Welcome to BigScreenBiz.com

Well I am starting my second week as a projectionist/theatre owner.

A problem: I have 1 film that is starts to buckle in after 50% of the movie has been played. For now everythingbs seems to work fine (knock on wood).

What is causing this? Normal?

Thanks

Mike

What brand platter? When the film is rewound on the take up platter is the film loose?

If it is caused by static: Check your humidity level in the booth. Never use Windex to clean the platter. Wipe down the platters and rollers with anti-static spray before threading. There is a whole thread here somewhere on static problems. "Film-Guard" and the above solved my problem.

Of course it could be caused by tension as Lance is getting at.

If this is a new problem, maybe you got a print that was broken down too aggressively. If you're lucky, it'll go away when you ship it out.

Inward buckling can be caused if the film is wound too tightly. Make sure the drive on your makeup table is not engaged when you load a print, so you aren't working against the motor on the table. Maybe someone forgot when they built up that print. Many MUTs have alternate spindles with only a clutch of some sort. That would normally eliminate the problem. Again, you don't wany any more tension than you need to uniformly load the print. If you had to work hard to get the platter ring off right after the print was loaded, it was probably wound too tight... and that buckling can be around for awhile as a result.

Offhand, I don't think this could be a matter of winding too loosely. After all, there has to be enough takeup tension to hold the "elevator" in position.

[This message has been edited by rodeojack (edited November 12, 2006).]

"Film Buckle" could also be due to excessively dry conditions, common in the winter. Try to keep your projection room relative humidity near 50%RH --- very dry conditions will cause the film to curl too much. Get a humidifier if necessary.

---

John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Thanks John. I hope you are feeling well.

The problem has been non-existent for a while. I believe it had to do with the temperature in the booth.

The fan motor on the roof vent was broken and since it has been replaced, the film has been working much better.

Thanks everyone for their help.