What to do when you need some 9p5mm Pathe leader for labeling and joining those bloody 1200 frame segments together. I should add that after 80 to 90 years in the canister they behave like friction toys springs near the hub of the real.
1) Go to the local hobby shop and buy some of those rare earth magnets that can hurt your fingers if you get pinched.
2) Add a couple of Canadian coins and a pair of sissors. You cannot actually use a coin that is worth something like silver or gold, only that cheap stuff with nickel and steel. If you need some incremental space try adding a smaller metal washer or even a film spacer.
3) Cut as much non-perforated leader as you want.
4) Again to the hobbly shop (probably the same trip as the first magnets) and buy some big flat magnets that are much weaker than the first ones as the powerful ones of this size you could never separate, or afford.
5) Plop the large flat magnets on a steel plate and tape away.
6) When dealing with the film that came from near the hub of the canister, which makes me glad I live in North America, the use of a small strong magnet works great to hold down the film near the tape point.
7) Is this archival quality work no.
8) Did this allow the 80 year old movie of someones cat with home made title cards to be scanned yes why who knows
9) After splicing 1400 feet of these springs together it made me think
And of course once all of the scaning is done, the film is not going back on those little beautiful canisters where to get reels to send it back on? Of course we go and visit our local circuit board assembly house and sweet talk the director of engineering, who emigrated from Iran, (I suspect directors of engineering from other countries will be just as nice) and ask them to save some of the surface mount compent reels in the 9.5mm 12.5mm width.
This is sort of full circle as the surface mount assembly component reels decades ago were adapted from 8mm film reels. Everthing is incremental.
