Leica LTM Problem with FILCA and “Western” bulk loader

[MrRom92]

Hoping someone here may know if I’m doing something wrong or something like that, as I’ve been wracking my brain over how to use this. Really appreciate any pointers.

I just got hold of a “Western” brand film loader. Seems to be modeled after a Watson. It has the key to open/close the film gate on a FILCA or IXMOO canister, so, that’s good.

The problem is actually using it with a FILCA - due to the metal “hump” on the canister, it only fits neatly into the loader in one particular orientation. And in this orientation, the film gate of the FILCA is facing away from the film gate of the loader, so if I were to wind the film into the cartridge with it positioned like this, the film would end up scraping against the brass rather than passing directly through the film gate… that can’t be right!

If I try to insert the FILCA in any other orientation, it doesn’t seat neatly and the winder can’t actually turn the inner spool.

I know this is difficult to explain in writing, I’ve attached a photo, hopefully this is somewhat more helpful in explaining the issue. Any ideas?

 

[madNbad]

According to the Watson loader instructions, there is a metal plate which needs to be removed before using Leica or similar cassettes:
Universal Shim — This shim must be removed (with a knife or sharp-pointed screwdriver) when loading Leica cassettes. Replace the Shim when loading all other types of cassettes (if you do not use Leica cassettes, do not remove the Shim.)

 

[MrRom92]

According to the Watson loader instructions, there is a metal plate which needs to be removed before using Leica or similar cassettes:
Universal Shim — This shim must be removed (with a knife or sharp-pointed screwdriver) when loading Leica cassettes. Replace the Shim when loading all other types of cassettes (if you do not use Leica cassettes, do not remove the Shim.)

thank you, this was a great lead. I looked on eBay just to see some pictures of other loaders just so I could get a look at what it “should” look like inside of them. I think I know what the shim looks like now, it’s a grey (plastic, not metal?) piece which sits in the compartment on the grey side.

The good news is, it looks like my loader already doesn’t have this shim.

The bad news is, in photos of other loaders I see a rectangular cutout in the compartment where the “hump” of the Leica cassettes is meant to nestle into, and on my “Western” loader it’s just smooth plastic! They went through all the trouble of replicating the key to open and close the cassettes, and then... didn’t really make it compatible with the cassettes anyway, from what I can tell.

I might take a dremel to it and try to replicate that cut-out in the cassette compartment. Can’t make it any less compatible than it already is.

 

[dufffader]

I had the same problem with a bulk roller with IXMOOs. I figured there's no way that gray knob thing is strong enough to close the cassettes that I have, some of them are pretty tight. Besides, the way the cassettes are positioned may result in scratched film while its being rolled. Which defeats the purpose of FILCA/IXMOOs.

Finally I gave up and went back to the good ol' dark bags. It's slow, but in half an episode of a Netflix series, I get to roll enough IXMOOS to last at least a year.