Build a Film Slitter

3/12/12 11:28 PM

Building a Slitter
Your design SHOULD differ, reflecting alternatives in both design and construction. You may choose to build your own, or purchase one. I use a 16mm to Minox slitter block, described below and made by Ray Pepalis ,which works perfectly in my base. (Note: Two of the previous references are to the Sub Club, one of the most impressive efforts on the internet. Spend some time there!). I have used, with great success, the Minox Film Slitter (picture below) which is small, easy to use, and provides excellent results with minimal film loss. The object of this exercise it to make a film slitter with readily available materials. Slitting and loading one's own film has two advantages 1. The ability to use film types not commercially available. 2. Minimal cost per roll. Examples at the right reflect 1997 prices and the use of PMK Pyro as a developer. The cost of 50 liters of PMK working solution is $25 plus shipping. Some developers are more expensive, and others less. For color work, I prefer factory loads of Minocolor PRO and Minox Processing Laboratory processing. Minox film was originally defined as 1/4 the width of 35mm film, 8.75mm, with an image size of 6.5mm x 9mm. When the image size was enlarged to 8mm x 11mm, the film width was increased to 9.4mm (or 9.5mm depending on what you read). In practice, 9.4mm is TOO WIDE for "home" slitting! 9.1mm to 9.3mm is probably the best range. See "Caution" below.

Wood Version. Compared with plastic (Plexiglas, etc.),wood is less stable & more subject to humidity changes, lighter,
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easier to work, but more difficult to get the correct thickness.

CAUTION! If

using unlaminated wood, be sure of careful wood type and grain selection to minimize the possibility of warping. My preference is for Plexiglas or laminated wood. Wood in the dimensions shown should be readily available in U.S. hobby and model shops. In practice, the thickness of the glue and clamping pressure has an influence, and the pieces may be too thick. Thickness should be verified and adjusted. Wood often has a fine "fur" which holds glue and increases the final thickness. I have found it useful to sand the wood lightly with VERY fine sandpaper before gluing. 30 minute epoxy and VERY tight clamping with a bench vise gives me almost exactly the correct thickness. Using a properly positioned razor blade as a guide, I carefully drill the three holes for the brass tube, bolt, wing-nut system shown below in the Plexiglas version. After using a screw driver for years to hold the round head of the bolt while tightening the wing nut, I was rudely awakened when I received Ray Pepalis' slitter block with a lock washer between the bolt head and the wood (or Plexiglas), permitting "screwdriverless" operation. Thanks Ray! Plexiglas Version. My original Plexiglas sandwich of four sections of 3 pieces each has worked successfully for me for years. It uses brass tubes, through which pass bolts with wing-nuts. 1/8 inch Plexiglas, from my supplier, has a thickness of 0.118" rather than a full 0.125". Check with your supplier. BE SURE to check the thickness of the Plexiglas (acrylic sheet) you use, ... thickness may vary! Mine would benefit from a couple of Hollerith (IBM) Cards for additional spacing, but better too narrow than too wide! I use a liquid glue made especially for Plexiglas type material and laminate the three layers prior to drilling and shaping. A friend found a service to mill the proper thickness from a single piece, avoiding the lamination process and assuring the exact dimension.. The shape was the same as shown above for the wood model.

Slitting 16mm film to make 9.3mm Minox loads. Make a Plexiglas (or 1/8" wood) segment for each side of one of the center segments. This will give you a sandwich with 2 blades which approximates the width of the 16mm film. Cut a piece of foam core (or laminate mat board) to fill one side of the trough, leaving 16mm for the film. Cut a 16mm wide piece of museum board for the bottom of the trough. The razor blades are mounted at an angle so that as the stripper is pushed along the 35mm film, clean cuts are made. The blades should protrude about half the thickness of the museum rag board on which the film is placed (like adjusting a mat-cutter blade). Since the razor blades have four corners, and since blades are cheaper than film, I generally "rotate" the blades to a new corner after 6 to 8 passes. Kodak Tech Pan film which has an Estar-AH base may require more frequent blade changes! BE SURE you have clean cuts with no ragged or rough edges or debris which provide resistance and/or might foul the camera! The film should
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easily pull out of the cassette to prevent undo stress on the camera's film advancing mechanism. CAUTION! The film, when rolled and inserted into the supply-side chamber of the Minox cassette, MUST NOT protrude above the rim of the cassette, rather, it must be just below the rim. Because of curl, it is VERY difficult to judge the width of either a factory-load film strip or yours. To know when your film is the correct width, roll up a factory load, insert it into the supply-side chamber of a cassette, note how far it is below the rim, and make yours the same width ..

My original film holder was made from a scrap piece of board with the side guides built-up with mat board, and small nails over which to hook the film. It lasted 20 years. I have since replaced it with a single piece with the trough routed. I use a piece of museum rag board in the bottom of the trough and place the film, face down, with a 35mm wide strip of adding machine paper over the film to prevent scratches. The wooden START PLATE and END PLATE are identical except for two nails in the START PLATE which are pressed through the paper and film into pre-drilled holes in the base, and act to hold the film and protective paper during slitting. The END PLATE is used to stop the slitter at the proper film strip length, and should NOT be pressed tightly against the film. If you are interested in film types which are available only in 16mm width, you may wish to cut a second trough in the film holder base to fit the 16mm film and slitter above, eliminating the need for an insert to narrow the 35mm trough. Exposures 15 30 36 50 Film Length 32 12.9" cm After building the slitter, I made sample cuts using paper only to determine the 52cm 20.3" position of the End Plate, and to mark the location of the film strip start and end. Saw cuts were made forming Slots the width of a scissor blade. 59 23.2" cm 77 cm 30.1"
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You will need something to aid in the insertion of film into the supply chamber of the cassette. I have had good success with a simple piece of 1/4 inch dowel with a thin slot cut in the end. I used a jewelers blade for the cut so film just slips in (and out) easily. To aid later in the alignment of the takeup spool and takeup chamber cap, I have wrapped the end with "Artists Tape" to build up the diameter to just slip through the opening in the take-up chamber cap.

Variations and suggestions by Bill Hoy of Bedford County, VA

I used furniture-quality plywood for the base because of its dimensional stability and smooth surface. Instead of milling a 35 mm wide groove (which would have been a mess in plywood), I built up the sides of the groove from storebought, smooth planed oak. Folded newsprint makes a good gasket between the groove pieces and the base. Use a sharp Exacto knife to trim the gasket paper flush. You should measure the film length precisely before you cut the grooves for the scissors and put countersunk screws on either side of each scissor groove to hold the side pieces in place. Do this BEFORE you cut the scissor grooves, but be careful not to hit a screw with your expensive saw blade! Instead of using mat board at the base of the 35mm groove, I used a narrow kerf sawblade to mill shallow grooves for the blades to travel in. I put paper above and below the film before I slit it to avoid scratches. I made my blade holder out of a solid piece of hardwood. I happened to have a fairly long piece of 2 1/2 X 4 1/2 by 2 foot piece of very well aged walnut I had been given. I drilled the holes for the blade holders and the clamping bolts into the end of the piece first, then sliced approximately 9.5 mm pieces ACROSS the grain. This is important because wood swells and contracts with humidity along the long portion of the grain. Very little dimensional change occurs across the grain. I then sanded the thicknesses to film width: sanding, slitting and then loading the film into cassettes. If the camera opened and closed with difficulty, I knew I was still too wide. Back to the sanding block.

Shim Material by Mike Taglieri.

Use junk film rather than cardboard, etc., for shimming the blades. Clorox bleach will take the emulsion of film completely off (put on straight, it strip the emulsion in seconds), leaving you with clear plastic that's very dimensionally stable, and I've often used this for shimstock. With the emulsion on, you have a gelatin layer that can absorb moisture, change thickness, etc. Without emulsion it's just acetate, and you can get different thicknesses of shimstock depending on what film you strip. Back to Start

Film & Cassettes

Using

Dirt

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