Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Heavy Booth Maintence

This is topic Heavy Booth Maintence in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Brian Douglass (Member # 2094) on 01-11-2005, 02:44 AM:

I just started at a disgusting, dirty, Christie Booth that needs some heavy maintence.

Anyone have any suggestions on the best, safest, and most productive way to cleanup the booth without disturbing the prints there?

One problem is that purple gel still on the sprockets, and intermittent that just won't come off. I've been using a toothbrush and filmguard, but after each show, the projector is once again all gummed up.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-11-2005, 05:02 AM:

Are you using the FG to clean and lubricate the sprockets/gate, or are you using it via media film cleaner on the prints? Once a print starts shedding, the only way to stop it is to coat it with FG. Then of course you should attack the source of the problem so it doesn't happen on new prints coming in (commonly on the Christies this is the gate bands and shoe adjustment).

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 01-11-2005, 12:36 PM:

Agree with brad.
Also check that all the rollers are properly aligned.
Whenever I take over a booth I start by making sure everything is in the right place. Rollers and guidance equipment, cleaners, etc.
Then it's onto cleanup time. Start from the top down. Cover the prints at closing and knock down all the cobwebs in the booth or anything else on the ceiling. Next, sweep up and mop in the morning (or vacuum). If you have to vacuum use a Hepa filtered one.
Repeat your mopping once a week or as needed.
Same thing with cleaning the equipment. Brush it all out, but go over each roller and piece of guidance equipment with a cotton swab and alchohol once a week or as needed and you'll have nothing left but opperator error to blame for scratches and dust.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-11-2005, 03:11 PM:

The best way to "clean up" a disgusting, dirty, Christie booth?

Turn all the breakers off. Get an industrial garden hose. Hose everything down nice and good. Flip the breakers back on. Call the theater's insurance company. [thumbsup]

I've never heard of the reccomendation to use Film Guard on the actual machine parts. It IS a FILM cleaner, after all.

=TMP=

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-11-2005, 04:12 PM:

Dust everything in the booth from the top down.

Don't forget to get the tops/backs of the projector(s) and sound rack(s) and window sills. Once the dust has been knocked down to the floor, sweep and wet-mop like crazy.

Use a wisk broom and get into all the corners.
Move the furniture/cabinets that can be moved. Don't just sweep AROUND the furniture! Sweep wall-to-wall as mucn as you possibly can.

Same thing goes for mopping... Wall-to-wall. Change the mop water often! You don't really need to use a lot of soap in the mop water if you change it often enough.

Once you get the place cleaned, floor to ceiling, repeat it over and over again until you are satisfied. You might have to dust, sweep and mop the place two or three times in a week to get it really clean!

Once you get the booth as clean as you like, don't stop cleaning! Set a regular schedule and STICK TO IT! For instance, you should dust and sweep on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday then mop on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. (Take Saturday off. It's the busiest day for a theater.)

Here's the trick to keeping a booth clean. If you do your chores every day for a week, if you get busy one day and have to skip your chores, the booth won't be intolerably dirty. On the other hand, you can skip cleaning for a week and clean like hell on Sunday but it won't do a bit of good.

Regular, scheduled maintainence is the key.

Posted by Brian Douglass (Member # 2094) on 01-11-2005, 04:20 PM:

Yea, actually I've been using Film-Guard as a projector cleaning tool (as well as for the film cleaners). But, I just spray some on the toothbrush before cleaning out the sprockets and the film gates.

I just make sure it stays away from the LED lights, but it's been a huge help in getting the projectors up to maintence.

haha! Thomas, I've been in Christie Booths, and ya know what... after a nice hose down, I trust that they'd keep on running!

However, since the rollers on the makeup tables had completely rusted, (plastic rollers were covered with rust...), the lenses were cleaned with soap and water, and I found melted army men in the lamp houses... I wish I could just hose it down! [Smile]

Dust is the biggest problem, thanks Dominic. I knew what I needed to do, just not exactly in what order.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-11-2005, 05:24 PM:

FilmGuard works dandy as a gate lubricant and on a toothbrush for sprockets, Tom. Try it.

Brian, I wouldn't pay too close of attention to Randy about his mopping if you have carpeted booths. [Razz]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-11-2005, 07:12 PM:

Sorry... Never worked in a carpeted booth, myself.

Y'Know, some people screen off their garages, park the car out in the driveway and carpet the garage with Astro Turf so they can use it as a Rec. Room. Not me. A garage is a place where you park your car or else there's no point in having one.

Some people carpet their projection booths but, to me, it's a lot like carpeting a garage. Garages and projection booths just aren't SUPPOSED to be carpeted.

That's why I never thought you might have a carpeted booth.

So... Just to satisfy Brad:

If you have a booth with carpet on the floor, vacuum the hell out of it! Get a GOOD vacuum cleaner. I recommend the "cannister" kind with a powered brush head. That way you can vacuum underneath more of the tables and equipment. You can also use just the hose with the brush or crevice tool to clean out the insides of the projector/lamphouse. If you are CAREFUL you can clean the platters and MUTs with it too.

I think one of the guys above said to get the kind of sweeper with a HEPA filter. I agree. Something like a Dyson (if you can afford it) or one of those generic "cyclone" sweepers would be a good choice. I have a generic "cyclone" sweeper to clean the house. It works well for me.

One thing: If you use a vacuum sweeper in the booth you MUST empty the dust cup or bag and clean the filter(s) EVERY SINGLE TIME you use it! DO NOT just set the thing back in the corner or in a closet somewhere! Clean the fucking thing out! If you don't you might as well not clean the booth at all! You'll just be blowing all the dust back up into the air and it will settle right where you don't want it... On the film!

No matter what the exact method you use, clean like mad for at least a week. Dust, sweep, vacuum, mop... Repeat! Do it at least twice. More if you can stand to.

If you're the new booth manager/supervisor you WILL get noticed! Upper management can't help but notice when the booth goes from grungy shit hole to sparkling clean. The staff will probably complain like hell but, when the job is done they will all be able to step back, look at their handy work and be PROUD of their booth for once. (Unless they have absolutely NO work ethic!) Just make sure you recognize everybody for the work they did!

Maybe you could even schedule a late night work party and buy pizza for the staff who come in to work late. (Bribery will do it every time! [evil]

)

In the end, it's not just that one stint of clean-up work that will make your booth run great. It's a consistent program of cleaning that does it.

It WILL pay off!

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-11-2005, 07:18 PM:

And when you have done all that dusting/sweeping/vacuuming, you have only just started. Take a look inside the console. There will be tons of dust everywhere, clogging everything, suffocating the blowers, covering the reflector. Especially the blower under the diode bridge will most likely have died horribly a long time ago.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-11-2005, 11:49 PM:

I had a call from a theater that reported that their lamp wouldn't strike but they couldn't figure out why. I went there, looked around for a few minutes then reached down the blower pipe that feeds cool air to the bulb. I pulled out a dust bunny the size of a baseball!

Then I turned around, tossed the dust bunny on the ground at the booth manager's feet and said, "I found your problem! If you clean your projectors once in a while this wouldn't happen."
(In retrospect, tossing the dust bunny on the floor was a bad idea. I should have tossed it AT HIM!)

So, YES! Clean out your lamphouses! But if you open the door and you hear a voice say, "ZOOL!, just shut the door and head for the nearest exit!

[Big Grin]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-12-2005, 02:45 AM:

quote: Randy Stankey
projection booths just aren't SUPPOSED to be carpeted.

Just because you worked for Cinemark and learned their ways won't stop me from slapping the crap out of you when I see you in person for that nonsense. Carpet BELONGS in the booth! [Wink]

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-12-2005, 03:04 AM:

Without wanting to accidentally open any sore wounds and if you don't mind my asking, why do you believe that carpeted booths are a good idea? I've worked in both, as a result of which my floor covering of choice would lino/PVC/laminate or some other form of plastic floor covering. The main reason is that with a mop and bucket you're going to get all the crud up - a carpet is effectively a sponge for dust. Also, hoovering a carpet thoroughly would take me a lot longer than mopping a plastic floor of a similar surface area.

quote: Dominic Espinosa
Brush it all out, but go over each roller and piece of guidance equipment with a cotton swab and alchohol...

I was always taught that isopropyl alcohol was a big no-no for film paths, except possibly once in a blue moon and on crud that simply couldn't be removed by anything else. It's slightly corrosive, and I've certainly seen rough or dulled surfaces on plastic rollers that have been cleaned with it over prolonged periods of time.

quote: Thomas Procyk
I've never heard of the reccomendation to use Film Guard on the actual machine parts. It IS a FILM cleaner, after all.

Well, if you coat FG on the film and then place the film in contact with machine parts, the laws of physics dictate that FG is going to end up on the machine parts, isn't it? [Big Grin]

I've found that its lubricating function is one of the best things about it (strictly for films and machine parts, of course!), especially for telecine transfers of significantly shrunk acetate elements.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-12-2005, 05:41 AM:

Every non-carpeted booth I have worked has been a noise dungeon. It's aggravating to work in, and the noise transfers more prominently into the auditorium as well. I have never had any problems with dirt, so that part of the argument is thrown out the window. Also, vaccuming is far easier and quicker than mopping.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-12-2005, 07:18 AM:

Carpeting is fine, as long as a lint-free short pile carpeting is chosen, and it is kept clean. Treat it with a topical conductive antistat if winter static shocks are a problem.

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 01-12-2005, 12:28 PM:

the non-carpeted booths I've worked in were noisy, but if the auditoriums are insulated and built properly, I don't see why carpet would be a huge plus. Matter of fact, the few times I've heard noise from the projection booth was at places in which the booth were carpeted (I know that's not the cause).

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-12-2005, 02:15 PM:

Yeah, carpets are a BRILLIANT idea in the booth...

Especially when that projector leaks oil, or you spill some FilmGuard or you get that nice "trail blazed" around each machine from the heavy traffic... yeah, vacuum that up why doncha! [Razz]

I know, I know, "Your projectors shouldn't leak, you shoudn't spill FilmGuard and if you change your route around the booth weekly and keep a schedule to do so, paths won't get beaten into your rug." If that's the case, then get me that machine you've been using and transport me out of this "real world" please. [Wink]

=TMP=

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 01-12-2005, 07:36 PM:

One of the best ideas to solve this debate is to carpet the whole booth, EXCEPT for the area around the projector/console. A nice gray tile works well, won't show too much dirt and is easy to keep clean. The tile area should be from the rear of the projector to the front wall, with one foot on the non-operating side and three feet on the operating side. The platter area can be done the same way, but it's not necessary.

I saw this set-up in a theatre years ago and it worked out well. [thumbsup]

Edited for spellin'

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-12-2005, 08:59 PM:

1950's style square asphalt tiles in a checkerboard pattern.
Black and light grey with colored specks.
Dark grey vinyl baseboard.

Either that or pea green and "Melmac" pink with white specks using a jet black baseboard.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 01-12-2005, 09:06 PM:

Yeah Randy...so what's your point? I'm putting in the pink tiles with a baby blue baseboard in my home booth...

Unlike Tom that seems to think 1970's shag carpets in the booth is the hhot thing, I like tile. Snakes are deadly affraid of tile ya know...

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-12-2005, 09:16 PM:

John, where would one get topical conductive antistat?

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-12-2005, 10:19 PM:

It's gotta' be a sculptured shag carpet... RED shag carpet! The kind that has to be raked every day to get rid of the footprints.
Make sure the fake wood paneling on the walls is DARK.
And put lava lamps on top of the projectors for work lighting!
Don't forget the black Naugahyde sofa with the diamond shaped tuck and roll upholstery!

And, if you're going to put down blue and pink tile in your booth make sure they are on the bias so that the lines aren't parallel with the walls.

Posted by David Yauch (Member # 2754) on 01-13-2005, 01:23 AM:

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
One of the best ideas to solve this debate is to carpet the whole booth, EXCEPT for the area around the projector/console. A nice gray tile works well, won't show too much dirt and is easy to keep clean. The tile area should be from the rear of the projector to the front wall, with one foot on the non-operating side and three feet on the operating side. The platter area can be done the same way, but it's not necessary.

We use this kind of set-up as well. Only difference is that we use WHITE tiles, we would like to know when there is dirt, so we can clean it up, even if the tile is slightly yellow stained. In fact I just got done doing some scrubbing and mopping today, and damn that booth is looking good.

Posted by Brian Douglass (Member # 2094) on 01-13-2005, 03:09 AM:

Thanks Brad and Randy!

I've already put a large amount of hours in, in basic pickup. Throwing everything I could find of no use to "the cause". Boxes, old broken computers, bags of garbages. Than I began dusting, and 8 rolls of paper towels later, I started mopping the floors, cleaning the trap assemblys, changing belts and bulbs, etc. The fun stuff!

The problem now is, there are several "projectionists" that may do one or two shifts in the booth. But that stuff should be posted in "Hey You, You Suck!", I think we all know what I'm talking about!

Now, what's the deal with Xecote. I'm told it's is very "oil-ly", and collects dust. I found an abundance of it, but have never really played with the stuff too much myself.

What's everyone's take on it? Should I chuck it?

Thanks for all your help, the booth is looking great right now.

Maybe I'll get some pictures sometime to show you all a nice before and after!

haha! and No, no carpet in this booth!

Posted by Mike Pennell (Member # 1692) on 01-13-2005, 03:57 AM:

xekote is evil. lose it.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-13-2005, 09:07 AM:

Xe-Cote is just paraffin wax dissolved in triclorethane solvent. It's "Old School" stuff.

FilmGuard supercedes it. Use FilmGuard. Toss the Xe-Cote.

Besides, Xe-Cote goes bad after it's been sitting around for too long. The solvent evaporates and you're left with nothing but liquid wax. It doesn't work near as well, then.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-13-2005, 09:51 AM:

You'll also be feeling pretty high with all those 1,1,1 fumes permeating the booth's atmosphere (it's almost identical to ether, which was once used as an anaesthetic)...

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-13-2005, 02:35 PM:

quote: Joe Redifer
John, where would one get topical conductive antistat?

http://www.aclstaticide.com/01/index.html

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4257924.html

quote:
An anti-static compound comprising a complex thermoset combination of a cationic surfactant containing from 8 to 22 carbon atoms, an essential oil and a glycol. Heating a mixture of the cationic surfactant, essential oil and glycol results in a composition wherein the oil bonds directly to the cationic compound with a resinous effect, surrounding the cationic charged particles, thereby prolonging discharge capability. The composition may be applied directly to the surface of materials to be anti-statically treated, or combined with detergents or shampoos to impart the treatment during normal washing, or included in certain polymers during manufacture of the synthetic fibers prior to extrusion. The composition of the invention acts as an anti-static agent possessing increased effectiveness, stability and longevity.

http://ultrastatinc.com/static_control_carpet_xostat.html

quote:
Cost effective static control carpeting is imperative for Healthcare, Universities, Schools, Libraries, Retail, Hospitality, Institutional, Airports, Residential and Serious Offices. It insures the reliability of most electronics, yet, (on a softer side) provides the ergonomic Zap Free comfort, colors and styles you deserve for a comfortable, productive working environment.

http://unitedesd.com/XO_Stat_Certification.html

quote:
X-0 Stat Anti Static Carpeting for Static Control

Computer Grade Performance for Networked Offices, Server Rooms and Schools.

Posted by Brian Douglass (Member # 2094) on 01-16-2005, 03:37 AM:

Congratulations to the garbage, you've just recieved an 8 year surplus of wonderful Xe-Cote! [Smile]

Thanks guys!