Reloading Double 8mm Film Magazines

Last Updated 00/08/04 1300PST

Reloading Double 8mm Film Magazines
by Martin W. Baumgarten © 2000

The Kodak type metal 2" x 3" Double 8mm film magazines can be user reloaded with film if you are able to follow a few of necessary loading disciplines. This will allow use of many of the wonderful small and ultra compact Double 8mm Magazine loading 8mm movie cameras.

The Double 8mm Film Magazine consists of the following parts:

Body shell: which holds the following parts:
1. Magazine body
2. Film Separater
3. Film Pressure Plate and spring
4. 2 - Film Cores
Magazine cover lid

The film is loaded onto supply core with the emulsion facing outwards. This is opposite of Spool Loading cameras, in which the film's emulsion side faces inwards. The film path in the magazine is fairly simple.....it unrolls from the supply core on the right side or top(when loaded in the camera) and travels to the left side (or downward when loaded in the camera), passing thru the film gate and pressure plate assembly and directly onto the takeup core. Since the film is 16mm's wide....Both halves of the film must be exposed to fully use up a roll of film. Thus, the takeup core for the first half, then becomes the supply core when filming the second half of the 25ft load of film.

Yes, the old DOUBLE 8mm Magazine using film cameras can still be used IF you learn to reload them yourself. The magazines only hold 25ft of film, so that 100ft roll will supply you with four magazine loads. Alternatively, you can just use readily available Double 8mm Spool film as a film supply source. The problem is getting the film processed, since most labs no longer know how to deal with the Double 8mm film magazines; so you have to make sure they can accept them, and also will return them to you along with your processed film. Also, you can always return the film to the daylight reel/spool, before sending the film off for processing, but this will make for a little more effort and time required, since you'll have to use either a dark room or a film changing bag to transfer the film from the magazine core back to a 25ft daylight spool, rememebering to wind it with the emulsion inward. All of this notwithstanding, below are detailed instructions for constructing your own magazine reloader, and reloading your Double 8mm film magazine.

[The DOUBLE 8mm Magazine Reloader]

_________________________________________
|                                                                     |
|                                                    (C)              |
|                                                                     |
|< - 4" - >(A)                            			 (B) <--2&1/2"--> |
|                                                                     |
|                                                    (D)              |
|                                                                     |
|________________________________________							  |

Diagram of Board Layout

Parts Required:

2 inch long 1/2 inch dowel
2 - 1" long tiny finishing nails
8" x 18" 5/8" to 1/inch plywood board or equivalent
3" section of 3/16" metal dowel bent into |__ shape to fit center or magazine film core. Pound lower core wind stem with a hammer & flat chisel or large screwdriver to 'dimple' it so it will fit into the magazine core cutouts.
Empty 16mm 100ft daylight spool and film can (a few would be handy, as well as a perhaps a couple 25ft spools and cans)

Assembly Instructions

First get a clean smooth 1/2 inch to 1inch plywood board and cut out a section about 8 inches high and 18 inches long (masonite will work fine also). Sand one surface carefully, so that it's nice and smooth.
Bore a 1/2" hole 1/2" deep into the board at Point 'A' on the diagram. Insert wood dowel into the hole. This will be used to retain the roll of bulk film for reloading.
At Point 'B', make a circle using Point 'B' as a center with the circle being 1-3/4 inches in diameter. Drill a 3/16 inch hole at Point 'B'. At Points 'C' and 'D', touching the outside of the drawn circle, drive in the 2 tiny finishing nails so they only go down into the board about 1/4 inch or so. These are your film diameter guides so you know when you have reached a 25ft load.
The 1/2 inch dowel will be used to retain the roll of bulk film or 100ft daylight spool. Or if you only plan to use prespooled 25ft daylight spools, then use a 1/4 inch wood dowl. The 2 finishing nails will act as stops when winding the film. The bent and dimpled 3/16thsinch metal dowel is your magazine film core winder. You will have to wrap a couple layers of vinyl electrical tape where the bent nail is dimpled until the diameter is just right to hold the film core snuggly. When the film reaches these pins, the correct footage required for a reload has been attained.

Preparing Your Film Reload for the DOUBLE 8mm Film Magazine

Having built the above reloader, you are now set to reload your first Double 8mm film magazine. Hopefully you already own one or more of these. If you have an old one that has old outdated film in it....you can study it to understand the film path.
Place your bulk film supply on the wood dowel so that the film unrolls from left to right under the bottom of the roll. Remember, the film is wound onto the core with the emulsion facing outwards. Attach the end of the film to the magazine core center, buy removing the metal film holding sleeve, looping the film around once upon itself and reattaching the metal sleeve. Only later cores had these sleeves.....but you can make use of any made for the 16mm film magazines if you have any. Otherwise, you can tape the film to the core, or try cutting a notched "T" at the end of the film so it fits into the core and holds itself in place. Practice these steps in the light with a piece of scrap film to familiarize yourself fully. The film supply usually will be emulsion in (A wind) and you will wind the film onto the magazine core with the emulsion Out or Upward facing.
A handy way to attach the film to the core, is to do this in room light. Place the film supply into a 16mm 100ft film can, whether it's on a 100ft spool or 25ft spool, and allow about 6 to 8 inches of film to hang out under the can lid. When you place the can lid on....do it carefully taking care not to damage the film. Now wrap a thick rubberband about the can and lid, and turn the lights on. Only the short piece of film hanging out under the film can lid is light fogged, and this is your leader film anyhow.
Double 8mm Magazine has to be notched to prevent the camera from trying to run the film off the supply core. So, hold the 8 inch piece of film down onto your work board, with the emulsion facing upwards and the can to the left of the film. About 6 inches from the end of the film, cut out the space between two of the sprocket holes....be careful not to cut the film side or too much. Use a single edged razor blade and carefully make the cutout notch between two perforations. You can also use a small single hole punch to do this. This step will have to be repeated to the other end of the film once you have the film wound onto the supply core.
Place the metal winding dowel thru the center of the film core, placing it into the drilled winding hole. Wind the film clockwise, carefully onto the core using the index finger of your left hand to help guide the buildup of film smoothly onto the core. When you have reached 25ft, the film stops will prevent you from overwinding the core. Cut the film with some sissors, place a rubber band around it to keep it from unraveling and place it into a light-tight black film lab bag and/or into a light-tight film can.

Preparing and Reloading the 16mm Film Magazine

Magazine shutter pin ---->
______________________^_______________________
|                /-------|_______________|--------------             |
|              /                                                    \  

|
|            /                                                        \ 

|
|           |                                                          
\      |
|           |                                                          
\      |
|            \                         o                               
\      |
|              \  _____             |             __________\       | | 
/            \           |           /     "C"         \       | |      
|              |          |         | Film Supply   \      | |          
Take up Core        |        |       Core         |     | |             
\             |             |      \         25ft        /     | |      
\_____/                | <--Separator    __/       | |                  
|     Arm 'D'                  | | Separater Arm Mount Pin --> O        
| \____________________________________________/

Diagram of  Double 8mm Film Magazine showing film path.

Remove the cover of the Double 8mm film magazine by removing any tape holding it on, and then just lift off the lid. The take up core will try to remain attached to the shaft on the magazine lid....don't let this bother you...just pull it off. The shafts are designed to hold the cores in position and also to prevent them from rotating unless the magazine is loaded into the camera (upon which a slight whirring sound is heard as the film is relaxed to allow travel thru the magazine when filming). Position the magazine so that the film gate pin is facing away from you.
Remove any old film (if any) and first observe the old film's layout. If there isn't any film in your magazine, then follow the diagram for layout of film to be reloaded. Using dust-off or similar, blow out the magazine of any dust and emulsion debris, making sure you clean the magazine film gate also (pull the center pin behind the pressure plate with your fingernail and it will retract slightly allowing you to either clean it out or load film into it).
Make sure the film gate is securely in place. Rotate the magazine film light shutter pin fully to close the gate.
Now having practiced loading the magazine in the light and then the dark you should be ready to reload it. An easy tip is to, while in the dark, pull off about 8 to 10 inches of film from the supply you have loaded and let this hang out thru the film can under the cover. You will only fog a short length of film that is only used for loading anyhow, not to film the film in the can. Place the film can to your left with the film to the right and emulsion facing upward. Now you will need to make a perforation notch again 6 inches from the end of the film, on the upper side of the film's perforations (as you did earlier to the other end of the film) by cutting out the space between two perforations. This piece of film hanging out is a bit longer, since this will allow you to thread the film thru the magazine in the light.
```
"X" is the notched two perforations below:
_____________________________________
[]  []  [--X-]  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []   \     

----
                                                                   
\------ ------|    |
                                                                    
_______ Film End "T" Cut
[]  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []  []    /    

|__|
---------------------------------------------------------------/
```
Then, either in the light if you are using the film out of the can method as stated above in #5 or in total darkness if not using that method; thread the film over the right side of the Film Gate roller, and pulling back on the Pressure Plate Center pin.....thread the film thru the Film Gate and down to the Take Up Core. Attach it to the takeup core either with a "T" notch cutout on the end of the film, or use some tape, or use a metal film clip. Make sure that the Take Up Core has the drive 'finger' sticking downward and thru the port opening that it sits on. This is very important since the drive cog in the camera rotates the whatever film core is acting as take up core using this tiny thin pin finger.
Now, turn off the lights and remove your film supply on the magazine core and load it into the magazine at Point 'C'. Feeling with your fingers, make sure nothing has shifted around, and take up any slack so that the Supply Core is snug. Press down evenly with your fingers all around the Supply Core making sure that the film wound on it is flat and even.
Replacing the Cover: Now set the Cover onto the body of the magazine and make sure that the lid's cover shaft enters the Take Up Core carefully. Holding the cover down snuggly, and having made sure it fit properly, you can now turn on a small dim light or open the door so you just have enough light to see what you're doing. The lid only is held on now by it's own snug fitting. You will now have to wrap a length of vinyl electrical tape around the magazine overlapping onto the small edge of the dover lid. Make sure the tape doesn't cover the front aperture gate area. Mark the tape using a permanent felt tip marker indicating what filmtype is loaded in the magazine, and/or the filmspeed also. Rotate the finger pins on either side of the magazine in a clockwise direction to take up any slack on the cores. They may only turn a fraction of an inch and you'll feel a 'click' as the core shaft locking spring holds the core and keeps it from rotating. This is normal.
After having filmed with the magazine, remove film for processing it yourself, or for transfer to a daylight spool & can for sending it to a lab.....so that you have the magazine for immediate reuse. If you have plenty, and the lab will agree to return you magazine, then just send the entire magazine in to the lab for film processing.

Hopefully your reloading went well, if not.....restudy the steps and try it again. Use a scrap length of film to practice with, and when ready, attempt the reloading steps again. By using the film length hanging out of the can method (tape or rubberband the can to ensure it doesn't accidently open on you!), you will only be fogging the leader that is used to thread the magazine anyhow, and it will allow you to do all the steps in normal roomlight. Run the scrap film thru the camera and make sure that the magazine works fine...and that you have the reloading technique mastered. Good luck, and happy filmmaking!

Best wishes,
Martin W. Baumgarten
Visit Martin's WWW site at:
Plattsburgh Photographic Services

Return to the 8mm Metadirectory