloth just to be sure

I clean all Super8/Std 8mm film using hand rewinders, in fact I find hand rewinders are a must for all film work including rewinding of all small gauge film.

[Shane C. Collins]

I've cleaned films with gun silicone clothes. The flannel cloth is treated with silicone lubricant. They seem to polish and coat the film quite well. I now use Filmguard, but I wouldn't hesitate to use these clothes. I've read others who have recommended this including Phil Johnson. https://www.amazon.com/Hoppes-No-Sil.../dp/B000VYL3EM

[Emmanuel Joseph]

If you are after a good value resourse for Isopropanol, try eBay or a nail artist supplier. Isopropanol is used in beautician studios and nail artists to clean finger nails before applying nail possilsh. I bought a 1 litre bottle for about AUS$20 and have used about 50% over maybe 6 years. I use it to clean VHS machine heads and the like but never tried it on film (yet).

[Emmanuel Joseph]

A silly question maybe, but how can I easliy tell the difference between polyester and acetate films?

Isopropyl is fine on polyester films. but I did read years ago, you had to be careful with acetate films. In saying that I do use it on acetate as well. But as for all cleaning, just enough to clean and hopefully dry between the hand rewinders, most of the time I will go back over the film with a soft lint free cloth just to be sure

I clean all Super8/Std 8mm film using hand rewinders, in fact I find hand rewinders are a must for all film work including rewinding of all small gauge film.

[Graham Ritchie]

Not a silly question Emmanuel, I tend to think of Polyester on Super 8 being more common from the 90s on, especially films from Derann. You can find Polyester prior to the 1990s, but mostly it was acetate. Polyester is thinner than Acetate also you cant use cement on polyester plus its a lot stronger.

Laminated stripe will stick to acetate but not polyester, that's why Derann had to use paste on polyester film stock

Now I found this on the internet

Acetate

"Safety" often printed on the edge of film stock. Hold the film reel up to a light source { film pack parallel to your eyes} If light CANNOT be seen piping through the film strands, it is most likely on acetate-base film.

Polyester

Does not tear easily, does not have cement splices.

Hold film reel up to a light source {film pack parallel to your eyes} If light CAN be seen piping through the film strands it is most likely a polyester-base film.

[Rob Young]

Personally, I would not use isopropyl alcohol on acetate film. I used a an isopropyl alcohol based cleaner sold by a well known manufacturer many years ago and had no problem with polyester based film, but with some acetate based, it basically dried them out with one application leading to permanent warping. Those brand new films will never run in constant focus ever again. Harsh lesson learnt.

Graham's advise on identifying the different stocks is great. Generally, if you try to tear the film across, acetate will submit easily and polyester will not. Obviously only try this on the very start of some leader you can afford to trim off afterward!

WD40. Oh dear...sorry David!

The issue with film cleaners and lubricants is that whatever you use at first may seem ok, but then box that film up for 10 or 20 years before you run it again, as many of us do, and then see what happens...

I've used Filmguard for over 20 years now and swear by it. Brad (the owner of this website) put a lot of hard work into developing an excellent and safe film cleaner / lubricant for the industry. I wouldn't use anything else. You pay your money and you take your choice.

[Shane C. Collins]

Personally, I would not use isopropyl alcohol on acetate film. I used a an isopropyl alcohol based cleaner sold by a well known manufacturer many years ago and had no problem with polyester based film, but with some acetate based, it basically dried them out with one application leading to permanent warping. Those brand new films will never run in constant focus ever again. Harsh lesson learnt.

Graham's advise on identifying the different stocks is great. Generally, if you try to tear the film across, acetate will submit easily and polyester will not. Obviously only try this on the very start of some leader you can afford to trim off afterward!

WD40. Oh dear...sorry David!

The issue with film cleaners and lubricants is that whatever you use at first may seem ok, but then box that film up for 10 or 20 years before you run it again, as many of us do, and then see what happens...

I've used Filmguard for over 20 years now and swear by it. Brad (the owner of this website) put a lot of hard work into developing an excellent and safe film cleaner / lubricant for the industry. I wouldn't use anything else. You pay your money and you take your choice.

I agree, Brad's development of Film guard has really helped this hobby. I've used it now for about 12 years, and would never use anything else. My films from years past all look and play like they just came back from the processing lab.