Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Platter Covers and Leader Rotation

This is topic Platter Covers and Leader Rotation in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Chris Byrne (Member # 1563) on 12-11-2003, 04:42 PM:

Are platter covers a necessity for the fight against dust? If so what material is suitable if you were to get it made locally?

Also what is everyone's take on rotation of leader stock? We make up leaders out of virgin stock and they are replaced every 3-months?

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 12-11-2003, 04:50 PM:

We get trailers that are never used, after a certain amount of time we recycle them into leaders. The leader stays on the film throughout it's run then is thrown away.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-11-2003, 05:35 PM:

Platter covers are not really necessary, unless you have a really dirty (airborne dust) booth environment, or the prints will sit in the open unused for multiple days. A waterproof cover can also help if there is risk of a leak or condensation dripping on a print (but better to fix the problem). Ideally, covers should be waterproof, non-linting, and conductive (not build up static charge). Commercially made covers are available. Be careful to keep covers clean, and NOT put them on a dirty floor, which is actually more likely to put dirt on a print.

A central vaccuum cleaner system is very useful to keep film, platter, and work surfaces clean, without stirring up dirt as a broom or portable vaccuum cleaner would.

Replace leaders when they get worn or damaged (splicy). Dirty leaders can be cleaned.

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 12-11-2003, 07:06 PM:

We use platter covers religiously. We have prints in the booth that may go a couple of days between showings.

We use mylar leaders and replace them as needed. They last about a year or two.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 12-12-2003, 12:16 AM:

Platter covers also deter folks from using platters as a place to put tools, lunch, cut gel, etc.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 12-13-2003, 02:30 PM:

One of the chains I worked for had a "policy" of how to secure the booth when we got a hurricane warning. One of the things to do was to move all prints to the lowest available platter deck and cover them with a waterproof, plastic platter cover. [Confused]

How this would protect the prints when the roof rips off in 140mph winds is beyond me...

=TMP=

Posted by Steven Privett (Member # 718) on 12-13-2003, 02:43 PM:

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to wash your platter covers.
How many out there can't remember the last time they were washed, or know for a fact that they never have been washed. Dirty platter covers are worse than not covering the prints at all.
(sorry, you've hit upon one of my pet peeves.)

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 12-15-2003, 12:17 AM:

quote:
One of the chains I worked for had a "policy" of how to secure the booth when we got a hurricane warning. One of the things to do was to move all prints to the lowest available platter deck and cover them with a waterproof, plastic platter cover.
How this would protect the prints when the roof rips off in 140mph winds is beyond me...

Damage goes all over besides just losing the roof. Leaks go for miles around a hurricane. The plastic cover will protect the print if a a leak springs above, a window pops & rain blows in, etc.

When the hurricane is coming, the money is in plywood & drywall screws. When it's past, the money is in big Rubbermaid garbage cans which sprout everywhere catching leaks.

Posted by Chris Byrne (Member # 1563) on 12-15-2003, 02:20 AM:

The reason I ask is that we clean each deck every two days. I have changed it to daily seeing the amount of dust collected on each rag.

Although a cover is a safeguard against leaks or spills, it seems it may just be another place for dust to gather. Unless someone can prove it is a worthwhile investment, I think I'll stick with bare decks and film ovens.

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 12-15-2003, 02:59 AM:

Perhaps your first problem to adress is where is all that dust coming from?

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 12-15-2003, 01:45 PM:

Both of my theatres are located near busy streets, & the traffic kicks up a lot of dust & other "stuff"... especially during the Summer. Exiting cars kick up a lot of dust at the drive-in, too.

Even if they don't get it all, I think that platter covers do us a lot of good at both places, and we use them religiously. I figure if dust is settling on top of your racks, it's probably doing the same thing on your prints. If you never have to clean off your sound racks, maybe you've got a pretty good filtration system in your booth & platter covers might not matter!

Oh... I also noticed that after we started using covers, our media pads stayed clean longer.

quote:
Also what is everyone's take on rotation of leader stock? We make up leaders out of virgin stock and they are replaced every 3-months?

I can't see that this makes any difference, as long as the leader is physically intact. We have two or three extra leaders in the booth, so there's some natural rotation going on as prints are pulled and made up. We use mylar leader & clean each one with naptha when we pull it off a print. They're rolled on a large trailer core & hung on a peg for the next print that comes along. If they work & are clean, what pracical purpose is there in replacing them on a rotating basis?

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-15-2003, 04:14 PM:

Certainly in the dusty environment typical of a drive-in projection room, platter covers are a good idea. But keep them CLEAN!

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 12-15-2003, 05:54 PM:

it's only a matter of time before our leaders start snagging on that stupid groove in the black rollers of our aw3's. and once the edge of the leader gets creased, it snags every time. we end up just living with that for far too long. i wish we replaced our leaders more often.

carl

Posted by Chris Byrne (Member # 1563) on 12-16-2003, 03:53 AM:

I am almost certain that the dust is a combination of compressed cardboard ceiling tiles (prone to shedding) and poor upkeep of the filters, etc in the air conditioning system.

Dust is not a major problem in our booth. I had just tossed up the idea of platter covers in my head, as unfortunately we do not have the luxury of film cleaners fitted to our consoles.

Regardless of the arguments for and against replacing leader stock, it really is minimal effort to make up one batch of leaders every few months.

Carl, have you tried masking tape on the end of your leader?

Can someone tell me what is a MYLAR leader? Is this relating to a certain type of film stock?

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 12-16-2003, 07:06 AM:

our leaders have a short bit of splicing tape on the end, right where it folds over to fit into the platter ring. that works just fine, but it's the few feet after that get mangled. are you suggesting just folding a length of tape over the soundtrack edge of the film for a few feet to firm it up? maybe i'll try that.

on another note, we just got a new furnace installed. now unfortunately our furnaces are smack in the middle of our upstairs booth area and do not contribute to overall booth cleanliness. heating ducts run out over both upstairs platters, and apparently vibrations from the newly-working furnace dislodged a fair amount of dust from the top of one duct onto the top platter deck. to give an idea, i dusted the top deck at the start of the day, as a matter of course as it had been uncovered all night, with the print on the middle platter. when i went back to that platter 10 minutes later, there was already a clearly visible pile of dust right by the brain. well i cleaned off the top of the duct as well as i could in the time i had, and it was absolutely filthy. we're going to avoid using that top platter for a few days until we're sure everything has settled down. i guess the moral of that is that you should always cover your prints because you never know when shit like that will happen.

carl

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-16-2003, 09:33 AM:

"MYLAR"® is DuPont's trade name for polyester (polyethylene terephthalate) film base. Kodak's trade name is "ESTAR"®. Agfa's is "GEVAR"®. DuPont also called it "CRONAR"®.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-16-2003, 09:50 AM:

I can't understand why so many platter covers are made of cloth - like carpets in projection rooms, they're just dust repositories. Plastic ones are a much better idea, because dust cannot work its way in between the fibres. But the bottom line is that, assuming they're kept clean, they can't hurt and they can help, especially in a dusty projection box.

As for leaders, in my cinema days I used to make up platter leaders as follows: 100 feet of used trailer with sync marks placed on it about 30 feet in, followed by 10 feet of clear spacing with opaque frame line to confirm that you're laced up in rack (i.e. an easy visual check as the film is running at full speed), followed by an Academy leader to time you into the show start. At the end of the print I would put a further 50 feet of used trailer to protect the tail, spliced the wrong way round to avoid any danger of the projector reading a digital track on it and switching over to Dolby or DTS.

The beauty of this is that the length of used trailer takes all the abuse of lacing, ramping up to speed and accumulating the dust resulting from being left laced up and ready to go for several minutes. The framed spacing and leader, which you have to pay for, is as well protected as the actual print. Assuming it's polyester, it'll last forever and you'll only ever need to replace the length of used trailer.