Drying 4x5 film--film clips?

[Tony Galt]

Had a little trouble with film clips tonight and ended up with some badly scrat ched negatives (which I can repair digitally). What have people found to be good ways of hanging film up to dry. Pointy teeth on clips designed for strips of fi lm caused my trouble. I've used clothes pins, but these are awkward. What do you do?

[Allan Fontanilla.com]

Take that same wooden spring type clothe pin and screw a small pointed screw into one side of the tip of it. The tip of the screw should protrude shightly. This will be similar to the store-bought JOBO plastic ones- only at a fraction of the cost.

[CW]

I changed to the plastic clothes pins. They have little ridges that grip real well, but they are easier to get the corner of the film into. Anything that stabs the film would never be found in my darkroom. I use the smae plastic pins for roll film as well.

[pat krentz]

Just hang it up in the SS developing film holder and let it dry, no clips, marks, or hassel. Pat

[neil poulsen]

I use some clips without the "pointy" edge that I purchased inexpensively at a Office Depot. They're small, they hold the film well, and they are chrome plated. They also have holes in the grips so that one can hang them on nails, etc.

[Walter Glover]

Tony,

I use Kodak Dental Clips - they're ideal for me.

Walter Glover

[John Boeckeler]

I just use wooden clothes pins. Never had a problem.

[Alec Jones]

Kodak once made some clips that are ideal for this. They were called "color clips". Well worth looking for.

[Thilo Schmid]

Tony, Spring Clips are the best. They are stainless steel springs with hooks at both ends. One corner of the sheet film is simply stuck between two windings of the spring. It causes no damage to the film. You may use a weighted clip on the opposite corner. MAFI has built the best spring clips. But they seem to be out of business now. Lucky, if you can find some used ones. Hewes (http://www.hewes.co.uk/) might be one source left. Or you may built your own clips if you can find a supply for stainless steel springs with the right size and tension.



Regards,

[Rico Obusan]

I use the smallest size of binder clips which I get from any outlet for office supplies. These are the black ones with folding chrome plated handles that fold over. These clips are normally used to hold together thick reports. I have a string running through the handles of a whole series of these clips, with each clip well separated from the ones adjacent to it by knotting the string on one of the handles. I replace the clips periodically to minimize possible contamination from rust (hasn't happened yet), or when I suspect a decrease in spring tension.

[Tony Galt]

Rico's answer sounds like the best to me. I'll try it. Thanks to everyone for su ggestions.

Tony Galt

[Paul Shepherd]

I use small "Bulldog clips". When hanging from a rod passed through the ends that are squeezed, the clip can not rotate. Sheet film is held firmly perpendicalar to the rod. This way there is no danger of sheet film touching anything in the dryer, and I can hang up to 12 on the one rod which stretches the width of the cabinet. These clips do leave a drying line, but as they grip the film well, they only neeed contact the sheet film outside of the image area.

[Mark Wiens]

I must have had some bad binder clips because my 4 x 5 's would not hold in one of those. I use wooden clothes pins. I make sure it's only holding the edge of the neg though, because it will leave junk on it.