Super 8mm cement splices vs. tape

[scooterbird]

I have been having a real hard time getting my cement splices to adhere properly. Unfortunately in my current situation there are several varibles. Therefore it is quite difficult to pin down the exact reason why my splices are breaking. #1) I am using a fairly unknown brand....a splicer unit made by a Japenese company I believe called (JPL). #2) I am fairly sure many of the edits broke because I scraped too hard or an excessive amount of emulsion was rubbed away thus causing them to break. #3) I am projecting the final product through an Elmo 1200 HD M and they randomly break apart. (Please note: When I ran the same project through my GAF projector they held fine) More confusion is created by hearing that the early 1200's by Elmo were famous for breaking cement splices. .........mmmm.

The good news is that I re-spliced some 2 dozen plus cuts and they all went through with out coming apart! I think that happened because I physically pushed down on the splices with a flathead screwdriver for 15 seconds or more!!

The bottom line is I NEVER want to spend this much time on editing. There are plenty of other details to be more concerned about.

After pulling out an old book written by Lenny Lipton called The Super 8 Book, I just found out he prefers tape splicing! I immediately became semi depressed. (kidding!!)

Can any one confirm that tape splices are better? I could have sworn they took longer and the final outcome was more apparent than cement splices.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Wyatt

[tim]

Tape versus cement splicing has been discussed in this forum before: try searching the archive.

Both types of splice have their adherents.

Unless you are using a splicer that produces bevelled, splices, like a Bolex, only scrape until emulsion is removed on one side and until the surface is rough on the other side of the film. Apply enough cement to wet both scraped surfaces visibly. Press together for at least 15 secs (at 20 degC). Remove from splicer carefully! Avoiding stressing the joint for as long as possible - preferably hours. If you are making a splice during a showing, check it afterwards and remake if it looks a bit suspicious.

[scooterbird]

Tim...or anyone else,

Sorry I am new to this forum. Please explain how to get to archived data.

[MovieMaker]

Hi Scooterbird,
just go to the above button that reads "Search" and start browsing for the topics you wanna know about. Have fun!

By the way: I prefer tape splicing. It´s fast and with a good splicer you have no trouble over the years at all...

[Angus]

I have used tape splices since 1986 and most (90+%) of my tape splices, even from those early days when I was a hamfisted teenager, have held up.

When I was handed my late grandfather's films some years ago I had to resplice the entire lot of them (some 5+ hours of R8 footage) because the cement splices had all broken...every damned one of them!

That is not to say that nobody makes cement splices work, but they seem more difficult.

[svabo]

It's and will be different apprehension of tape or cement splices I have R8 films that spliced 1965 with cement splices these is still ok. The problem with tape is that when you washing the film you can get problems with these splices.

[tim]

Yeah, and I've got cement splices from the '50s that are as good as new too!

[Guest]

Well, i film for about 5 years in many formats (8, 16 and 35mm) and since then i abandoned the idea of using cement, tape is much better, you can always use the same frame over and over in edit, and the cement simply ruins 2 frames every time you decide to change plans. With cement it's normal that the films gets out of place while drying, it happened to me many times, and then all i have to do is to cut 2 frames out and glue it again. With cement the film gets cracky, and sometimes it brakes, with tape it is very hard to happen that.

Resuming use tape, not cement. But i understand the people who use it, after all it's a matter of method too.

Best Regards,
Carlos Portugal