distressed sprockets

[cel]

a few of my favourite super 8 films got damaged a while ago. I think the term for the damage is distressed sprockets. Basically the film will be 'jittery' when projected in parts where the sprockets have been damaged. Anybody have experience of this and how this might be repaired? All tips would be greatfully received.
Thanks
cel

[mattias]

if you have a splicer that punches holes you can use that to reperforate after simply putting tape over the torn holes, on both sides. i've done this with 16 mm film and it works great. probably not a good idea if you have more than a few frames, but i've also used a special reparing tape for 16 mm (basically 3 mms wide with 16 mm perfs in it) and i would assume something similar exists for super-8. try wittner, or perhaps wibergs foto. they might even have a simple machine to apply it. we have one in the editing room where i do my steenbeck stuff. it's basically just a set of rewinds and a sprocket wheel with guides for the tape and the film.

/matt

[Split8mm]

All tips would be greatfully received.
Thanks
cel

If it's just a very few sprockets that are messed up, you could just use Kodak Presstape. It's the tape they sell for splicing. I've used it to repair sprocket holes that are torn up. If I'm not mistaken, each Presstape covers 4 sprocket holes. Put a piece on each side of the film.

[studiocarter]

What do you do if 200 feet of the film is crapped out with torn sproket holes? It cannot be projected! simple. use a Tc-20 and transfer it to video. Or, if you have one, use a work printer and feed the film upside down and backwards then flop and reverse in Premiere.

[cel]

thanks to all who made a contribution I appreciate the time you have taken to help me. On a slightly subsidiary question the films were also scratched and I hear that there used to be a film cleaner known as Liquid Blue which could help remove some of the scratches but apparently this is not available in the EU anymore. Anyone got any leads or know of an alternative? I suppose what I should really try to do is clean the film and hopefully tidy up/clean out any scratches before using the tape to remake the sprockets otherwise any dirt/dust would be sealed in. More contributions to help solve my problem would be gratefully received.

[David M. Leugers]

What you want to hide the scratches is a great product called Filmguard. I purchase it from Steve Osborne who publishes "The Reel Image" magazine for S-8mm collectors and filmakers. He has a web site, just do a search on the internet. I applied this product to an old B+W feature film I had in S-8mm which had numerous scratches throughout the film. When projected, the print looked like new! This product goes on wet and stays wet, but will not harm the film, plastic or anything. Marvelous for using on old film when transferring to video, will give a "wetgate" guality to all film. It also helps the film glide through the projector gate. I only use it on completed films and would not use it on film that I planned to later edit because it does remain wet on the film which makes splicing (especially with tape) rather difficult. Good luck.

[cel]

Thanks for the info about filmguard although this may not help if I am going to use tape to repair the sprockets I will get some and experiment with it.
Cel