When you have to force a reel into an old can, it seems obvious that if the can is later thrown or dropped, the energy at the point of impact is going to be transfered directly to the reel on the other side of that metal which was already compacted in the can. Perhaps the plastic shipping containers are better than metal. Or perhaps the can design needs a completely new approach. Maybe a different shape or significant amount of padding added as an intergral part of the container.

We run lots of foreign prints, and I must say, their concept of shipping film sans reels but on cores instead and in plastic "cans" that are then shipped in regular cardboard boxes may be a solution. I've hardly ever seen film shipped this spill all over as it does with our conventional way with cans and the broken reels. And for platter makeup and breakdown, it really isn't all that more difficult using a split reel to mount from the core roll and then back again. Dealing with a film roll on a core and a split reel is a lot easier than dealing with a broken reel with half the film slippend off the roll.

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Although the clasp in "D" is secure, it seemed that you had to bend it out a significant distance for it to unlatch. "A" seems like one of the better choices to ensure that reels comes with the pin holes lined up. "B" still has the chance of not having any holes lined up for breakdown. I have seem a few times with "C" that the reel has snapped off at the center leaving just the fastener. Also, fasteners "C" and "D" require that you flip the reel for final separation.

As far as the plastic is concerned, I would vote for either "C" or "D". "A" and "B" are very soft and if they get warped from storage, then more care needs to used during buildup / teardown because you are having to compensate for warpped plastic possibly scraping against film.

"A" Fastener, "C" or "D" plastic

Even in a reel-to-reel booth, it can be annoying to deal with film shipped on cores, as one must have two good split reels (most places are lucky to have one) to take up on, unless one wants to rewind everything again after the last show.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Anytime I get the C or D reels with 3 hole cores in them, I swap them for the two hole cores I have on hand so that I am prepared for the more common A and B type reels with two hole cores leaving no hole for the drive pin on my MUT!

This morning I had to build 8 Legged Freaks and it was on A reels with cores that don't have holes at all, they have 4 wide tapered square openings.......the point is these reels are designed to locked together in a circular hole. This combo I received today fell apart when I picked up the reel.

Just about any well designed make up table will have a drive dog for breaking down film. The key is not designed to take too much torque. From shipping reels this is even more true since their keyways are often just sheet metal or other thin material that can really cut into the key itself.

I believe on the Christie MUT, there are two tapped holes near spindle that will like up with the typical dog pin on a split reel...put the split reel on the MUT...screw the split reel to the dog plate and away you go. One of these days, I'm gonna try it myself!

Steve

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If it would help, I can take some pictures for you next week of how the reels fit on a Christie MUT. Please ship me one of yours so I will be able to use that in the pictures as well so you can see why they don't fit.

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Copies of standards may be ordered from the SMPTE:

http://smpte.org/smpte_store/standards/

BTW, the standard for the cores used by the labs is SMPTE 37M-1999. If you are using the cores as the reel hub, you need a copy of this standard as well.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Most of the problem of broken reels stems from TES shipping them out in cans that are less than full. If they would fill up any empty spaces with empty reels (or better yet, put the proper number of reels in a can...THERE'S a thought!) the problem would go away. It's the reels flopping back and forth during shipment that causes the damage.

The empty-space problem is made worse by the DTS carrier. The carriers should be thinner, that way they could fit into a can filled with reels without jamming. Those carriers could be 1/4" thick and still protect the disks adequately.

Helmut E. Dorausch
Transfilm Inc.
Manager of National Operations
(818) 771-5390
(818) 771-5395