8x10 Film Holders With Tape Inside?

The two film holders I got so far, came with what looks like double sided sticky tape put in the center of the holder. I can see this would help make the film flatter when exposing, but getting the film out proved a real issue when I tried. One of the holders came with film in them, so when I tried pulling the film out, it was still stuck to the tape. Granted the tape isn't so bad it would never come off, but Im debating whether I should remove the tape. I don't want to be bending or wrestling with pulling back out the sheet of film while its in the dark bag. I threw out those two sheets of film I had in the holder.

 

So what do you think- should I remove the tape? At first I thought the holders came like this, but on inspection of a second holder, the tape was not all there.

 

 

I was advised to remove the tape. I had some Acetone and some Qtips, so I removed as much of the tape as I could and used acetone to clean it up with what remained.

I can see why somebody put it there, but it sounds like a pita. If you ever worry about acetone wrecking plastic parts, try WD-40 first. It's a great goo remover.

Well the acetone didn't do much damage to the plastic. It just made a dark spot in the area used. Im not sure if cleaning it would clear that up. That said its done.

Acetone is a terrible solvent to use on plastic.

 

Most adhesive tapes dissolve or come off clean with decorator's white spirit, which doesn't attack plastics.