Adhesive Holder Issues

[cdavis324]

I'm shooting 8x10 with some adhesive holders I made with 928 atg tape using the instructions in another thread. The holders worked really well all winter and spring... there was some residue but it all washed off during development. I was in Hawaii a couple months ago, and the film from that trip has some residue from the tape still stuck to it after development. I've shot a few other sheets this summer, and they all have varying amounts of adhesive still stuck to the film. The problem now is that the residue is very difficult to remove from the negs. I was wondering if anyone else who uses adhesive holders has run into this problem, and if there's a good solution - for both removing the adhesive residue and keeping my negs as residue free as possible in the future... The film is portra 160, and I've tried Pec 12 and Prasio film cleaner. A little seems to come off each time I clean especially with the Pec 12, but I don't want to have to rub each neg so many times. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Chris

[vinny]

I had a friend who was doing the same and had the same issue. His solution was to only load enough holders for that day's shooting and unload when he got home. Maybe Drew will chime in here.

[mdarnton]

If your film were a six or seven-figure $ violin, I would use a bit of toluol, very sparsely, on a Q-tip (the real kind, with the paper stick, not plastic knock-offs) gently. I doubt this would hurt film at all. The rule is always do a sample in a place that doesn't matter, and if nothing happens, try same on the real thing.

[Jim Jones]

Alcohol might help. It's the first substance I use where film cleaner won't work. As for damaging film, it was the old standby for a final rinse where negatives had to be used immediately

[cdavis324]

I called 3M and they said Heptane or 3M adhesive remover #6041 are the least toxic of the chemicals that will remove the adhesive. I'm not sure I want to go down that road especially because neither has been tested for archival-ness - especially with film. Same thing for toluene. I'll try alcohol, and some other film cleaners - maybe I'll find one that removes the adhesive easily.

Vinny, I think having the film exposed to the adhesive for as little time as possible, and processing asap are the right solutions. I'm shooting long exposures during the day(as long as 1-2 hours), so the film gets really hot in the camera when it's in the sun, and that seems to make the problem worse. I've also though of removing the strips of adhesive and replacing them with an X pattern. That way there will be less adhesive to transfer to the film... but not sure that will hold the film during the winter.

Thanks for all the help!

[mdarnton]

I suspect the adhesive is much more dangerous to the film than solvent cleaners. Most adhesives contain plasticizers which can migrate to other plastics. Solvents evaporate, and then they're gone. The most immediate danger from a solvent is dissolving the film, but there are very very few that would do that. Your timidity in acting, allowing whatever is in the adhesive to migrate into the film base, is probably the most injurious factor here, then.

[Sal Santamaura]

Ditch the tape and instead use Ole's method: a spot of orange marmelade. Should dissolve completely during processing.

[Harold_4074]

You might also try "mineral spirits". This is a highly refined mineral oil, light enough to be reasonably volatile. I use it to "de-tackify" things like masking tape residue and the labels on plastic bottles; it doesn't actually dissolve the adhesive, but it allows it to peel off cleanly. Some really stubborn labels need a lacquer thinner treatment (mostly toluene, probably) but any remaining residue comes right off with mineral spirits and a soft cloth.

Unfortunately, most of the local stores now only sell "paint thinner", which turns out to be a complex mixture containing at least some heavy oil (probably to help meet air-quality requirements). It works fine on polyester bottles, but I don't know if I would casually use it on film. An art-supply outfit should be able to supply real mineral spirits.

There is (or, at least, once was) a silicone-based de-tackifier for use in removing surgical adhesives (including tapes, I presume). Maybe we have a surgeon or two in the house who can comment knowledgeably on this.

[Drew Wiley]

I've never had any kind of problem like this in over twenty five years working with the same holders. There are a couple of ways it could happen. Since the back of
the 928 adhesive is permanent hi-tack (as opposed to the repositionable front), when you put down the adhesive strips in the holder to begin with, you have to be
very thorough about removing any remaining little bit or balls of the aggressive adhesive around the edges of the strips. You can do this with PEC film cleaner or
certain other solvents. Second, you need to be sure the tape came from a source where it wasn't stored for a long time in a hot area. This can affect the quality
of acrylic adhesives. I would be helpful to acquire this kind of products in sheet form rather than strips; but communicating with 3M about small volume custom
products can be like trying to teach a dog to speak Latvian.

[cdavis324]

I've never had any kind of problem like this in over twenty five years working with the same holders. There are a couple of ways it could happen. Since the back of
the 928 adhesive is permanent hi-tack (as opposed to the repositionable front), when you put down the adhesive strips in the holder to begin with, you have to be
very thorough about removing any remaining little bit or balls of the aggressive adhesive around the edges of the strips. You can do this with PEC film cleaner or
certain other solvents. Second, you need to be sure the tape came from a source where it wasn't stored for a long time in a hot area. This can affect the quality
of acrylic adhesives. I would be helpful to acquire this kind of products in sheet form rather than strips; but communicating with 3M about small volume custom
products can be like trying to teach a dog to speak Latvian.

When I attached the strips to the holder, I didn't notice any adhesive on the edges of the strips... I'll have another look and see if that's the issue. I bought the tape online from findtape.com, so maybe it wasn't stored properly. Do you know of a good source? I can remove what I have and replace it... 7in wide sheets would be perfect, but I imagine the minimum order from 3M would be enough for 10,000 holders!