Cinetech BSF HYDRA film cleaner

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

 

Cinetech BSF HYDRA film cleaner...anyone ever use it?

How much is it. 

 

 

Film Preparation — Galileo Digital

The rollers in the center group remind me of paint rollers. As I investigated further the website lists them as...'soft nap Dacron buffers that can be adjusted to apply cleaning pressure to each side of the film independently.'

 

Edited March 8 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

[Perry Paolantonio]

I believe it's in the $50-$60k range. it's a nice machine. those rollers were also used on the Lipsner-Smith machines and yes, they're basically paint rollers.

The reason this machine has such a complex threading system is that it's not full immersion, so there needs to be enough exposure to air to allow the film to dry before it hits the takeup roller. On the Lipsner machines the film went through a heated air knife to dry the film.

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

On 3/8/2024 at 4:47 PM, Perry Paolantonio said:

I believe it's in the $50-$60k range. it's a nice machine. those rollers were also used on the Lipsner-Smith machines and yes, they're basically paint rollers.

The reason this machine has such a complex threading system is that it's not full immersion, so there needs to be enough exposure to air to allow the film to dry before it hits the takeup roller. On the Lipsner machines the film went through a heated air knife to dry the film.

 

Thanks Perry! Way, way out of my range. 

I never knew about them. Apparently, there is a decent market for used Lipsner-Smith machines.

Lipsner-Smith film cleaner for sale | eBay

What do you use for cleaning Perry?

[Perry Paolantonio]

We have a Lipsner Excel 1100 - non immersion cleaner that uses isopropyl alcohol. Works well. it's not as good as an ultrasonic cleaner for really caked on gunk but it gets most stuff off the film in one pass. Two for really bad film usually does the trick. It's cheap to run and doesn't use any nasty solvents. We just vent it to the outside through a standard clothes dryer vent cap. 

But we only use that for 16mm and 35mm that's in decent shape. The rest we do by hand (8mm/S8 and the more delicate 16mm and 35mm)

[Dan Baxter]

19 hours ago, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said:

Thanks Perry! Way, way out of my range. 

I never knew about them. Apparently, there is a decent market for used Lipsner-Smith machines.

Lipsner-Smith film cleaner for sale | eBay

No, the ones you've linked to are not rebuilt in any way and only one of them is described clearly as being in working condition. You can, in theory anyway, buy the RTI Group cleaners fully rebuilt and refurbished from Jonathan Banks.

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

1 hour ago, Dan Baxter said:

No, the ones you've linked to are not rebuilt in any way and only one of them is described clearly as being in working condition. You can, in theory anyway, buy the RTI Group cleaners fully rebuilt and refurbished from Jonathan Banks.

 

Thanks Dan, good to know about that company.  I never said eBay's listings are in working order or anything. Just said they were used. Looks like MMT makes a film scanner too.

 

 

 

They have lots of crazy gear. I never knew they had video tape cleaners.  Look at this machine for film printing. 

 

 

[Todd Ruel]

Brett Maynard of Galileo Digital, which reps this machine, told me it costs $50K.

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

12 minutes ago, Todd Ruel said:

Brett Maynard of Galileo Digital, which reps this machine, told me it costs $50K.

 

Thanks.

Do you use any machines for film cleaning?

 

[Todd Ruel]

6 hours ago, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said:

Do you use any machines for film cleaning?

Not at the moment.  My budget is limited.

I use a Film-O-Clean from Neal Laboratories for which I have been fairly well mocked on these forums! 😅

(It’s okay.  I can take it.)

I just don’t have an extra $50K to spend on a film cleaner, so I have to resort to other means.

The Film-O-Clean is a little manual device that was built to clean film while attached to a projector.  However, you can attach it fairly easily to a rewind bench.  That’s how I use it.

It cost me about $600, and I bought it directly from Roy Neal.  (There’s a German site that sells it for $1,200!  No thanks!)

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

 

On 3/14/2024 at 2:45 PM, Todd Ruel said:

Not at the moment.  My budget is limited.

I use a Film-O-Clean from Neal Laboratories for which I have been fairly well mocked on these forums! 😅

(It’s okay.  I can take it.)

I just don’t have an extra $50K to spend on a film cleaner, so I have to resort to other means.

The Film-O-Clean is a little manual device that was built to clean film while attached to a projector.  However, you can attach it fairly easily to a rewind bench.  That’s how I use it.

It cost me about $600, and I bought it directly from Roy Neal.  (There’s a German site that sells it for $1,200!  No thanks!)

Thanks. I thought you were going to say it cost $75 or something for you being made fun of. Anyway, we are all on different levels. Some rich, some not so rich and we are all trying to get the work done best we can with the budgets we got. 

The machine looks pretty good. At first, I thought it was just a tub that the film ran through some liquid until I saw this photo of it. 

Film-O-Clean MK3 System for 8mm/S8/16mm Film

Internet Photo: Fair Use

From what I gather, there is no liquid involved, it used sticky rollers of some sort. Or am I wrong? Doesn't your Lasergraphics do about the same with their sticky urethane rollers Perry was talking about?

My problem is my films are filthy! Dust is one thing, but they are filthy, filthy and filthy many a time. This isn't from cleaning a roll of 400 feet. This is from cleaning maybe 20 - 30 feet. 

Photo D.D.Teoli Jr.

You guys, girls and zirs like cleaning films or you just have to clean films and don't like it...use a slow drying film cleaner if you are serious. It is more of a pain to deal with than fast drying Edwal, but it cleans very well. It has time to loosen the dirt, whereas Edwal's fast drying cleaner does not get nearly all the dirt. But Edwal's cleaner is good if you are in a rush and have no time. It gives a doable, half-ass clean job.

Photo: B&H / Fair Use

Of course, you can test this all out yourself. Just like I always tell to test things. Try Edwal and try other cleaners. But the slow drying cleaners stink like hell. If you use them, have a fan pointed in your face and good ventilation.

It would be interesting for someone to test the commercial film cleaning machines and see how much dirt is left behind by following up with a slow drying film cleaner over the previously cleaned area. Test out some film both ways, hand and machine as a test sample. 

Edited March 15 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

[Dan Baxter]

On 3/15/2024 at 5:45 AM, Todd Ruel said:

I use a Film-O-Clean from Neal Laboratories for which I have been fairly well mocked on these forums! 😅

(It’s okay.  I can take it.)

I didn't mock you. 😛

The Kelmars and the Film-O-Clean are designed to be attached to projectors, but people have attached them in-line to scanners as well. And plenty if people use them how you do - on their own between rewinds.

8 hours ago, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said:

From what I gather, there is no liquid involved, it used sticky rollers of some sort. Or am I wrong? Doesn't your Lasergraphics do about the same with their sticky urethane rollers Perry was talking about?

They're designed for use with Media Pads and Film-Guard, but Film-Guard will wear out PTR and Capstan rollers. The Archivist doesn't come with PTRs unless you ask LaserGraphics for them, but it would not be hard to add your own PTR rollers anyway.