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Topic: Best moving print method?

Ian Bailey
Master Film Handler

Posts: 317
From: Nambucca Heads, Australia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted 01-02-2004 04:00 AM

All our prints sit on 5mm Masonite donuts.The centre circle of the donut has cutaways in it to support the centre ring so it can't fall through(the lugs on the rings are long enough to pass through the cutaways in the donut and into the holes in the platter deck).We have two different style rings(AW3 & Speco)and the donuts can be used with either one.We can move a print very easily with two people, once the tail has a small piece of tape on it to hold it.We put the print and the donut onto the platter(good on the AW3 which does not have a removable Brain) and run the print back onto another donut on the take-up.This isolates the print from the metal platter deck and I have always thought that this could have been the cause of some "static" brain wraps.Since I started using Filmguard static,brain wraps,dirty gates are a thing of the past.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-02-2004 07:22 AM

quote:
This isolates the print from the metal platter deck and I have always thought that this could have been the cause of some "static" brain wraps.Since I started using Filmguard static,brain wraps,dirty gates are a thing of the past.

Yes, using a non-conductive "doughnut" eliminates the "path to ground" required for fully discharging any static buildup. Treating non-conductive materials with a conductive antistat (e.g., Static Guard, Staticide, Endust for Electronics, etc.) will provide the needed conductivity. Or use a conductive material (metal, plastics with conductive materials).

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 01-02-2004 11:04 AM

quote:
I would never think to move the whole platter deck. It would require at least two people and seems like more effort than just using clamps. Never mind what it would do to the bearings (which can't be good, as others have mentioned).

But, Scott --

Moving a print is a "two man job" in the first place. Even with clamps.

Note that I'm only in favor of moving the whole platter if the print is loose wound ... a situation where clamps won't do much good.

And, yes, we *do* have to be careful to keep track of the bearing and those rings. With the Christie, I find that it's really just the top ring that comes off with the disc. In my experience, the bearing and the lower ring tend to stay put.

Again, I'm not swapping platter discs. Just using one to carry a funky print over to another platter. Slide the print off and return the "carry" disc back from whence it came.

Man, oh man! Those clamps will indeed leave their mark on a platter deck.

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Mark J. Marshall
Film God

Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 01-02-2004 01:59 PM

We move prints between houses several times a day especially on the weekend. We always just have two people slide the print off and carry it to the destination platter. If a print is especially loose, then we may decide to use clamps.

In extreme circumstances, we may opt to move the entire platter deck. In those cases, we move the whole deck to the new location, and set the deck on top of one of those large round trash cans. Then one guy holds the deck in place while the other guy slides the print from one platter directly to the other. Then the old deck is taken back to its original location. We did this when we had to move LOTR through a really tight spot for example because it was too risky to carry a print that size through a walk way with only about two feet of clearance.

Whatever you do, I suggest you do NOT get in the habit of taping down the tail of the print while you move it. Someday, someone will forget they did that, and you'll end up with a tail wrap in the brain at the end of the show.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 01-02-2004 02:23 PM

I've seen far more damage to a print during it's move because the tail was not taped down while it was being carried then the damage caused by the tail of the film getting jammed in the brain because someone forgot to remove the tape once the print was to it's destination platter. So long as you are adding the "mandatory" additional tail leader, it would only chew up the extra junk you put on the tail anyway.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 01-02-2004 03:38 PM

What is a "print doughnut"?

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-02-2004 03:55 PM

The extra doughnut that you buy and tell yourself you won't eat. [Roll Eyes]

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-02-2004 09:34 PM

By "doughnut", we mean a flat round piece of plywood, Masonite, plastic, or other material with an outer diameter of about 52 inches (like the platter), with a large round hole in the center that fits over the platter center feed mechanism (or "brain").

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Jean-Michel Grin
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 222
From: Geneva & Lausanne, Switzerland
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 01-03-2004 04:01 AM

In our theater we use a "half" of a goldberg reel platter, and after tape the tail on the rest of the film, we "slip" all the print on this plate. This method is verry easy to move a print from a screen to another.
I heard that Cinemeccanica made a "transport table" consist in a plate where the print is firmly clampet onto it, a pivot to place the plate vertically and rollers to move the entire unit from place to place, but I never see pictures about it.

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Rob van Ede
Film Handler

Posts: 25
From: Zeist, The Netherlands
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 01-03-2004 04:18 AM

We move prints all the time, as we have more prints than auditoria. Most of the time the schedules are very tight (think 5 to 10 minutes, i know it's bad but can do nothing about it) and of course between the shows all the staff is needed at the lobby. Our Ernemann platters wind relatively tight, so it's no problem to move a print without clamps or other help. Only the very large prints like LOTR need help from a piece of hardboard and a colleague. In more than three years, i've never had a film fall apart.

If the piece of tape at the end of the print is forgotten, the failsafe takes care of this, and no damage has ever happened over here. Removing it is a routine thing, just like cleaning the gate before each show or unlocking the door so customers can enter if you ask me.

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Mark J. Marshall
Film God

Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 01-03-2004 10:01 AM

quote:
I've seen far more damage to a print during it's move because the tail was not taped down while it was being carried then the damage caused by the tail of the film getting jammed in the brain because someone forgot to remove the tape once the print was to it's destination platter.

I thought about the fact that the tail could get damaged either way not long after I posted that - but I was away from my computer, and it was too late to edit it. The fact is you DO have to secure the tail somehow when you move it. It's just always been my experience that taping it was the wrong way to do it. However I've never considered the "mandatory extra tail leader" idea tho... but I'm considering it now! [Big Grin]

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