Film Slitter Blades

Decided the blades on my Goat Hill film slitter were getting dull. It seemed like a hard pull to slit the film, and, the edges had a bit of roughness. Not good.

I peeled off the tape and removed the nuts from the screws. I left the screws in to hold things in alignment. Note there are layers of plastic separating the razor blades. Keep track of these so the spacing doesn't change. I just turned the blades to a new side. You can get four sides before replacing them and, they are just standard Gillett type double edge blades.

After all was reassembled, I used blue masking tape to cover things. Cut it to width and carefully applied two layers.

Ready for more slitting!

 

 

 

 

I use Jimmy Li stainless steel roller cutter. I also have a Minox/Acmel film slitter. The Jimmy Li slitter is much better

 

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To say that Jimmy’s is much better is an understatement. There is nothing quite like it...great slitter. I have a Minox slitter but haven’t even considered using it after using Jimmy Li’s.

Yes, the design is far better than just razor blades. I guess I was too cheap to pay the price. I also like Jimmy Li's negative holders - I bought a bunch from him. Glad he's doing these things.

I'm a very much DIY type and built my own slitter, modeled after the one pictured in the OP but with hobby plywood, not plexi. Even so, my cuts are clean with smooth edges, exact width, and fit the cassette's perfectly. The difference in my slitter is the channel under the emulsion side is 1mm lower than the two shoulders where the outsides of the 35mm film run. This means the emulsion side touches only air. The base side slides on a ultra smooth 'pressure plate' to keep the film pressed against the blades.

I'm a very much DIY type and built my own slitter, modeled after the one pictured in the OP but with hobby plywood, not plexi. Even so, my cuts are clean with smooth edges, exact width, and fit the cassette's perfectly. The difference in my slitter is the channel under the emulsion side is 1mm lower than the two shoulders where the outsides of the 35mm film run. This means the emulsion side touches only air. The base side slides on a ultra smooth 'pressure plate' to keep the film pressed against the blades.

When I got mine, I wondered if it might result in scratches on the emulsion. Never had a problem, though. The "pressure plate" on mine is some kind of very fine skinned foam and has caused no problems. The angle of the blades forces the film against that and it doesn't touch the surface below.