Ultrasonic cleaning

[Mike Buckles]

I know Alex that you've mentioned cleaning films "ultrasonically"...what is this process..can it be done yourself, or do you have to send it somewhere, and if so, what is the cost? I was thinking about eventually (in the distant future!) having some of my old films ranked with wetgate, and i think it would be advantageous to have them clean before I submit them for transfer..I could always get some flannel rolls and clean them myself too.

[Alex]

Well, I guess you'll be the first to know. [img]graemlins/shhh.gif[/img]

I was able to contact the company that bought out the company that used to clean my Super-8 films in the late 80's and early 90's ultrasonically.

I called them and they are quite willing to meet with me and test a roll of film on one of their standby ultrasonic machines to see if they can get the hang of cleaning super-8 films.

If they think they can do it, they may offer it as a film cleaning service for super-8 films. But I don't mean to get too far ahead in the process, it's all speculation at this point.

The biggest issue may be if they want to deal with spliced super-8 films or not. All it will take is for one or two Super-8 spliced films to come apart while they are ultrasonically cleaning it and they may not want to deal with super-8 at all.

[Actor]

I have absoluely no experience with this but ...

I would think that ultrasonic cleaning would have the potential to clean the emulsion right off the film. Cleaning film has to be a gentle process and I would not think that ultrasonic qualifies. You would have to be certain not to set the intensity of the sound waves too high. Waves strong enough to undo your splices are probably not doing your film much good.

[Mike Buckles]

Thanks for the info...i would be very interested in the results/outcome...keep us posted!

[Alex]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">Originally posted by Actor:
I have absoluely no experience with this but ...

I would think that ultrasonic cleaning would have the potential to clean the emulsion right off the film. Cleaning film has to be a gentle process and I would not think that ultrasonic qualifies. You would have to be certain not to set the intensity of the sound waves too high. Waves strong enough to undo your splices are probably not doing your film much good.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

The splices coming apart are a function of 3 variables. Tension setting on the supply and take up reels, plus the roller guides.

The age and quality of the splices.

And the ultrasonic setting.

I'll try and learn what I can when I go and see the machine. I think the film passes through the ultrasonic cleaner, so each short section of the film is only exposed to the ultrasonic cleaning for a couple of seconds.