And by the way, its nice to be back.

Dave
 

Second, DON'T put Xe-Kote directly on the film. It's not good for polyester film. You'll wreck it!

The PROPER way to use Xe-Kote (IMHO)

1) Clean your trap and shoe and intermittent pad shoe. Clean them well. Get ALL the black and purple crusty crap off the rails, etc.

2) If you used something else on your traps. Clean them with alcohol and let them dry. (Use a Q-Tip) I occasionally use alcohol anyway because I'm anal. Just make sure it's all good and clean.

3) Dip your clean Q-Tip in the Xe-Kote and tap it off on the rim of the bottle. You don't want it dripping wet. All you have to do is rub the stuff on your tension bands, your shoe rails and intermittent pad shoes.
That's it.

4) Only put the stuff on the film-bearing surfaces. Don't put it on the aperture plate or on the pad rollers or anywhere else.

5) Use the minimum amount. The stuff contains wax. That wax will collect dirt and junk if you use too much.

6) Do this every day. Xe-Kote doesn't last like Film-Guard does.
 

In short, if you must use it, use it only on the projector head and wipe it dry before running film.
 

The only exception I made was when running black and white print stock. Applying it to the gate/trap runners kept that hard white shedding powder away a few weeks longer.

But, that was the only use I could find for the stuff, and that was based on experience from a fairly long time ago. I used it for running films; "Zelig", "Broadway Danny Rose" and, "She's Gotta Have It."

I would like to get a film(s) like those again and try Film-Guard, to see how it would work.

I remember running, "She's Gotta Have It" and after about 4 weeks, it was shedding so badly, that (starting with a clean projector) by the end of the film, the build-up on the gate/trap rails was such that if one side of the ending credits was in focus, the other side was so out that it could not even be read.
 

And no, I have no media cleaner, so I only use FG to clean up our old policy and sound format trailers.
 

I'm still using Pic-clear!

Bruce
 

The ONLY use for it, nowadays, is to lubricate your film-bearing surfaces in your gate. If you want to use a "cleaner" you have to use Xe-Klean. (Also pretty much junk)
 

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
 

Now as to its other uses. Aside from eating a hole in the Ozone, I find that it can make a dreary booth a much more habitable place to work. I like to put some on a rag, and walk around the booth with the rag over my nose. Then later in the evening, mix some Film Guard with WD 40 and Coke/Pepsi and kill your liver. After all, why get into this business if not to destroy your body and avoid sunlight?
 

I had a couple of bearings blow up in a sound head once, due to a bad film jam. It was the lateral guide roller in a Century. The things felt like they were full of gravel! Of course it was on a Friday. (These things always happen on Friday, don't they?)

Obvuoisly, they were trashed and the projector was down until those bearings were replaced. I had to think of something and fast!

I had nothing to lose and everyting to gain so I took them out and dropped them into a Dixie® cup full of Xe-Kote™ and swished them around for a minute. Big gobs of black junk and little bits of things that USED to be bearing came gushing out.
I took them out and spun them a bit to work them and loosen them up and then gave them another bath.

After I let them dry they were good enough to get by with until the replacemants arrived.

I wouldn't recommend doing that as a regular practice but, like in my case, if you would be out of business otherwise then you have to think quick.