cleaning glue off negatives

[bhneely]

I searched the archives and didn't find an answer to this problem. I

discovered - the hard way - that a lab at which I've been renting

space has used tape or glue for some reason on the inside of their

negative carriers. What's the hard way? How about some glue residue

sticking to a negative, right smack in the middle of an empty stretch

of backdrop? In setting up the exposure, the chunk of glue makes a

visible shadow, even at 8x10 from a 6x6cm neg.

 

I know that vegetable oil is great for removing glue (if you live in

one of those insane cities that requires annual updates of stickers

in your window, oil will clean it right off), but at what cost to my

neg? Any other ideas?

 

And yes, I pointed it out to lab management and cleaned up the

carrier I was working with.

[chris_waller]

I use isopropyl alcohol (70 percent) a.k.a. medical alcohol.

[savagesax]

Can you have the lab scan the neg before you try cleaning the neg? You might be able to fix the marks in photoshop. Just a thought. Hope it helps.

[ronald_moravec1]

If it is a color neg you need to stabilise it again if you work on the emulsion side.

 

Window stickers are best handled by repeated contact with your jeans to remove as much adhesive as possible before application to the window.

 

Another way is to apply clear tape to the entire sticky side except for a miniscule strip top and bottom.

 

Goo Gone or floortile adhesive remover(tolulene) cleans off the mess in a flash.

[lex_jenkins]

Naptha or ordinary liquid lighter fluid works very well as a goo remover. Be very careful around open flames, sparks or enclosed spaces.

 

Birchwood Casey "Gun Scrubber" (the original version, not the new and unimproved version that now contains alcohol) is also a very effective solvent for old adhesive residues. It's nonflammable. Be sure to use it with adequate ventilation - it's not bad stuff with reasonable care but may cause dizziness and headaches in confined spaces. The main drawback to the stuff is it evaporates so quickly sometimes several applications are needed to do the trick. On the other hand, it evaporates quickly and cleanly so that can be an advantage.

 

For the negative itself a light mineral oil might be better than a vegetable oil. PEC pads or something similar could then be used to remove the oily residue.