Respooling Kodak 5222 Double X

[madNbad]

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A question for the members about how they respool Kodak 5222 from a four hundred foot roll. Recently, I picked up a couple of Alden 74 bulk loaders and a box of ten 100' microfilm spools. I have a Photoflex Changing Room which pops up like a little tent and has sleeves that come up over my elbows. I don't have a darkroom or even an available space to make completely dark so the Photoflex will be the work area. So far, I've respooled a hundred foot roll of Double X from Photo Warehouse. Bringing it out of the bag and onto the spool minimized curling and the transfer took about twenty minutes. The resooling of a large amount may be a future project but would like some feedback from the members who do it on a regular basis. Thanks!

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[Pyrogallol]

Loading a normal 30mtr / 100ft spool into an Alden/Watson type loader is ok, but I don’t know how you would handle a 400 ft roll. Possibly keep it in its light tight bag, in your tent, in the dark at night and roll individual lengths straight into cassettes by hand ?

or buy a Leica 250 and load bigger cassettes !

Edited March 11, 2022 by Pyrogallol

[philipus]

I have an Alden loader that takes 200ft rolls. But spooling smaller rolls, while a bit frustrating and warm, should be possible in such a tent (I have the same one).

41 minutes ago, madNbad said:

A question for the members about how they respool Kodak 5222 from a four hundred foot roll. Recently, I picked up a couple of Alden 74 bulk loaders and a box of ten 100' microfilm spools. I have a Photoflex Changing Room which pops up like a little tent and has sleeves that come up over my elbows. I don't have a darkroom or even an available space to make completely dark so the Photoflex will be the work area. So far, I've respooled a hundred foot roll of Double X from Photo Warehouse. Bringing it out of the bag and onto the spool minimized curling and the transfer took about twenty minutes. The resooling of a large amount may be a future project but would like some feedback from the members who do it on a regular basis. Thanks!

[madNbad]

Thanks for the reply. If I had a darkroom and was using a lot more film, I would invest in a movie film winding crank or even a board with two uprights and a bolt to hold both reels. If I actually do decide to try it, laying the reel of film on its side and winding onto the microfilm reel should work well enough. So far, the big job was getting the old microfilm off of the reel. I spent the better part of an afternoon removing ancient copies of the New York Times. The microfilm reels will hold a hundred foot length and once I have a few more empty bulk film cans, I may give it a try.