Hey it’s me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. At the Kodak Film Factory in Rochester, New York, we get to film the incredible process of how Kodak photography film is made. This is the third of three videos, where we looked at the backing, the light sensitive coating, and now the slitting and sprocket-holing of the film.

We have to keep everything in the dark until the shutter opens and the image is exposed. I’m also taking film photos throughout the process on Kodak film to capture the process.

We’re going to start right at the Slitter, and meet Tim, the operator. He can do this with his eyes shut. The film comes in from coating in a wide roll form 54 inches, and the cover lifter takes the casket lid off. They check the roll and hit some buttons to automatically load the slitter, which can slit 12,000 feet. One of these large caskets holds 12,000 feet. Destin: And it’s about five feet per 35 millimeter roll. Is that right, did I get that right?

Tim: Yeah.

Destin: That’s right. All right. So this is Patrick. Patrick’s an engineer.

Patrick: Nice to meet ya.

Destin: Doing all right?

Tim: This is the unwind. So we put it on the unwind, thread it up. There’ll be a leader in the machine.

Destin: Is this PET or is this acetate? This is Estar.

Destin: Okay, Estar. Got it.

Tim: Yes. So you’ve got your two banks. You got your even and your odd bank. This is a 35 millimeter slitter only.

Destin: So you have tension on one side on the whole sheet, which is right here. This is a whole sheet going.

Tim: Everything’s got tension.

Destin: Everything’s got tension?

Tim: Yeah. These are pulling tensions. See these spinning?

Destin: They’re spinning right now? Oh wow!

Tim: Yes. Yeah.

Destin: Okay. So is this actually moving leader through right now?

Tim: No.

Destin: Okay.

Patrick: I have clutches underneath those pullers.

Destin: Directional clutches.

Patrick: Yeah.

Destin: Oh, that’s how you maintain tension?

Patrick: Yes.

Destin: Gotcha. Okay, I’m with you. That’s cool. So, you know, Tim, you know everything about this machine?

Tim: More than anyone else.

Destin: Yeah? So is Tim, is Tim the guy?

Patrick: He’s the guy.

Destin: So are you an engineer? What’s your title?

Tim: No, I’m just an operator.

Destin: I didn’t mean to offend you by calling you an engineer. So he’s an engineer. So you’re basically teaching him?

Patrick: Yes. Oh, yeah.

Destin: Yeah. That’s how that works, isn’t it? Like every manufacturing job I’ve ever been in, the operators teach the engineers. That’s the way it works. That’s awesome.

Tim: So you’ve got, you know, that’s the even when you got the odd bank over there. So this is basically the the odd bank, they’re all stuck down and then you got your salvage edges going to the

Destin: Recycle?

Tim: Those are just waste.

Destin: And so you go get the silver out of that somewhere.

Tim: Yes. Yeah.

Destin: Okay. And that’s where they knurled that over on the estar line.

Tim: Correct.

Destin: So since this the slitting machine is so big, we can only see it in pieces. This is what we’re looking at as a whole. We get a big roll of film unwinding and being fed into the machine. It goes up and over and down to a series of blades that slit and send half the film to the odd side and half of the film to the even side to be rolled up. The edges are trimmed off and then sent over to a bin so they can be recycled. So up until this process, you know, after we did the photosensitive coating, everybody’s been worried about touching that side. But here it looks like I’ve got a roller. That is it coming in contact here on the other side?

Patrick: Yup, yeah. So we touch the emulsion in this, in this building only, mainly, because it’s actually dried at this point. Right. By the time it gets to us, it’s no longer just a wet, wet emulsion, it’s got some stiffness to it. So we’re, we’re allowed to actually roll and wind on that side.

Destin: So do you have night vision goggles in here?

Tim: Yes.

Destin: [With surprise in his voice] Okay. That’s how you have to do it.

Tim: Yeah. Ummm I really don’t use them.

Patrick: No.

Destin: [With surprise in his voice] What?!

Tim: I’ve been working in the dark for almost 30 years, so it’s it’s nothing. So, you can actually see fairly decent. I could see him in the dark, but you go over to a K3 Slitter where they do that film there, you know, the 135 that… You Our final product from this room is 500-foot rolls of estar. The rolls are slit and made into even and odd pieces. The rolls are then sent out of the room on a fully automated system. Through the window, one can see the web moving up through the web path above the machine, and then down into the knives. After the web passes through the knives, it goes up to the rewinds where it is turned into 35-millimeter rolls. Each side is then filled with a vacuum splice. The splice is marked with white markers to make it visible. Destin asked Tim if he could understand the confusion on his face, and Tim replied that it would all make sense once he saw it. Patrick then took Destin a few steps away to the slitting machine blades, and explained how it works. The film runs straight through the blades, which have a right angle edge. It then wraps around the lower roller, and makes around 100 degrees of contact before it gets out. Destin thanked Patrick for the explanation, and mentioned that the episode was sponsored by Nord VPN. My grandfather had a clever trick for avoiding salesmen making assumptions about his ability to pay. He would wear an old, tattered shirt when he went to buy a car or something of that nature. This inspired me to learn about a new way to use VPNs. Websites track your IP address, and they can change prices on things like hotel rooms and electronics based on where they think you’re from. This is where NordVPN comes in. You can connect to their thousands of servers in 59 different countries, and get different prices based on the location they think you’re from. NordVPN also offers a two year plan with four months free, and a 30 day money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied. Matt, one of the operators at the machine that puts perforations in film, explained to me that the machine is the heart of the operation and that it has different punches for different sizes and dimensions of holes. Destin: Really.
Matt: So yeah.
Destin: So this is where you put the core over here?
Matt: Well, to be honest with you, what happens is this door here would be open. As you said, we’re in a dark environment. This door would be open. There’s an arm that will reach into the rack, bring the roll in and automatically load it.
Destin: Okay.
Matt: Then this arm comes down. It puts all the computer information that we need to produce this roll.
Destin: How does how does the arm know the computer information?
Matt: Well it downloads from the actual rack.
Destin: Okay, got it.
Matt: There’s a card on the rack.
Destin: Got it.
Matt: That’ll be read and then its sent into the computer. It’s going to know that it’s a 2000 foot wall. 4000 foot or 6000 foot.
Destin: Okay.
Matt: The customer has different demand and it’s also going to tell it what print to put on there.
Destin: This looks very complicated.
Matt: That’s just the nuts and bolts of it is it’s very complicated. But for an operator’s point of view, it’s really not that difficult.
Destin: Okay.
Matt: There’s only a couple of interactions I actually have with the machine. Everything else is automated.
Destin: Can you show me what they are?
Matt: Yeah. What I’m gonna do. So this is exactly how the roll would have been loaded in under a dark environment. So as an operator, I’m going to take this tape off because we don’t want that. So this chopped it. And what we want is a rounded edge because we don’t want to damage the heart.
Destin: Okay, So a rounded edge and so it’s a very specific.
Matt: Very specific cut.
Destin: Oh, a rounded edge. Yeah, okay, got it.
Matt: We don’t want this going through the heart on the other end.
Destin: Okay.
Matt: Because of the chance when it splices through it will damage the heart.
Destin: So that was a vacuum right there.
Matt: Yeah. Holding it down.
Destin: So, so that’s the back side of the film. So you don’t scratch it.
Matt: Exactly.
Destin: So on, on the roll, where’s the photosensitive part? It’s on the inside?
Matt: This is the emulsion. Yes. And this is a support.
Destin: Okay.
Matt: The outside of the support.
Destin: Gotcha.
Matt: So now I’d pull this knife off, there’d be a balance. I’d throw that out.
Destin: Okay.
Matt: And it keeps me from overlapping the film. So I butt that up to the knife. I’m going to reset it now. I take a piece of tape and you want it in the center of the film. You don’t want it being perforated.
Destin: Okay.
Matt: So now I’m going to take this.
Destin: You don’t want the tape to be perforated because it’ll mess up your punch.
Matt: It’s very, It could be. Our tape could get stuck on the heart and caused damage. There’s a number of things that could happen.
Destin: Gotcha.
Matt: So now I’ll take the slack out. and I’m going to send the film through.
Destin: Where should I be looking right now?
Matt: That’s well all this, you got. This arm moving. The film is going to kick through this end and it’s predetermined to make sure that I get the tape off so this this board comes out the knife will cut the film so that I have all the tape through the machine. Gotcha. And then this would be what we call a scratch test end. Every roll that we run, we’ll have a scratch test end that I would send to the tube system.
Destin: Matt: “Normally the door would close.”
Destin: “Got it.”
Matt: “So now I’m going to start the machine.”
Destin: “All right, so. So where should I be looking?”
Matt: “So this is this is where it’s going to wind up. It’s going to unwind from the backend and it’s going to wind up here.”
Destin: “Okay, sounds good.”
[Machine starts up] [Air hissing]
Destin: “Got it.” [Whirrling sounds as it speeds up] “That’s really fast Matt.”
Matt: “It runs up to 3000 feet a minute.”
Destin: “That’s really fast.”
Matt: “Yeah. We used to run 100 feet a minute on the old style machine.”
Destin: “So this really increased productivity.”
Matt: “Yeah, greatly. Greatly. We’ve been doing it this way for about 20 years. 25 years.”
Destin: “Did you run it on 100 feet per minute system?”
Matt: “I still do, some products. We still have to run that way.”
Destin: “Can you show me where the holes go?”
Matt: “Oh, you mean the perforation? [D] Where is it? Cutting the hole? Where is it punching the holes?”
Matt: “This right here. And the spinning. So this is the actual punch drum this is the die drum.”
Destin: “Okay.”
Matt: “So as it rotates it’s pushing the perforations.”
Destin: “I see it right here.”
Matt: “Yeah.”
Destin: “So those are the little posts punching, punching the holes in the film right here.”
Matt: “Yeah.”
Destin: “And the film that’s ejected goes into the heart and gets vacuumed out. Through this exhaust tube.”
Destin: “So. So if I had a high speed camera, I would see little holes of film going that way.”
Matt: “Yeah. Is this is clear. Yeah. You’d see the vacuum taking them out.”
Destin: “Is there a bucket of those holes somewhere?”
Matt: “Right around the wall I can show you after we’re done.”
Destin: “Okay. Sounds good. So can you. Can you run this? So we’re done.”
Matt: “Yeah.”
Destin: “We slurped like a spaghetti noodle. We slurped the end of the film up right?”
Matt: “Exactly.”
Destin: “Okay, so that that roll is done. So at this point, how do you take the core off?”
Matt: “Now, if this was actual production I wouldn’t. What would happen is, this arm right here. You see, there’s a core there.”
Destin: “Yeah.”
Matt: “This arm comes down. It takes the empty core, comes back to the retracted position. While that’s going on the manipulator arm is bringing in my next full roll of film.”
Destin: “That’s awesome.”
Matt: “So, yeah, I don’t. I don’t touch anything on this end.”
Destin: “Gotcha.”
Matt: “It’s all automatic.”
Destin: “So what on this machine do you worry about? Is there something that typically messes up?”
Matt: “Uh, not usually.”
Destin: “That’s impressive.”
Matt: “There’s, you might get an unusual occurrence once in a great while, but they’re they’re very reliable.”
Destin: “That’s impressive. So how many of these do you guys have?”
Matt: “We have these two here, and then we have seven on the other side.”
Destin: “Seven on the other side. Yeah, we used to have 28, but because film isn’t quite as popular as it used to be, it’s picking back up.”
Matt: “No, I love it. I love it.”
Destin: “Do you like your job?”
Matt: “Oh, I love it. I love, I started 26 years ago and obviously going through all the changes we’ve gone through, I’m really surprised to still be here.”
Destin: “Yeah.”
Matt: “A lot of us never anticipated that with all the bad news you know.”
Destin: “Are you seeing production go up?”
Matt: “Yeah, it seems to be headed that Dude! So that’s how much film we’ve run. That’s amazing. All of it, all those little perforations and that’s silver, there’s silver in that. Exactly, so we recycle it to recover the silver. So once it comes out here, it’s in the light. So this is you just, you just recycle the whole thing. Can I get a picture with you in there, Matt? Oh, sure. [Shutter click] So I’m sure he told you, right? That middle bit that’s actually making the perforations, we call that the heart, right? No, he didn’t tell me that. Okay, so I will say that the operator, Matt, he seemed to not have a big concern about that, which tells me that the engineers are doing their job right. Yeah, there is a lot of technology going into developing that system right, 3000 feet a minute. It is not, not slow when you’re perforating at those speeds. There’s a lot of extra things that you have to start thinking about, right? Okay. I mean, when you’re up at 3000 feet a minute, you’re thinking about harmonics now. Yes. Right, vibrations, harmonics, tensions are really important. So we’re actually sneaking through the maintenance shop here because we’ve got a lot of the hearts on display here. And here’s one kind of, kind of cut open. Oh wow. Oh yeah. So, the face plate of the machines here and just this little bit is sticking out. Okay. And we’ve got all the hoses and stuff hooked up to the front here for the vacuums. And one reason why we nickname it the heart, because we have an oil mist in here. Okay. And when it’s running, it’s got the nice red oil flowing through it like a heart one. Those are just straight involute teeth, aren’t they? Yep. That’s interesting. So can I sit down in this chair? Yes. And kind of engage with this. This is really, really high precision stuff. Okay, so I’m seeing. So you’ve got set screws here. Yes. That are positioning each individual hole. Yeah. So the lower sets, they’re called the dies. And up at the top is the punches, right. So we’ve got a punch and die operation. Can I turn it? Uhhh, Yes. You think so? Yes. Okay, so I grab it here. Okay. That’s a free wheeler, so I should be able to. Yeah. Look at that. Okay, so. So this is just a one to one. Yup. I feel no mechanical interaction whatsoever. Nope, yeah so it’s actually a through hole. So basically here’s my knife. So this hole has to move left and right up and down in order to index with the punch that corresponds with it. And is there, do you know how many there are on the wheel? 96. There’s 96. And so those are paired. Yep. And they’re tuned as a pair. Correct. How long does it take to tune them? Months. Months to tune one heart? Yep. Are you serious? Yes. Well, I have so many things I want to ask you. Um, How is it driven? There’s a big motor out this way. Yep, Yep. So got a serve on the serve on the. Direct drive? Direct drive. Yeah. That’s incredible. I’m noticing the the slots on the inside. So you have a channel that has a vacuum in it. Yup. So you have maximized your vacuum surface area instead of having little holes, you actually distribute that vacuum over a whole lot of surface area and that is a precisely machined part. Incredibly. So that’s, that’s a monolithic piece, isn’t it? That ring. Uh, every single die there is individual. Every die is individual. But the vacuum chamber is is all one big ring that’s right up there. Right on the drum. Yeah. So so there’s how many how many parts are just in this head. Alright. So you get the die drum which is the, the thing that everything gets bolted to with the vacuum channels. And then you’ve got the a set, a set of die on each side all 96 around. Then you have the vacuum channel all the way around that. Yeah. It’s very impressive to see how all the pieces of this machine are aligned and running at 3000 feet per minute. The vacuum ring is on the backside of the film, and someone is putting dies into the 96 sets of four threaded holes. It’s amazing to think that this part alone cost tens of thousands of dollars. The person is also aligning the punches and dies, and looking through the die with a microscope to make sure that they don’t make contact. Donovan showed me how they cut the large metal sheets into strips, which will later become cans. He then visually inspected every single strip and it was looked at by a human. We then walked around the corner and Donovan showed me a machine that was making the little metal end cap for film canisters. Patrick showed us how the machine would work if it were running, bringing in the strips and using a big giant press to crimp edges and cut out the end caps. We then put a hopper in down there and started applying the velvet, which had an adhesive on the back and was heated and glued onto the strip. The velvet accumulator was used to ensure the velvet was not connected in between the strips, and it was cut separately. That’s really cool.

Destin: “Oh, that’s so strange.”
Patrick: “And then now since the velvets cut, we can use this press to where we’re just cutting the metal. So we’re actually got double dye sets there and we’re, we’re punching each of these strips separately, and then they’ll be indexed in these trays.”
Destin: “Yep.”
Patrick: “And that’s one of those trays. We have some loaded ones over there.”
Destin: “Okay.”
Patrick: “And that’s what we’re going to use over at the dial to actually form this into something we can use at the spooler.”
Destin: “So we’re gonna turn this into a can?”
Patrick: “Correct.”
Destin: “Down the hall after these things were velveted, cut and crimped, they’re being loaded into one of my favorite machines on the planet. This is what actually makes the can. Let’s watch it for a second, and then we’ll try to figure out what’s going on.”
[Metal scraping, click sound every rotation] [Metal tubes clicking together as they fall from the belt]
Destin: “Okay, So metal comes out here, goes down, comes here, and it rolls it into a cylinder.”
Patrick: “Yeah.”
Destin: “It moves over here. It grabs a cap. And then as it moves forward, it puts the cap on way back there.”
Patrick: “Yeah.”
Destin: “And then it, it’s crimps it on and then towards the back it stakes it. Is that right?”
Patrick: “Yeah.”
Destin: “So this is the stacker here. So once it brings the cap over, now it’s going to stake it and then the rest of it just this conveyor. So taking it off, deciding if its a reject or not to, cause we’re measuring how well we actually staking it onto the magazine.”
Destin: “Got it.”
[Machine sounds once again] [Hollow metal tubes clicking together as they drop]
Destin: “So good. It’s so good, dude.” [shutter click] “It’s so cool. Okay, We’ve made the film and we’ve made the can. It’s open on one side. We’ve only staked it on one side, but we have to put the film in the can and then we have to put it in this little container here. How do we do that?”
Patrick: “First all, we get the other side of the can and we get it oriented correctly. In a vibration rotation thing that gets it all aligned correctly. And then check this out. The little plastic canisters, they get them oriented correctly just by that little lip on the top, and they use gravity to drop it down.”
Destin: “I could watch this for days. The lids for those cans move up this little conveyor belt and there’s these little sensors that tell if the lid is oriented in the correct way or not. If it’s not, it kicks it out. Once all these components are oriented correctly, they then go through a light lock into the adjacent room where all of them come together in one complete package in a 35 millimeter film can.”
Destin: “So you’re Sermin?”
Sermin: “Sermin.”
Destin: “Nice to meet you.”
Sermin: “Nice to meet you too.”
Destin: “You run this machine.”
Sermin: “Yes, I do.”
Destin: “Do you mind showing me how it works?”
Sermin: “Okay, so this is the A cabinet.”
Destin: “Okay.”
Sermin: “So we hang the rolls like this. That’s all ready.”
Destin: “Is that a B cabinet? You have two?”
Sermin: “Yes, we have two, we have A and B.”
Destin: “And so you can have two rolls on there to tie.”
Sermin: “That is auto splice.”
Destin: “Auto splice.”
[Machine hissing air]
Destin: “Oh, I’m seeing these film caps. I recognize those.”
Sermin: “Oh, yeah.”
Destin: “Okay. So I’m seeing all the components.”
Patrick: “Yeah.”
Patrick: “They all come together here.”
Sermin: “That’s the magazine.”
Destin: “Got it. So you’re running Kodak Gold today?”
Sermin: “Yes And Patrick then explains the machine to me, and it is so complicated that we would benefit from seeing it work first and then talking about what’s happening. We start by applying a piece of tape to a little plastic spool that will be the center of the film can. Then, the film is taped to the center spool and quickly rolled up and cut. The can we made earlier is then slid over the top of the rolled-up film. It’s hard to see, but then the little end cap is put on, making the whole thing light-tight. After that, the can is placed in the machine, and the film is spliced together and then fed into the machine. The machine reads the belt, which has positional marks on it, to know how many frames it needs to go by. It also has a vacuum slack box, which keeps the film in a loop. The machine also has an exposure setting for 24 or 36 frames and a perforation that punches out the leader pattern. Finally, the film goes to the threader, which is an eight-station rotor that puts all the parts together. My name is Rich, and I’m here to explain the final packaging process for 35 millimeter film. After the film can is placed in the plastic case, it is shot through a tube up and around with air, then it is spooled and sent to the white line where the packing lines are. The film is then packaged in several different formats, such as singles, hang tab packages, five packs, three packs, and two packs. After this, the inspector checks for any damage and the carton print for expiration. The proper amount is then put in the box with the label indicating the number of packages in the case, and the case is sent through the taping machine. The cartons are then manually put on a pallet and sent to the next room. There, a rotary actuator grabs the carton and bends the tab upwards, while the rail takes it and completes the closure. The machine then loads five spools into the carton, and metal detectors are used to ensure that the can is ferrous. Finally, the rhythmic clickety clack of the machine is heard as it drops and counts the five packages. [Destin] Everyone here works together.It’s a very good team project. [Op2] Yes, I like it, it’s something different.I worked at a bunch of different packaging companies so I’m used to you know, packing.So, it’s something different.Everyone here works together.It’s a very good team project. [Op3] Yes there wonderful years. I don’t mind it. It seems like you got some good folks. It was nice to meet David at the Kodak plant in Rochester, New York. After discussing what he was working on, we got to talking about the plant and how it felt like a family. Rich, an employee at the plant, allowed me to take a picture with him and his colleagues which was an awesome experience. Rich also gave me a detailed explanation of the 35 millimeter process.

I’m grateful for the experience and would encourage everyone to consider shooting some film. If you’d like to support my work, please consider going to Patreon.com/smarter_every_day or signing up for the email list at SmarterEveryDay.com. Have a good one!