General cleaning of exposed film, what chemical or machine/equip do you use?

[Erniekim]

Hi,

I would love to hear what folks use to clean badly handled film. I will be involved in the cleaning of a variety of film sizes up to 14x17 inches. I will share my experiences (lessons learned) here.

We have done our professional due diligence of course but I have found that a good forum can produce some profound information that is outside the mainstream publications.

We'll be starting with manual processes and move to the use of a automated machine of some kind eventually (within a few months). We'll be doing basic air & brush cleaning but would love to hear what everyone has used in the way of chemicals and what procedures were employed.

I'm familiar with the standards: PEC, 3m 8200 but would like to expand my knowledge base a bit. For the advanced damage (worked into the base) I'll employ experts but general cleaning such as fingerprints, peanut butter from someone's lunch, :-) etc, (who knows what), I'd love to hear what you have to say. These will be x-ray films, newer ones that are similar to conventional photographic film.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to participating in this

[Erniekim]

Hi,

I would love to hear what folks use to clean badly handled film. I will be involved in the cleaning of a variety of film sizes up to 14x17 inches. I will share my experiences (lessons learned) here.

We have done our professional due diligence of course but I have found that a good forum can produce some profound information that is outside the mainstream publications.

We'll be starting with manual processes and move to the use of a automated machine of some kind eventually (within a few months). We'll be doing basic air & brush cleaning but would love to hear what everyone has used in the way of chemicals and what procedures were employed.

I'm familiar with the standards: PEC, 3m 8200 but would like to expand my knowledge base a bit. For the advanced damage (worked into the base) I'll employ experts but general cleaning such as fingerprints, peanut butter from someone's lunch, :-) etc, (who knows what), I'd love to hear what you have to say. These will be x-ray films, newer ones that are similar to conventional photographic film.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to participating in this

[Leigh]

???

This is not ASK.COM.

Do not expect instant answers to your questions. You'll be badly disappointed.

- Leigh

[Erniekim]

Hi again,
I was surprised to see 60 views but no responses. X-ray film is the same as photographic film so I expected to see at least a little discussion.
Am I on the wrong forum? Can anyone suggest another forum if I am.
Also, I plan to give feedback after we get started. I think folks would find it interesting and useful. I hate forum members that are takers only and don't give back. I always contribute in kind.

Thanks again.

Kim

[Erniekim]

Ok,
Leigh, How did that happen? You commented on my post before I posted it?
Kim

[Peter De Smidt]

You have a bunch of dirty x-ray negatives. What do you want to do with them? Make prints? Cleaning negatives always risks damaging them, the more intense the cleaning, the more likely they are to be damaged, especially for damage that's been "worked into the base." If the goal is to make prints, then I'd have high res scans made before doing anything. That way, if you damage them even more than they already are, then at least you'll have something. Effective cleaning all depends on what needs to be cleaned off. Using anything with water will cause the emulsions to swell and become delicate.

[Erniekim]

You have a bunch of dirty x-ray negatives. What do you want to do with them? Make prints? Cleaning negatives always risks damaging them, the more intense the cleaning, the more likely they are to be damaged, especially for damage that's been "worked into the base." If the goal is to make prints, then I'd have high res scans made before doing anything. That way, if you damage them even more than they already are, then at least you'll have something. Effective cleaning all depends on what needs to be cleaned off. Using anything with water will cause the emulsions to swell and become delicate.

Peter,
These are X-rays so the film is the end product. Using any kind of reproduction would result in loss of fidelity. I understand your logic to scan before cleaning but we already have solid procedures that will not disturb the emulsion and affect the image. Scanning the film before cleaning is not really an option because the resulting image would simply reproduce the contaminant.
What I'm asking about is equipment to automate the process and make it more cost-effective. You folks do a tremendous amount of images in the film world. Machines to clean roll film automatically are common. I'm curious about possibly translating some of that technology over to a larger format. Of course it wouldn't handle the worst case scenarios (like the peanut butter sandwich droppings) but it may help with fingerprints, etc..
I was just wondering if anyone had experience with cleaning large volumes of larger format films.
Thanks

[ShannonG]

Have you tried rewashing the film?

[Tom Monego]

Have you tried rewashing the film?

I agree, soak the film for 3-5 minutes in a bath with PhotoFlo. Use a soft lint free paper, cloth or a big squeegee to take the excess water off. This works well, but you have to be careful, it does soften the emulsion.

Tom

[Erniekim]

I agree, soak the film for 3-5 minutes in a bath with PhotoFlo. Use a soft lint free paper, cloth or a big squeegee to take the excess water off. This works well, but you have to be careful, it does soften the emulsion.

Tom

Thanks,

Yes, re washing will be needed for some portion of them. What about the equipment used to do the "surface" cleaning? I've seen some, many actually, that use a combination of agitating brushes and solvents to remove the "human" element. They would do a more "consistent" cleaning as well. The ones I've seen were very small though, a couple of inches wide at most.

Has anyone seen any larger ones?

Thanks

[jp]

For most of us, large format and volume of work are mutually exclusive. If we've more than we can process (and clean if needed) by hand, we've gone too far.

[Peter De Smidt]

JP498 is right. Check with the photographic archivist at a museum with a prominent photo collection, such as the Smithsonian.