Beginner's drum scanning questions concerning mounting

[Lenny Eiger]

Obviously I'm not saying no film cleaner out there would damage a drum, I'm sure many would and you're correct to say it's inadvisable.

But the most common ones I know such as Varn film cleaner, Tetenal graphics art film cleaner, Anchor film kleen or Kami's own film cleaner would not. They are roughly made up of the same components, none of which would be harmful in their compositions as a drum cleaner.

Vord, while I have never tried myself (and won't) all the pros say keep that film cleaner far away from a drum. I've been on the Scan High End list for many years and I have never heard any other opinion. I re-read the MSDS and I don't see anything either. However. I would add that these drums are quite sensitive. The coating is like butter. One touch with a pice of metal and you have a scratch. Fluid is not metal, to be sure, but I would definitely advise caution.

Lenny

[Christian-NRW]

Kami Film Cleaner, contrary to Kami Drum Cleaner, contains Isopropanole. Isopropanole is a good film cleaning agent as long as it is water free (see Kodak publication), which is probably assured by the Naphta within the cleaner. But it causes stress cracking when brought into contact with acrylic plastics, especially in combination with heat. This is probably the reason as why to avoid it for use on drums.

Christian

[Vord]

Isopropanol consistently makes up less than 20% of the solutions mentioned, at that strength used as a cleaner it wouldn't do anything to damage acrylic, neither instantly or cumulatively. To actually damage acrylic, isopropanol, besides heat, needs time.
The aforementioned drum scan operator has always used film cleaner to clean his drums and it never damaged them, as it shouldn't. First he always used Varn film cleaner, now he uses a different film cleaner, I forgot which one. Anchor Film Kleen even puts it in their advertisement as being safe to clean drums with, and it is. That however probably is the reason it generally isn't advised, however to say that it will most definitely damage acrylic is a falsehood.

[Daniel Stone]

Vord,
It might be that this operators drums are made of optical GLASS, and NOT optical acrylic. Many of the older, bigger/heavier scanners had drums that were optical glass, not resin like more modern ones. At least I've seen Screen, Scanmate and even a Howtek 4500 drum that were made from glass. And frankly, I much preferred that to the modern(and probably cheaper to manufacture) optical acrylic that's used in current scanner drums from ICG and Aztek.

I'd happily swap my acrylic drums I use on my DPL8000 for identical glass versions, as I feel the glass(despite it being heavier weight-wise) will simply hold up better over long-term use than the acrylic(as Lenny mentioned, is like "butter" and easily scratched. Not to mention the crazing issue). I have 3 drums, and one has seen so much use(by the former scanner owner) that I now only use it as a print(reflective only) drum, since it basically only has room to mount 35mm, maybe 6x7 sized negatives in 2-3 spots that are clear enough for the crazing to not affect it.

-Dan

[Tyler Boley]

I have a drum badly crazed from contact with film cleaner. Isopropanol is listed as an ingredient

[Sideshow Bob]

Vord,
It might be that this operators drums are made of optical GLASS, and NOT optical acrylic. Many of the older, bigger/heavier scanners had drums that were optical glass, not resin like more modern ones. At least I've seen Screen, Scanmate and even a Howtek 4500 drum that were made from glass. And frankly, I much preferred that to the modern(and probably cheaper to manufacture) optical acrylic that's used in current scanner drums from ICG and Aztek.

I'd happily swap my acrylic drums I use on my DPL8000 for identical glass versions, as I feel the glass(despite it being heavier weight-wise) will simply hold up better over long-term use than the acrylic(as Lenny mentioned, is like "butter" and easily scratched. Not to mention the crazing issue). I have 3 drums, and one has seen so much use(by the former scanner owner) that I now only use it as a print(reflective only) drum, since it basically only has room to mount 35mm, maybe 6x7 sized negatives in 2-3 spots that are clear enough for the crazing to not affect it.

-Dan

I've seen a lot of ScanMate drums but never one made of glass, I would sure like to find one.
Mr.Gale

[Daniel Stone]

I've seen a lot of ScanMate drums but never one made of glass, I would sure like to find one.
Mr.Gale

Funny enough, before I got my DPL8000 I found a Scanmate 5000 for $500 locally(no mounting station, but had a drum + computer/software, funny enough? I held off on buying it since the seller seemed a bit weird). Anyhow, the one drum WAS glass, as it was considerably heavier than my drums I have for my DPL

[Vord]

Hi Dan, his drums were acrylic, I'm certain, I had a chance to inspect them myself.

In my previous profession where I spent most of my time inside a cleanroom, there was various equipment with acrylic components that were regularly wiped down with a disinfectant solution made up out of mostly water, isopropanol and a fungicidal ingredient (probably chlorhexadine).

But, to reiterate, cleaning drums with film cleaner isn't something I'm trying to endorse and considering the many possible variables in manufacturing and usage, I wouldn't risk it. One would be better off just getting a bottle of petroleum ether for cleaning a drum.