Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Film Guard Help

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Posted by Seth Swanson (Member # 4572) on 12-09-2007, 06:31 PM:

Hey everyone. We have an enormous problem with print shedding in our booth and Film Guard seems to be the solution. I've been using Film Guard for a few weeks with much success but I wanted to clarify a few things I am unsure about. I've read every Film Guard topic on the boards and all the instruction sheets.

1. When I spray the pads on the cleaner I get a puddle at the bottom. When I spray the same amount while holding the pads in my hand, only a couple drops come off. It seems when I have it on the cleaner the puddle attracts more of the solution rather than staying in the pads. Is this ok?

2. Do I need to run freshly soaked pads on a print that has yet to be treated with Film Guard or can I throw on a pad already in use? If the answer is yes, should that print never be treated with freshly soaked pads again? Or would it be ok at some point?

I've only tested this on three prints so far, the ones with the most purple dust and it seems to stop most of it but the results are varying from projector to projector. On one print it still has dust buildup on the lower and upper part of the tension bands and one of the sprockets is still collecting quite a bit also. On another projector, there are stips of grey-blue stuff caked on the tension bands and behind the bands as well. A lot of the rollers have purple stuff caked on them as well.

Any ideas?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-09-2007, 08:44 PM:

quote: Seth Swanson
When I spray the pads on the cleaner I get a puddle at the bottom.

I'm not sure what you mean by "puddle at the bottom." If you are spraying with the nozzle pressed into the media, you should be able to give it 20 or so pumps before any FG drips off. The idea is to get the pad soaked, but not dripping.

For #2, if you treat the film with an "in-use" media pad, you could re-treat later with a freshly soaked pad with no harm - but you might see more of the water-looking streaks on the screen on your first showing (not a huge deal, but good to know about).

Posted by Seth Swanson (Member # 4572) on 12-09-2007, 09:35 PM:

Ok. I might be using a tad too much then. It's difficult to get the nozzle completely against the pad because the cleaner kind of gets in the way but it's mostly against it. When I get near the end of soaking it the Film Guard starts flowing down the pad haha. Probably too much.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-09-2007, 09:45 PM:

The basic rule of thumb is to always give fresh media and a saturation of FilmGuard on a print that has never been cleaned with FilmGuard. After that if the media isn't too dirty, you can resaturate the media and use it on another print that has previously been cleaned with FilmGuard.

I would recommend you unravel the supply roll 1/2 turn and saturate the top half, then rotate the roll back tight and saturate the other half, which is now on top.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-09-2007, 09:46 PM:

Brad and I really should have made a video of the proper way to apply Filmgaurd when we had the chance. It'd be short and quick enough to be an animated GIF file.

Anyway just press the nozzle into the pad that set up onto the cleaner and pump pump pump until it starts to drip (it helps to have the cleaner upside down for this). Make sure the media roll is already set up and taped to the take up roll and ready to go otherwise. A freshly saturated roll needs to be run on the print for the first time. Ideally you'd keep rewinding the roll and running it on the same print again and again for a week (do not resaturate). Then change out the rolls and resaturate them.

What theater are you working for? I thought Bowles Crossing 12 was the only theater who even attempted to use Filmguard in the entire Denver metro area.