8x20 S&S Dark Slide Stuck

[Bruce E. Rathbun]

One of my new 8x20 holders has a major problem. After preparing to load the film, the dark slides will not slide back in the channels. This is bad news as I depart for utah on Wedneday. Any ides? The dark slide is hanging prior to passing through the light trap. This stinks.

-Bruce

[Paul Moshay]

Never had this problem but, perhaps try running a smaller dark slide through from the inside and pushing the light trap back where it should be.

Paul

[jerry brodkey]

I don't know if this will help, but I have noticed that with these panoramic formats it is very easy to get the dark slide going in at an angle and then it will hang up. If it still won't go in and you're sure you're putting it in straight, then I would try a dark slide
of 4X5 or 5X7 to see if you can locate the problem. If one of these hangs up and you can locate the problem then it probably needs a major repair job. Good Luck!! Let us know what happens..........

[sanking]

"The dark slide is hanging prior to passing through the light trap."

This is something I have not seen before with the S&S holders, but if I were to speclate it would be this.
If the dark slide is hanging up on the light trap one of two things has happened.

1. The light trap came unglued because of mistake in installation.

2. The dark slide may have been re-inserted at an angle (from the side and down) that allowed one of its edge to get under the forward edge of the light trap and push it out of position.

You could take off the fram over the baffle by removing the four screws that retain it to the body of the holder to assess the situation. If the light trap has been pushed out of place for whatever reason this should be immediately apparent.

On the other hand, it might be that the dark slide is not hanging up on the light trap but failing to engage the grooves in the holder side. If this is the case you might turn the dark slide around and try to insert it that way. Sometimes a slide will develop a slight bow that temporarily prevents it from engaging the rails of the body of the holder.

If you are unable to locate and correct the problem send me your telephone number by personal email (to sanking@clemson.edu) and I will giv e you a call sometime tomorrow to discuss what might be done about this.

[George Losse]

Bruce,

I hate to follow the manufacturer with other comments, but I'll pass on a couple of things that have happened to me with 8x20 holders. Don't be affraid to take Sandy's advice about chacking the light traps. That is most likely where the problem is.

I have had just about every 8x20 holder I own have some kind of trouble inserting the dark slide at one time or another. For me I have found that when I insert the dark slide int0 the holder, while in the darkroom, that the weight of the slide causes the top end of the slide to want to sit on the counter top. The trouble is that changes the angle that the slide is being inserted into the holder and it hangs up on the light trap. I have found that simply backing out the dark slide and keeping it straight solves this. Also getting into the habbit of sliding part of the slide into the holder while it is in a verticle position on the counter top can help this also.

Extra care must be taken with the ULF holders they may look and function similiar to their smaller cousins but they are not the same as an 8x10 or smaller holders.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I agree about checking the light trap. I've had the felt come unglued on old filmholders, and it was very easily fixed by disassembling and regluing the felt. Be careful not to force it, or you might tear the felt or make it worse.

[Bruce E. Rathbun]

The light traps were the problem. I glued the traps back into place and the slides now work. I will shoot a few neagtives tomorrow and see what happens. From what I can see there is no stray light coming in. The test negatives will tell for sure. Thanks to all including Sandy.

-Bruce