Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Sticky Juice sprayed on screen

This is topic Sticky Juice sprayed on screen in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Michael Jamieson (Member # 10389) on 12-28-2018, 04:51 AM:

Hiya,
Not sure if I’m on the right page, but, somebody has sprayed some small drops of sticky juice (Fanta etc) on our screen. The screen is a white screen, and the drops are reflecting back and visible from a couple of the centre seats. It’s extremely distracting for the poor people in those seats. Anyone know how I should go about cleaning this?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 12-28-2018, 05:20 AM:

Shine some light onto those sprinkles so you can easily spot them. Use wet (water) cotton swabs to remove them. Don't wipe the full screen with cloth - this will typically show nasty wipe traces.
Try to dip/rotate the swabs just on those small sprinkles.

- Carsten

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 12-28-2018, 06:23 AM:

If you have, use deionized / demineralized water and really just that. Don't use any detergents. The advantage of demineralized water is that it will leave no residue. You can get it at almost any grocery store as it is commonly used for ironing.

If your screen is made out of some form of vinyl and the stuff is just juice or fanta, it usually doesn't make its way into the screen surface itself and it will be solvable in water.

In any case, don't try to rub any surface you don't have to rub. Once finished, it doesn't need to be perfectly dry. If you used demineralized water, it will just evaporate and leave no trace.

Also, don't use a steamer (even not those handheld ones) on a screen made out of plastics, the results are usually disastrous.

Posted by Michael Jamieson (Member # 10389) on 12-28-2018, 06:36 AM:

Thanks guys, that's great advice, I'll let you know how I get on!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-28-2018, 11:28 AM:

I've been gone for six years now, and so things may have changed, but when I lived in the UK, distilled/deionized/demineralized water was more difficult to get hold of there than it is in the United States. Here, every supermarket sells it, and at negligible cost (a couple of bucks for a gallon). My memory of the situation in Britain is that supermarkets typically don't, and that you need to go to a DIY or car repair store, such as B & Q or Halfords, and be prepared to pay well over a pound a liter. When I bought it to do car radiator flushes and refills, I remember that the distilled water cost around the same as the concentrated coolant it was used to dilute. That's nothing compared to the cost of a new screen, though.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-28-2018, 01:40 PM:

If this happened on a silver screen, the entire screen would have to be replaced.

Yes, when wiping stuff like this off of white screens, wipe in a vertical motion only and from the top down-no wiping up and down.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-28-2018, 02:28 PM:

I think the biggest thing to remember, outside of what's been said above, is don't 'scrub' the stuff off. Wipe gently until it comes off. If you scrub, you'll take the reflective coating off and then you WILL need to replace the screen.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-28-2018, 03:07 PM:

If it's any sort of a gain type screen then it is all over for that one. Been through this many times. Check with your insurance company! They usually cover it. If they don't get a new insurance company!

Mark

Posted by Rod Archer (Member # 10704) on 01-02-2019, 10:14 AM:

The replies that told you to not wipe the screen are correct. This will damage the surface.
The best solution I have found for cleaning screens is to spray the spot with water, wait for the spots to dissolve, then blow the water off the screen with compressed air. The compressed air is the trick that keeps the screen usable. This works with plain vinyl, gain white screens and with silver screens.

Posted by Terry Monohan (Member # 8285) on 01-11-2019, 11:33 AM:

As most cinema auditoriums sit empty before each show starts with no showmanship curtains that are closed and after the clean crew leaves I am surprised this screen problem does not happen more often with the graffiti spray crowd.
That would be worse then drink drops tossed at a white or silver screen.
Theatres may have to put a security camera in each cinema space before the place gets dark plus a posted sign about vandalism on the property in the future.
Gone are the days of a usher being inside to keep a eye on the seating area.
I have found lately in some of the new circuit theatres around the SF Bay Area they do have some movie type live person standing down in front of the screen. They wait till the movie starts then leave. I guess they think this is class?
Then you have the old Regal Theatres red flashlight gang that goes up and down the aisles and looks at the exit doors and temp gauge. This only happens in the dark when a movie is going on.
Those long type Red flashlights are something else.
Regal Cinemas needs to change to a Blue type flashlight wand. I bought a few of these flashlight color wands for my curved screen home cinema and I get up once during the movie to give people drinks ect and they get a kick out of them.