Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Hours per Platter

This is topic Hours per Platter in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Blake Zaugg (Member # 1455) on 07-18-2007, 11:45 PM:

An employee asked me today, how many hours of film could fit on one platter?

Anyone know the answer?

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 07-19-2007, 12:22 AM:

Depends on the platter. I believe you standard Strong/Christie platter will hold 4 1/2 hours of film to the edge-though I wouldn't run that much without a safety ring or something.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-19-2007, 03:29 AM:

Drive-In (SPECO) LP-270 platters were just that: 270 minutes of film sitting on that "K-MART Blue Light picnic table" unit.

...translating into the 4.5hrs of film being of 52inch decks.

-Monte

Posted by Timothy Eiler (Member # 383) on 07-19-2007, 08:14 AM:

I always run double features and Right now I have 4.75 hour of film on one red lp-270 deck. And have run this combo on a strong platter. This Friday i will have Ratatouille 116 min Pirates of the Caribbean 168 min. Plus 15 min of Come to the snack bar. For a total of 299 min And I am not worrying about it fitting on either platter when i do move it.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-19-2007, 10:17 AM:

Estar film is not as thick as acetate. I believe a reduction of 30% was made a year or so after its introduction. Therefore the LP-270 could possibly hold much more. Louis

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 07-19-2007, 10:39 AM:

There's a formula:
Film length in feet =(pi((D2**2)-(D1**2)))/48*Tf
D2 - Outer diameter, inches
D1 - Inner (core) diameter, inches
Tf - Film thickness, inches
(the 48 is a constant to get things working in feet and inches)
35mm film runs 90 feet/minute so length/90 gives minutes.

Film thickness is about 0.0055" for estar prints, acetate prints are thicker (this is why old reel "minutes" markings are always too short a time with new estar prints).

For example, a Strong/Alpha platter with 13" core and a 53" roll (pretty full 54" platter) holds 32,632 feet or 362 minutes - 6 hours! That sounds a bit long, but I've never filled a 54" platter to the rim to check...