Bolex Bevel Edge Cement Splicer Tips?

[RogerG]

Hi all,

I recently bought a Bolex bevel-edge cement splicer that I'll use to splice standard 8 and 16mm films.I've made a few splices - some excellent, others less so. Obviously, I need more practice.

To speed up my learning curve, I'm looking for any tips you might have. Specifically, how much grinding do you do on the base side? The emulsion side is straight forward - grind until there's none left. However, I'm not really sure how much is required on the base side. I suspect I might be grinding it to thin, leading to a weak splice.

Thanks for your help!

Roger

[beamascope]

I might be wrong because it's been 1982 or so since I have glued film splices but I thought you scraped off the emulsion only then applied the glue. No scraping of the base but like I said I'm not positive. Surely somebody here will know.

[RogerG]

No, you're correct for the vast majority of cement splicers. With those, you just scrape the emulsion off and overlap the other film end.

The Bolex is a true beveled-edge splicer, so you scrape emulsion on one end and base on the other. This allows a more shallow overlap, which is nearly silent when projected. I'm curious as to how much scraping on the base side others find to work well for them.

[BAC]

This is the best cement splicer in my opinion, it makes it very easy to make great splices. I would practice on some junk film or leader before using it for anything important. That way you will get a feel for how much you need to scrape the film. I actually have a few of these and the scrapers can get dull. But even with a dull scraper you can get a good splice, it just takes a little longer to get it fully scraped. You will see that the area you are scraping will advance from the cut edge of the film on the right to the left. There will still be a thin line of film that is not scraped on the left side where it goes into the holder. If that line is jagged you need to keep scraping. With practice you will get a feel for how far you need to scrape. I don't think you can over scrape with these if they are adjusted properly but you can try with your test film. If you look at it closely there is a stop that prevents the scraper from coming in contact with the metal base under the film. You will also notice that the scraper is slightly angled when it is against the film so that it scrapes deepest on the right side and less on the left side. This is how you get the bevel.

I put cement on both pieces of film before connecting them but you don't have to. I think this just gives me assurance that I have full coverage with the cement. if you don't get full coverage you can end up with a spot that is not connected properly and the splice can come apart. Make sure that you brush off the dust from scraping before you cement it. If you don't it will make a weak splice and can leave bumps of crud on the film.

Also make sure that you are using good fresh cement. If you don't the splices may come apart. They way you tell if the cement is fresh is the color. It will turn a lite yellow when it is going bad. B & H Photo sells 1 pint cans of the cement for $20. That's enough cement to last me about 10 years. I put the new cement back into old bottles after I rinse them with acetone.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Nt ... Search=yes

After you do some test pieces twist and pull them to see how well you did. It takes a little longer to make a cement splice when compared to tape but I think they are better splices and will last longer. I have seen old tape splices that get dried out and come apart.

I hope this helps, good luck with it.