DIY Film editing cement = nail polish remover?

[mjclash]

Always on the look out for DIY no-budget ways of doing things, I recently noted that film cement can be made by adding tiny bits of film leader to an amount of acetone. Can anyone on the forum confirm or deny this? Also, because I'm a cheap skate (and proud of it), is there any worth in using nail polish remover (which appears to be about 80% acetone) as a viable alternative?

[super8man]

a $4.95 bottle of film cement vs a $4.95 bottle of nail polish remover...hmmmm

[BolexPlusX]

...and that $4.95 bottle of cement will last most people several years.

Think of what happens to your film when a splice breaks: the broken end find a corner of whatever machine it's running through and the film bunches up in a bent up little wad, so later you have to snip off whatever is unsaveable and toss it out.

-not worth the risk.

Go with the real stuff!

[mjclash]

Maybe I just wanted nice smelling film!!

However, your points have been taken into consideration.

Cheers!

(now where do I find $4.95 film cement in Oz......................)

[MIKI-814]

(now where do I find $4.95 film cement in Oz......................)

Don't know in Oz, but in the Internet you can find it at almost any film supplier everywhere.

[Blue Audio Visual]

According to the Kodak Safety Data Sheet...

http://hazard.com/msds/f2/bcv/bcvwc.html

their cement is made out of:

50% DIETHYLENE DIOXIDE
26% DICHLOROMETHANE
15-20% ACETONE
3% METHANOL
1-5% NITROCELLULOSE
<1% ALLYL ISOTHIOCYANATE

So their recipe seems to be a bit more complex than simply dissolving some leader in some acetone.

[alex-rus]

Here is film cement recipe from the old russian book:

48,5 % - Dioxane
48,5 % - Acetone
3% - Acetic acid (70% solution)
+ 2g - Film base

[Jim Carlile]

Super glue. Works great. Cleans up with acetone. The old British boys discovered it in the 70s and raved about it.

[mjclash]

Jim strikes again!

Thanks for this tip.

Since film cement is pretty much unavailable over-the-counter in Australia, I'll give this a try with some super glue.

I only wanna join regular 8mm 25ft sections together after splitting them from 16mm. So it's not an integral edit.

[MovieStuff]

Super glue. Works great. Cleans up with acetone.

Not arguing the effectiveness of super glue for this application (sounds like it would work) but, if film cement is basically acetone anyway, isn't this like saying to use super glue for splicing film and then clean up with film cement? I would think if someone has access to acetone, then they could just splice with that. Or is film cement something else other than acetone?

Roger

[CineGuerrilha]

i remember reading in a photo forum (or maybe in cinematography) some people that recycles old acetate base film into cement, it may be the same as Alex's formula.

[Jim Carlile]

No, film cement is more than acetone, but don't ask me what. The thing about super glue is that it works well as an easy fix and the oldtimers discovered it when it first came out and they all raved about it.

I only mentioned the acetone because the first time those fingers get glued together there's always panic and acetone will save you a trip to the emergency room. I've had late night calls from friends (usually mothers) frantic because their kids glued their hands together with the stuff. Acetone or nail polish remover always works as a solvent.

I think the old film in the cement thing was an early way of stretching out the supply.

[Uppsala BildTeknik]

Another thing to consider is how archival-friendly DIY solutions are? When your films are getting old... will most of the splices break?

There is nothing worse than receiving a buttload of old films for transfer with splices that break again and again. Perhaps they used some DIY solution? I don´t know. I just know that several times I have received films and just about every splice would break. Add the fact that they edited the films (with lots of splices) to that and you get a lot of re-splicing to do. Or rather I get a lot of re-splicing to do.

And then the next client has films that are twice as old yet the splices are ten times better.

[super8man]

The only reliable splice is the one film processors used to stitch the two 25-foot lengths together on old 8mm films. After that, all bets are off. Ironically, I just spilt 1/3 of a bottle of film cement on my table - never done that before as I am super careful 99% of the time...sure glad that WASN'T super glue...ugh, would have had to toss the table...

[fraalex]

I m from Brazil and here there is no way to find film cement. For years i have been searching for how to make a home glue or a substitute for film cement. I discovered first the super glue. I v just tried and it worked. But it is little dirty because it glues the splicer a little bit and you have to clean it carefully. Recently i read a simple way to make splice cement: acetone and film base. Only that. Nothing about dioxane etc. I just tried it and it works very, very well. It just melts and bonds the film in few seconds. The only problem is that must be pure acetone, witch is not so easy to buy here, but it is not so hard too. I m not telling what i read but what i use to do successfully every time i have to splice a film. Here the link where i v learned it. Enjoy


http://www.film-center.com/splicing.html