The video provides an in-depth look at the intricate process of manufacturing Kodak photography film at the Kodak Film Factory in Rochester, New York. This informative journey, led by a young engineer named Patrick, traces the film's transformation from its initial stages through to the final packaging. Destin highlights the technological marvels involved, such as the slitting of the film, creating sprocket holes, and crafting the cans that house the film.

The film's journey is intricately detailed, exploring each stage from the massive rolls of film, unwound and coated with a photosensitive layer, to being tightly slit and perforated for use in cameras. Each step involves meticulous engineering, including the use of specialized machines and processes such as laminar flow waterfalls and dark room operations. Patrick and his team navigate these processes with skill and precision, ensuring that quality and innovation are maintained throughout.

Takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. extruding [ɪkˈstruːdɪŋ] - (verb) - To shape (a material such as metal or plastic) by forcing it through a pre-designed mold or die. - Synonyms: (shaping, molding, forming)

In the first video, we looked at the backing. How did they make that stuff back there? We learned about films with estar backing and the incredible engineering involved in taking these plastic pellets and then melting it in a special auger and then extruding it and then stretching it out and cooling it over a continuous process.

2. accumulator [əˈkjuːmjəˌleɪtər] - (noun) - A device used in manufacturing processes to collect and temporarily store material to balance the flow between operations. - Synonyms: (collector, gatherer, aggregator)

And we learned about a concept called an accumulator. This is a clever arrangement of pulleys that spread out to collect material inside the production line so that you never have to stop the extrusion from the auger.

3. laminar flow [ˈlæmɪnər floʊ] - (noun) - A type of fluid flow where a fluid moves in parallel layers, with minimal disruption between the layers. - Synonyms: (streamlined flow, smooth flow, steady flow)

We applied a light sensitive coating to it with, get this, a laminar flow waterfall. I kid you not. It's incredible how this thing works.

4. tension [ˈtenʃən] - (noun) - The degree to which a material is stretched or held tightly, often used in processes such as manufacturing or weaving. - Synonyms: (stress, strain, tautness)

So you have tension on one side on the whole sheet, which is right here. This is a whole sheet going. Everything's got tension. Everything's got tension.

5. sprocket holes [ˈsprɒkɪt hoʊlz] - (noun) - Small holes punched in film stock to enable it to be advanced and positioned mechanically. - Synonyms: (perforations, holes, slots)

We have to slit the film, and then we have to put these little holes in it, because these little sprocket holes are important for it running through your camera

6. perforation [ˌpɜːrfəˈreɪʃən] - (noun) - The process or the result of piercing a material with numerous holes. - Synonyms: (puncturing, piercing, piercing)

What we want is a finished product with the perforation. Okay, so we're punching holes.

7. harmonics [hɑːrˈmɒnɪks] - (noun) - The study of mechanical vibrations or waves, often relating to disturbances in machinery operations. - Synonyms: (vibrations, resonances, oscillations)

When you're up at 3000ft a minute, you're thinking about harmonics now. Yes. Right. Vibrations. harmonics.

8. centrifugal force [sɛnˈtrɪfjʊɡəl fɔːrs] - (noun) - The apparent force that acts outward on a body moving around a center, arising from the body's inertia. - Synonyms: (outward force, radial force, gyroscopic force)

Because if this thing's running super, super fast, what's going to happen is if it gets on one side and you get a clump of them, you get. What is it? centrifugal force.

9. monolithic [ˌmɒnəˈlɪθɪk] - (adjective) - Formed of a single large block of stone or material; massive and uniform. - Synonyms: (uniform, massive, solid)

So that's. That's a monolithic piece, isn't it? That ring? Every single die there is individual, and every die is individual, but the vacuum chamber is.

10. servo [ˈsɜːrvoʊ] - (noun) - A mechanism, often operated by electrical feedback, used to supply the control of certain machinery parts accurately. - Synonyms: (actuator, controller, feedback mechanism)

Well, I have so many things I want to ask you. How is it driven? There's a big motor out this way. Yep. Yep. So got a servo on the servo on the.

This Thing is Crazy Fast - Kodak Part 3- Smarter Every Day 286

This is at the Kodak Film factory in Rochester, New York. The fact that we got to film in the plant is amazing. This is how Kodak photography film is made. And this is the third of three videos. In the first video, we looked at the backing. How did they make that stuff back there? We learned about films with estar backing and the incredible engineering involved in taking these plastic pellets and then melting it in a special auger and then extruding it and then stretching it out and cooling it over a continuous process. And we learned about a concept called an accumulator. This is a clever arrangement of pulleys that spread out to collect material inside the production line so that you never have to stop the extrusion from the auger. This allows you to never stop the process from moving, while at the end of the line, you can stop a roll and make a cut.

In the second video, we took that wide roll that we made, right, and we applied a light-sensitive coating to it with, get this, a laminar flow waterfall. I kid you not. It's incredible how this thing works. They're actually applying multiple layers at once with this waterfall, and they make the layers, like in these special kettles down in the basement. And, oh, by the way, everything is happening in the dark. And after they apply the coatings, they have to go dry it over, like, a mile of conveyance. Still happening in the dark. They're hardly touching this stuff because they're moving it with air.

In fact, they use these nineties era robots to move stuff around. It is a technological marvel. So, at the end of video two, we have this light-sensitive film in these big light-proof boxes called caskets. Right. We have to figure out how to cut it up so that it's small enough to put into a camera. It's called slitting. We have to slit the film, and then we have to put these little holes in it, because these little sprocket holes are important for it running through your camera. Right. So, after we do that, we have to then build this can. We're gonna get to see how they build the can, and then we have to put the film in it.

Now, the film we're dealing with today already has that light-sensitive coating on it. So, we have to keep everything in the dark until that special moment when a shutter is allowed to open and you expose the image. By the way, I'm gonna take film photos throughout this process, so you'll get to see the Kodak process filmed on Kodak film. Very cool. Anyway, let's get started. I'm gonna introduce you to Patrick. Patrick is a young engineer who's been spending the last few years since he got out of school, learning this entire process. And he's gonna walk us through every step.

Now, this process is amazing, but we're gonna start right here at the slitter, and we're gonna go meet Tim. Tim is the operator of the slitter, and he can literally do this with his eyes shut. This is where we slit the film. It comes in from coating in a wide roll form 54 inches. This is all dark. Comes in to the COVID lifter. Cover lifter comes in, takes the COVID off. So that would be the casket. And you're lifting the lid on the casket?

Correct. The lid's up there. Oh, gotcha. Once that's off, we go in, check the roll, make sure we got the right roll. We'll hit some buttons. It automatically loads onto the slitter. This will slit 12,000 ft. So, one of these large caskets holds 12,000 ft. Wow. In this litter, we usually do the full roll 12,000 ft. And there's about 5 ft per 35-millimeter roll. Is that right? Did I get that right? Yes. Yeah, that's right.

So, this is Patrick. Patrick's an engineer. Nice to meet you. All right, this is the unwind. So, we put it on the unwind, thread it up. There'll be a leader in the machine. Is this pet or is this acetate? This is a star. Okay. Estar. Got it. Yes. So you've got your two banks. You got your even and your odd bank. This is a 35-millimeter slitter only. So, you have tension on one side on the whole sheet, which is right here. This is a whole sheet going. Everything's got tension. Everything's got tension. Yeah.

These are pulling tensions. See these spinning? Yeah, they're spinning right now. Oh, yes. Yeah. Okay, so is this actually moving leader through right now? No. Okay. We're not jogging, we just have tension. So this is idling here? Yes. Directional clutches. Yeah. Oh, that's how you maintain tension. Yes. Gotcha. Okay, I'm with you. That's cool.

So you know, Tim, you know everything about this machine more than anyone else. Yeah. So is Tim the guy? So. So, are you an engineer? What's your time? No, I'm just an operator. I didn't mean to offend you by calling you an engineer. So he's an engineer. So, you're basically teaching him? Yes. Oh, yeah. 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.

So you've got, you know, that's the even. And then you got the odd bank over there. So this is basically the odd bank. They're all stuck down. And then you get your selvage edges going to the. You know, those are just waste. And so you go get the silver out of that somewhere. Yes. Yeah. It gets taken and sent over there. This is obviously, you know, your scrim. Okay. And that's where they knurled it over on the estar line.

Correct. So since the slitting machine is so big, we can only see it in pieces. This is what we're looking at as a whole. We've got 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 of the film to the odd side and half of the film to the even side to be rolled up. These 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's. Is it coming in contact here on the other side? So. Yep. Yeah. So we touched the emulsion in this. In this building, mainly because it's actually dried at this point. Right. By the time it gets to us, it's no longer just a wetland wet emulsion. Right. It's got some stiffness to it. So we're allowed to actually roll and wind on that side.

So do you have night vision goggles in here? Yes. Okay. That's how you have to do it. Yeah. I really don't use them. Nope. What? I've been in the. Working in the dark for almost 30 years, so it's nothing. So you can actually see fairly decent. I could see him in the dark, but you go over to k three slitter, where they do that film there, you know, the 31 35 that, you know, you can't see me from me to you.

So are we doing 35 millimeter right now? It's 35 millimeter, but it's a different. Yeah. So this is, this is print film for the movie industry. Oh, it. The sister. Same slitter over. It's the same thing. Got it. So, question here. What is our final product from this room? We've got over here? We've got the big roll of s star coming in. We're slitting it. We're making our even and our odd. Excuse me, our odd and our even. What are we sending out of this room? Are we putting.

Are we making rolls here? Yes. Once the machine starts, you'll see these carts come in underneath the rolls. So once they come under the rolls, you know, the rolls build. And usually the rolls are like, 12,000 ft. Once they're on there and they go out, they'll go out of the racking, and then they'll go down the hallway. Am I seeing rails here? Yes. Yeah, it goes right in. See that rail got a whole automated system to handle.

Handling system is automated. So it goes from here to the tees. So you're not past this point in the dark? No, when it's running, unless there's a problem. So you want to see it running? Yeah. Yeah. That's great. If you don't mind. Yeah. Okay, so now that's unrolling. Yep. Yeah. So if you look through the window here, you can actually see the web moving. Okay. So it's actually going. Now it's going up that way. It's hard to see, but it's happening. Okay. Can I come over here? Yep.

And then, so now we're coming up through the web path, up above the machine. Okay. And that's where we have some tension controls. We've got our web steer here in the middle. So you can see that right here. So this thing will actually move side to side a little bit to keep the web centered. So it's moving this way laterally. It actually does on a pivot. A pivot, okay, got it.

So it's feeding this way, right? Yep. So it's coming across and then it's actually going to be tough to see in here. It's actually going to come down. So I can see it moving through there, coming down. And then we will end up through the knife set here. That's where it's actually getting turned. You can maybe see right through this window here. The web actually coming straight down into the knives. Okay. And now once it's through the knives, it's going to go up to the rewinds. Now it's 35 millimeter. Right.

So now it's coming back up as 35 millimeter through the flanged rollers onto the core. And then we just saw the. So, is it spinning up on each side? Yes. Okay, I didn't realize that. So you're feeling this side and you're feeling that side. That's because we want to. We want to split the web as soon as we can. Coming through the knives. So this is it right here, right? Yeah. This is the product. That's 500 ft. Okay.

So we filled 500 ft up. And now you have to. I got to get that film off. So in order to do that, we put the, the vac on, do a splice. Now, normally in the dark, we would be sending this out and bringing another full roll in behind this. But since this is a leader, we're going to keep the leader in because I'm going to get rid of that waste. So we're going to do a splice again. This is all in the dark. Wow. That's a vacuum. Is that a vacuum right there? Yes. There's vacuums upper and lower, or vacuums. Yeah.

Okay, so that's double sided splice tape. So you'll see when that goes back, it's gonna reverse and automatically stick the 500 ft rolls down. It'll be clear in a minute when you see this happen. Okay, understood. So the splice is running now. Splice is running. Now you can actually go in when it comes down, you'll see these arms come up. You can hear the tape going through the rollers right there. Uh huh. Where's the slice at? It's right over there. Just passed down. Now it's going to go through the knives.

Now I see it. And that's why it has white markers on it so you can see it. The white is the adhesive for the. I guess it's in the dark, so it doesn't matter. Yes. So that just separated all the. Everything. You see what I mean now? Yeah. All these rolls are stuck down. Oh, I go to the next operation. I see. We didn't do this twice. This is still attached to the roll. So how does it get out of the room?

So this is like a perforation. So the splice has the ability to rip easily. Is that true? It's double sided. Okay. There's adhesive on both sides. So when it reverses, it rips off the one side. Got it. Okay, I understand now. So basically, the splice is preemptively getting double sided tape. Ready to go to close out this roll? Yes. Is that right? You're using the double sided plates? Close out the roll?

Yes. Got it. Okay, cool. That makes sense. Yeah. So you can see the confusion on my face over there? Yes. I said it'll make sense once you see it. Okay. All right, so that's the same. Same thing. We just make sure they're all stuck down and so can I. Can I free will this? Sure. Okay. So. And I should see it. It closed out on it. There it is. Yeah. They all have them. They all right here? Yep. Okay. Got them.

So some of the clutches spin more freely than others. Yes. Got it. And so now you're going to automatically have this cart move over there? Yeah. Okay. Normally, this cart moves out and this rack goes all the way over the other side. And then they go out of this room into the t perf machines. Is this how they send back the rolls to you? Yes. Yeah. There's another room next to us that collects all these and we get them from that room. Dude, you're good at this.

I don't know. It's pretty cool. Yeah, that's pretty legit. So you about send these out? Yep. It's going to go over. No, that's where it's stopping because I'm going to take that Ng film and throw it out and put them back on. But like I said, normally when you're in production, those are going out. And so this machine is all about managing tension. Yes. Yeah. tension is very important for your slip width and everything. You lose tension, there's going to be film all over the place. Wow. Okay. It's a big deal.

That's awesome, man. This is great. All right. Sweet. Patrick walked me a few steps away to where they had a huge assembly, the slitting machine blades. And we had a brief discussion about how it works. So, we've got an upper and lower set here in this frame. So we've got the upper knives up here. Okay, show me a knife. These are the knives. This is a knife blade. So, that's a. That's a right. At a right angle edge right there. Yep. So, there is some geometry science.

We can't go into here, but it shears right here, too. Yes. Right. So, this is a shear cutter. So the film runs straight through here. So we kind of use two different processes in this building. We've got shear straight through slitting, and then this one where we actually wrap around the lower roller. So it's coming in here and it's going to make contact with this roller, which also has a sharp edge on it. Correct. Goes around and goes out another way.

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So, now that we've slipped these big rolls of film down to the right width to fit into a camera, it's time to see one of the processes I was most curious about, and that's putting these holes in the sides of the film. Mechanical cameras have these little sprockets that line up with those holes, and it has to be just right. If they get it wrong, then it's not going to feed through the camera correctly, and it's going to be a nightmare.

We headed through a labyrinth of halls to see the very special machine that does this. And I met Matt, one of the operators that makes it happen. So, right now, this room has lights on, but it's usually dark. Yes, we work in a dark environment. So, again, as you said, here's our booth. This is basically the brains of the operation. And this is on curtains. So, you can see the screen. Yeah. So, no light damages the film. Okay. Keeps the light contained. Sounds great. So, what are we trying to do in this room?

So, this is how the film comes in. It's just one piece of film. What we want is a finished product with the perforation. Okay, so we're punching holes. This machine right here, this is the heart. So, this is. This is what lets the camera grab the film. Exactly. That's where the sprocket will grab the film and drive it through the camera. Oh, wow. Okay, so, yeah, so this is where we put the holes in and finish the product based on the customer's demand, what size they want, what particular code.

Okay, so you can do different hole sizes and different. Different punches? Yes. Really? So, yes. So, this is where you put the core over here. 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'll reach into the rack, bring the roll in, and automatically load it. Okay. Then this arm comes down. It puts all the computer information that we need to produce this roll.

How does. How does the arm know the computer information? Well, it downloads from the actual rack. Okay, got it. There's a card on the rack. Got it. That'll be read. And then once it's sent into the computer, it's gonna know that it's the 2000-foot roll, 4000-foot roll or 6000 foot. The customer has different demands and it's also gonna tell it what print to put on there. This looks very complicated. Let's just. Nuts and bolts of it is. It's very complicated. But for an operator's point of view, it's really not that difficult.

Okay. There's only a couple of interactions I actually have with the machine. Everything else is automated. Can you show me what they are? Yeah. What I'm going to 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 this chopped it. And what we want is a rounded edge because we don't want to damage the heart. Okay.

So, a rounded edge. So, it's a very specific rounded edge. Yeah. Okay. Got it. We don't want this going through the heart on the other end. Okay. Because there's a chance when it splices through, it'll damage the heart. So, that was a vacuum right there. Yeah. So, so that's the backside of the film. So, you don't scratch it. Exactly. So, on the roll, where is the photosensitive part? It's on the inside. This is the emulsion? Yes. And this is the support. Okay. The outside is the support.

Gotcha. So, now I'd pull this knife off. There'd be a balance. I'd throw that out. Okay. And it keeps me from overlapping the film. So, I butt that up to the knife. I'm gonna 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. Okay. So, now I'm going to take the. You don't want the tape to be perforated because it'll mess up your punch. It's very cool. It could be. Or tape could get stuck on the heart and cause damage.

There's a number of things that could happen. Gotcha. So, now I'll take the slack out and I'm going to send the film through. Where should I be looking right now? It's, well, all this. You got this arm moving. The film's 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 will have a scratch test end that I would send to the tube system that goes to the quality lab and the inspector will verify that it meets our standards. Got it. So. So, what? This machine is the scratchiest machine in here. The scratchiest. You said you're going to test scratch testing. Is that what you said? Well, this is to verify there is no scratches. Got it. Yeah.

Because obviously the customer wants perfect film and that's our goal. Got it. So, this verifies that every single roll we run is physically shut. Perfect. So, there's no defect. Gotcha. And then we manually wrap it around the core. I'm gonna put. I'm gonna get right here. Okay, that's fine. So, we got tension on the roll. Okay. You didn't, you didn't tape it or anything? You just let the tension do the work. Exactly. It'll wrap around itself, then I'll hit the builder arm.

And now we got the door open for demonstration purposes. Normally, this door would close. Got it. So, now I'm going to start the machine. All right. So, where should I be looking? So, this is. This is where it's going to wind up. It's going to unwind from the back end and it's going to wind up here. Okay, sounds good. Got it. That's really fast, Matt. It runs up to 3000 ft a minute. That's really fast. Yeah, we used to run 100 ft a minute on the old style machine. So, this really increased productivity.

Yeah, greatly, greatly. We've been doing it this way for about 20 years. 25 years. Did you run it on the hundred feet per minute system? I still do some products we still have to run that way. Can you show me where the holes go for the. Oh, you mean the perforation? Where is it? Where is it cutting the hole? Where is it punching the hole? This right here. The spinning. So, this is the actual punch drum. This is the die drum. Okay.

So, as it rotates, it's pushing the perforation. Yeah. So, those are the little posts punching the. Punching the holes in the film right here. Yeah. And the film that's ejected goes into the heart and gets vacuumed out to the exhaust tube. So, if I had a high-speed camera, I would see little holes of film going that way. Yeah. If it was. If this was clear. Yeah, you'd see. You'd see the vacuum taking them out. Is there a bucket of those holes somewhere right around the wall.

I can show you after we're done. Okay. There's a big bend. Sounds good. Can you run this? So, we're done. We slurp. Like a spaghetti noodle. We slurp the end of the film up. Right. Exactly. Okay. So, that that roll is done. So, at this point, how do you take the core off? Now, if this was actual production, I wouldn't. What would happen is this arm right here. You see there's a core there. Yeah. 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. That's awesome. So, yeah, I don't. I don't touch anything on this end. Gotcha. It's all automatic. So, what on this machine do you worry about? Is there something that typically messes up? Not usually. That's impressive. There's. You might get an unusual occurrence once in a great while, but they're very reliable. That's impressive, though. How many of these do you guys have? We have these two here, and then we have seven on the other side.

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. No, I love it. I love it. Do you like your job? Oh, I love it. I started 26 years ago. And obviously going through all the changes we've gone through. Really surprised to still be here. Yeah. A lot of us never anticipated that. With all the bad news, you know. Are you seeing production go up? Yeah, it seems to be headed that way because we work.

Actually been working some overtime. We hear about all the directors out in Hollywood that still love film. I still shoot film. Yeah. No friends of mine. Same thing. When you go upstairs, they still shoot 120. And. And I'm a big music fan, so I still got record albums. They're coming back. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, it's really cool. I love it. Because I told guys, just because it's new doesn't mean it's improved. I hear you. Can you show me the holes that come out of the film?

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