cleaning gate

[chaunceytanton]

Does anyone have any advice on cleaning your own gates? I'm scared I'll push dirt and dust into the backside of the lense> I was thinking about trying those mini-vaccums they make for electronics? thanks, chauncey

[Alex]

After further review, I would agree that blowing air onto the film path could blow dust into the back of the lens. (It sure does clean out the frame line however!)

Perhaps a Q-Tip every so slightly dipped in denatured alcohol might be the way to go.

don't forget to clean the claw opening also. Especially the very top and the very bottom of where the claw has it's upstroke and downstroke.

[Alex]

anymore opinions.

[Mike Buckles]

I used compressed air, haven't had a problem...in fact, I just drug out my old Bell and Howell reg 8mm projector to "play" with, and blew compressed air in the film gate...a big ball of dust blew out from the back of the gate and out of the projector..I blow air into the front and back of the gate to get both sides...compressed air is great!

[Alex]

I was refering to a camera versus a projector.
I would definitely agree that for a projector air is useful because most projectors have removeable lenses.

But blowing air into the film path on a camera might cause the dust to go onto the back of the lens element, which cannot be removed.

I'm not saying not to do it (I do use air on my camera, [img]redface.gif[/img] ) but it seems that it would be riskier for a super-8 camera versus a super-8 projector.

[chaunceytanton]

thanks for follow up. I haven't cleaned my nizo yet so any more comments are appreciated. chauncey

[Mike Buckles]

Oops! [img]redface.gif[/img] Sorry I misunderstood...yeah, I can see where the dust could go from the film gate to the back of the lens element...one of those small bulb camel's hair brushes would do the trick for the camera cleaning.