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I've acquired 2 Lisco Regal 8x10 film holders both with firmly stuck dark slides & I'm thinking about the best approach for freeing them. They don't move at all & since they're all the way down, I can't open the light trap latches to push up from the bottom either.
My current ideas are:
a) soak them in very warm water for a while
b) apply alcohol along edges
c) squirt naptha in there
Does anyone have advice or warnings about this, or a better approach?
Plastic shrink more than wood in freezing temperatures.
Make sure you use some (candlebar?) wax on the edges and maybe trim them a little?
If the dark slide is stuck on the light baffles, maybe a disassemble is necessary, and new baffles?
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My main concern would be for the brushes at the top opening. so I would pour / soak from the the trap end up first sparing the top if possible, using hot water.
Alternately the tape at the trap end is not unlikely to be better off replaced and so I might use a scalpel to cut the tape at the trap end along the break. And replace with bookbinders tape afterwards.
It is possible there is film in there slide into the darkslide channel. That happened to me - solved with brute force, but I could see the emulsion sticking things up.
Replacing the tape is easy; never done the soaking so...
No wood in these, but once I do get the slides out I will definitely put some wax on the edges.
Thanks, yes, I was wondering about that. I think you're right, it's not such a big deal to replace the tape, I'll give that a shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by cowanw
These things are stuck fast, the previous owner pulled one of the aluminum handles right off in the process of trying to brute force it!
Before I tried any of these other solutions, I might try heating them up a bit with a hair dryer. It sounds less invasive than soaking them in water, etc.
Matt -- I was thinking along the same lines...
Great idea - glad I asked!Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Stage
freeze it.
While on holiday to Princeton to see a Clarence White exhibit, I used the hotel hair dryer to melt my moustache wax. American dryers are way hotter than Canadian ones and this one melted my plastic comb. YMMV
Please be sure to tell us how this evolves.
Please don't blame me for (endlessly-) repeating myself, but I would suggest to spray sparingly some Ballistol gun oil in the rims where the dark slides are stuck.
This gun oil easily penetrates into the tiny surface structure and solves/dislodge what causes the sticking (ask the hunters).
Ballistol isn't that greasy (mineral oil), is very fine, drys without sticking, doesn't gum by aging and can be easily cleaned away with a little lighter fuel on a Q-tip.
Heating seems like a good idea, though I would place the holders in the sun for uniform heating. Alternating heat and cold is a common unsticking strategy. And if you have an orbital sander, a bit of vibration applied via and intermediate sheet of wood could help.
cowanw brings up a good point on whether there's film in the holder, aside from it shifting and getting trapped
in the darkslide groove the holder may have gotten wet and if there was film loaded it may have glued the darkslides.
If you have a air compressor ( not canned air ) direct an air stream all around the rebate edge of the darkslide and
and down the handle end. The air pressure might separate the grip of whatever is holding the darkslide in.
Giving the film holder a light twist like wringing a towel along with blasting air might break the hold of what ever
is gripping the darkslide.
Alternately you can use a thin flat tool and run it in the groove that the darkslide is in to see the extent
of the jam, an iSesamo ( google it ) tool would work well, I find it indispensable for odd jobs.
When you do get the darkslides out, clean the groove, and the edges of the darkslide.
Clean lukewarm water seems less invasive to me than a hairdryer which may bend the slides irreversible
Now, after reading these posts again, I recall that a very longtime time ago, I slid a sheet wrongly into the rim for the dark slide instead of the film holding rim, and then pushed the slide in, which was hard, and then to late realising I did it wrong. Don't ask how I managed...
This resulted in blocking the slide, needing quite a lot of force to pull it out again.
Luckily it was 4"x5" and not 8"x10" which must be harder to pull the dark slide then...
As usual, it all happend in a hurry, which is bad while loading film holders, I know...