UGH !!! Help with the wheels of steel !!

Plastic is trash.
Best,
Daniel

After 40 years I would not say that plastic is trash
Wim, wdenies

Switch to plastic, buddy.
Frank S

Practice is the key. …
Feel the force, Dave, and let it guide you.
Peter

Dave, Patterson is your friend!
Gene

dave, use the force..
back alley, moderator



Hope this is now clear Dave.....
 
As part of the many suggestions that practice is the answer, you will need a practice role of film and you should be able to buy outdated 35mm film for as little as 25 or 50 cents [usd]at yard sales and flea markets...I rarely see 120 for that low a price so you might have to "sacrifice" good film to practice...by the way, outdated film is also a good way to check old cameras that must have film to test the shutter...regards, bob
 
saxshooter said:
Who was it that made those stainless steel 35mm reels with the two prongs rather than the clip? They were heavier reels and I remember using them -- sooo easy. You just slipped the film end in there and the prongs engaged the film sprockets on either side.

Charlie
Click to expand...
Hewes makes this type of reel. I picked up a few from B&H recently. I've never used anything else and I've never had a single problem loading film. When I first started I was warned to avoid the clip reels because they can be a nightmare to load.
 
BudGreen said:
Hewes makes this type of reel. I picked up a few from B&H recently. I've never used anything else and I've never had a single problem loading film. When I first started I was warned to avoid the clip reels because they can be a nightmare to load.
Click to expand...

Hmmm Maybe I should give those a try.. the ones I'm trying to use now are clip type and a royal p.i.t.a. 🙂

Dave
 
The Hewes reels are made of heavier gauge steel that makes them difficult to damage or throw out of alignment. Most folks have problems loading stainless reels either because of inexperience or bent reels.
 
photodog said:
The Hewes reels are made of heavier gauge steel that makes them difficult to damage or throw out of alignment. Most folks have problems loading stainless reels either because of inexperience or bent reels.
Click to expand...

Ahhhhhhhhh
ok.. I'm going to continue to practice with these things first then until I can get it right..

Dave
 
I prefer steel reels, having switched from a plastic tank in the mid-60's. The clip reels can be a pain if the film is clipped a little off-center... then it will never wrap well on the spiral. Most of the time now I just ignore the clip, feed the film as if there were no clip. I do like the ones with the teeth, as the metal recess centers the film strip nicely. At the very beginning, unless you use the toothed kind, the film has a tendency to pull out of the core, so as you wrap the first few revolutions you have to be careful not to pull on the film.

Indeed, pushing on the film periodially helps it wrap loosely in the spirals, and that I think is a key to good reel loading. Giving it a bit of slack helps it stay straight. Wrap half a turn, push the film a bit lengthwise, and keep a finger lightly on the surface of the film, that part that has just gone into the spiral, to make sure it's smooth, loose, and not kinked. As mentioned, you can also hear the film kink, and then you need to unroll some to fix the kink and proceed.

After while, and experiences with film-reeling glitches of various kinds, you get a feel for it and it goes very quickly and smoothly.
 
Ah, yes, bent reels! That does happen if they're dropped or something heavy is placed on one... Last Fall I bought a box of assorted reels and tanks from a local guy giving up his darkroom, and several of the reels were bent.

As I was looking over the stuff one reel was clearly out of whack, so I bent it back. Fortunately it was just bent in such a way that the two sides were farther apart on one area of the circumference than the opposite side. As I bent the reel, I used a small steel scale to check the evenness of the distance between the two sides all the way around until I had it even.

This led to checking all the other reels in the box, and as I recall a few others were slightly bent too. I had never thought to check this, as I'd only gotten new reels previously, and never dropped one. But it's certain I think to cause loading trouble if the reel is bent!
 
Dave: There are two keys, aside from practice in the light, then with eyes closed.

1. Get it started straight. To facilitate this, the film should be cut straight across, i.e. perpendicular.

2. The film should be bent/curved (as Joe stated) "just right". It's hard to describe, but it really isn't that hard. Again, practice with a waste roll and you'll get the knack of it.

When I first learned to load steel reels, the manager of the darkroom I used said that once you learned the technique, they practically load themselves, and I found that to be true.

Films on thinner bases are more difficult, but they would be difficult with plastic reels as well. I've never noticed any difference at different humidity levels.

As others have said, there's no shame in going to plastic. But knowing you a bit, I'm betting you can master steel.
 
Practice.

That is all it takes. Open up a cheap roll of film and load it with your eyes open to see what is happening.

Practice.

It is like riding a bicycle, once you learn it is a piece of cake.

Practice.

In the old darkroom days when we were processing dozens of rolls at a time, the trick was to start the feed, put the reel on edge on a counter top and 'push' the film in like pushing a wheelbarrow while the spool rolled on its side down the counter. The fastest guy at this I ever knew could load a steel reel in about 13 seconds. The best I could manage at it was about 25 to 30 seconds.

Practice.

Once mastered you will never go back to plastic.

Did I mention practice?

Tom
 
one more vote for both practice, and quality (hewes) reels. i use them for both 35 and 120, and never have problems. once you get in a groove, you'll have no problem knowing if you've messed up a reel. keep at it!
 
'In the old darkroom days when we were processing dozens of rolls at a time, the trick was to start the feed, put the reel on edge on a counter top and 'push' the film in like pushing a wheelbarrow while the spool rolled on its side down the counter.'

is that really true?
that is so cool!

joe
 
I'm the most clumsy person and my fingers are like sausages, but I can now load a Hewes stainless steel 35mm reel. One trick has really helped me, which is that each time I turn the reel, I pause, and with the hand that holds the canister I push the film in and out of the reel so that I can feel whether it's sliding smoothly. If it's snagged you know instantly, and can back out one turn. That for me was the key. Knowing the instant it's snagged and being able to correct it.
 
This sounds fun! I think I will bring out my five roll stainless tank from the attic and give it a try. If I wanted simple, why would I load the camera from the bottom, anyway 🙂 .
/matti
 
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