P3D Re: FED film advance fix?

[Mark Shields <beamsplitter@xxxxxxxx>]

The "sprocket tearing" in my case apparently isn't, after
some test rolls. Amazingly, a roll that sounded terrible
and was almost impossible to advance had perfectly-spaced
frames, so I think it's some sort of safety clutch in the advance
mechanism. A couple of rolls have stopped dead near the end,
with the advance lever moving freely. It seems mostly that
the expected number of frames is optimistic, as this happens
near the end of the roll every time, whether it is a 12-
24- or 36-exposure roll. 

Putting a spacer under the film cartridge is a must--that has
eliminated most of my problems. I cut 5.25 floppy disk write
protect tabs (they're black) into thirds, rounded the corners
on the new "long" ends, and kept putting them flat in the little
well at the bottom of the chamber until I had enough (about 12,
I think) to keep the cartridge from slipping down to the point
where the film could jump out of the channel. I've heard the
Ukrainian film cartridges are a little longer than ours.

I also make sure the film retention clip is back into the right
place before I load (it tends to ride up and become
non-concentric), and crease the film sharply down against the
clip after insertion and winding the spool by hand 3/4 turn.
In this way I know that the film is winding smoothly around the
takeup spool.

Only one hiccup in mid-roll out of the last two rolls--I held
the lenses against my shirt, released the shutter, advanced
again, released the shutter, just to make sure. The film was
moving smoothly otherwise. Both rolls ended "early," but it
just may be that they aren't long enough for the "advertised"
number of frames (21 for a 36-exposure roll)--there is a pretty
large space between images. 18-19 is the most I've gotten.

Mark Shields
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