Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Tailwrap story/query

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Posted by Frank Bruno (Member # 1871) on 11-04-2003, 02:15 AM:

Hey Ive not seen tailwraps come up as a topic on any of the FilmTech boards before. Ive had two during my just over 3 years in the booth. One happend during my own shift & with a call to the union op who trained me was fixed eaily with minimal damage to the rpint (some slight scratching here & there, no footage hd to be removed.) I had caught the wrap in progress & stopped the show, before the print finally burned or tore. It was caused by the rubber disc which holds the tail in place soemhow being thrown from the platter.

This past weekend I as called in to fix a tailwrap that happened to our print of Beyond Borders. While I dont know what was done to attempt to fix the print beofre I got there (the manager that called me was only able to say the there was "film all over the place") the film had both burned through at the gate & been pulled tight around the platter arm, & was in generally far worse shape than my prior tailwrap. My duty beign not to question but to reapir I got to work, only having to remove 4 frames including the burn in reel 2 & about three feet worth of film from reel 6, which also suffered sever scratching in places. The actual tail of the film (most of reel 8 consisitng of all titles) was fine, though all on the floor. The film itslef was not wrapped around the platter arm upon my arrival. Out of sheer curiosity Im trying to figure out just what happened to this print. The projectionist on at the time was inexpericned has bene little use to me trying to put this together.

Anyhow, having wasted board space on that rant, anybody have theories on if an actual tailwrap happened here(based on the fact that the tail of the print had come off the platter but was undamaged)or if some other strange phenomena ocurred?

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 11-04-2003, 03:40 AM:

You should always post what type of equipment you have as some models have different fail safe methods.

It sounds to me that you had a jam in the brain which cause the platter to spin out of control and thus causing the tail to come loose.

If the automation did not fault then that would explain the film being all of the floor. The projector just kept running until the tension was too tight to go any more.

My two most common causes for a brain wrap are some sort of adhesive being on a spot of the film or due to static the film rides over one of the outside keepers.

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 11-04-2003, 05:54 AM:

Best solution Using REEL system though is to leave the print as it is lying on the floor WITHOUT MOVING ANYTHING, then take the end of the film to a rewinder and slowly rewind the film back to a reel. If the film has not been moved then the rewind won't need any stopping (although it has to be slow rewind) and should not take more than fifteen to twenty minutes. We never had a brain wrap here in Cyprus after 5 years of installation of the first platters as I recall. I believe though that the retrieval of the film should work the same way as well. The important rules on brain wraps are:
NEVER PANIC
YOU HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
DON'T TRY FIGURING OUT DIFFICULT WAYS OF DOING AN EASY THING
That's it from the Cyprus staff!!! Since I am the only one registered in these forums!!! [Smile]

See ya
Demetris

P.S: I would love to hear the Greek side of the matter as well so Christo go on. Make My day !!! [Smile]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-04-2003, 09:33 AM:

"Static Cling" is much less of a problem since the introduction of Kodak VISION Color Print Film, which has a conductive abrasion-resistant anti-static layer on the back side of the film. Remember, "All That Sticks Is Not Static":

http://www.film-tech.com/manuals/H5056.pdf

Check for other factors like excess moisture, platter setup/leveling/timing, and physical sticking due to things like splicing tape or cue tape adhesive.

Always use tension-sensing failsafes that shut down the projector in the event of excess tension between the platter and projector. I prefer the security of restraining the outside circumference of the roll to prevent "platter fling", rather than relying on a simple "tail tuck" without restraint.

Posted by Frank Bruno (Member # 1871) on 11-04-2003, 01:57 PM:

I should have spellchecked that first post, the typos are killing me. This happened on teh bottom Christie plattter on the operator's side of a Cinemeccanica V5. The V5 did have a tension sensing failsafe, Im not sure how the show actually did shut down. It hadn't ocurred to me that just an unchecked brainwrap could be the culprit here, which would make some sense cosidering how much of the tail found its way to the floor before actually wrapping around anything. Thanks for the replies, gents.

Posted by David Whitbeck (Member # 894) on 11-07-2003, 05:56 AM:

The only time I've ever seen a tail wrap was when it was my own fault. The equipment specs matter not as the fault was in moving the print and forgeting to remove the tape holding the tail... Oooops. Only happened once, never again. Dumb mistake. But that's the only time I've ever seen a tail wrap.