tape for bulk loading 35mm

[Particular]

3/4" artist tape, looped around spool and taped on both sides. I also use it on the cassette to mark the film type with a sharpie.

 

[sdotkling]

Big thumbs up for the cloth-like medical tape. Seems like it can't tear or get unstuck.

 

[Dwig]

humm, no issue with common household scotch/invisible tape here, but I usually don't crank too hard at the end! Waterproof tape though, duly noted.

Back in the day (1/2 century ago...), I used Scotch tape when starting out with bulk loaded film. After an instance where I failed to trim off all of the tape when loading the tank, I learned that it was a very very very poor choice. The tape left on the tail of the film washed off during processing and landed over an image destroying it.

After that episode, I swore of any tape that wasn't waterproof. At the time, I chose "freezer tape", which is a white paper waterproof tape made for labeling wrapped food being put in a freezer. It was easy to find at the grocery store.

 

[Dwig]

... the tape makes a "U" shape with the spool at the outside bottom of the "U" and the tape is attached on both sides of the outside of the film...

+1, this is critically important.

 

[newsgrunt]

masking tape and I make sure there's at least 1/2" of tape on both sides of the film.

 

[MrFujicaman]

Yeah, I DO wrap it around the spool and fasten it to both sides of the film. I may have just gotten old masking tape or some low grade tape.

 

[Ronald M]

Used plain old 3/4" masking for 50 years with no problem.

1" on the film, once around the spool, 1" on the backside of film. The film is never wrapped around the spool.

 

[Nokton48]

There are different grades of masking tape. For film loading I use the good stuff. Never any problems at all.

Photographers tend to use a lot of tape of all kinds. At least, I do.

 

[filmtwit]

I've always used simple 1/2" artist/film (white paper) tape in similar way.
Never had problem. I was turned onto artist/film tape when I was doing motion picture film archive work many years ago.
Easy to write on and didn't react badly in the long run to the film, nor left any residue.

Artist Tape - "PH Neutral (Acid Free) Flatback paper tape used for marking boards, color coding & labeling. Artist tape has a repositional clean removal adhesive system that does not leave any residue. Printable with flexolinks, markers, pens, & pencils."

Gaffers tape works well for me - it took a few mishaps before I realized that you really need the tape strip to be long enough so that it grips one side of the film, goes around the spool, then grips the bottom side of the film.

 

[bence8810]

This is the tape I am using by the way - thought I would post a picture since I was loading film this morning.

I use the shown green tape - not sure what it is called. It is available everywhere in Japan and the adhesive leaves no mark as far as my experience goes. It is also very easy to work with as it doesn't require scissors to cut with, can be torn both horizontally and vertically without much trouble.
I first add the tape to the spool to form a U shape - then stick the film under the tape and apply some pressure both from above and below. This works great on my end!

Ben