DIY film spools for 100ft / 30m bulk loads

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

I wanted to re-use a Westo bulk loader, but after a hunt, could find no empty 100ft spools, so was casting around for a while to wait for inspiration to strkike, as I knew there would be something usable without much modification, and I found it.
These things - the holders that contain gasless welding wire for MIG welders used by hobby welding enthusiasts.

They're perfect in diameter, and thickness, and will hold 100ft or more of 35mm film.
So, I carved out the existing centres, laid in a short piece of plastic pipe, and filled in the gap between pipe and the rest of it with expanding foam.

I tried two ways of cutting the centres out; firstly by sawing...

Which worked well, but was tedious.

Then by heating a length of sharpened copper pipe and simply melting the centre out - easy.

The result...

Then filled the spaces with polyurethane expanding foam and trimmed it to length after it had cured.

I'll be trying them sometime soon, when I finally get around to attacking the thousand foot reel of Kodak in my fridge.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4748 Location: Cheshire, England

Ha, a great idea. I don't think I've ever clapped eyes on a roll of wire like this. We use what we're familiar and comfortable with.

I'd have been more inclined to make one from two discs of 2mm plasticard and piece of drainpipe.

good work.

reMac · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:55 pm Post subject:

Nice DIY solution. Hopefully it works in your project. I like how some DIY ideas like these can trigger new ideas that I hadn't thought of before.

I used to work with 150ft bulk spools of film at a previous job. The spools we used were relatively small and made of a thin, lightweight metal (probably aluminum) that was anodized black. It would be super-convenient to have a couple of those spools now that I have a hobbiest-interest in photography. Our spools had a slot cut in the center tube that we would slide the end of the film into, then wind the film around the spool a few times to "lock" it in place.We would lose a little bit of film by doing it that way, but that's what we did because back in those times we weren't concerned about a little bit of waste. Now I would probably just tape the end of the film onto the spool.

Matt