At least one manufacturer used to market a guide to help load 120 reels. This consisted of a curved sheet of SS about 4 inches long with two opposite edges bent up to hold the film. This provided just enough cupping of the film so that the film would fit between the reel spirals. As the film came off the guide it would flatten out so that it was now trapped between the spirals. It also prevented the film from kinking. This made loading really simple. Perhaps you could find one in a camera store that still has older stock or on ebay. The guide looked like this when viewed on edge except that the bottom was slightly curved instead of flat as in the diagram. /_______________________\ BTW, as opposed to the 35mm reels, it almost impossible to bend the stout wire used in the 120 reels. Even if you should drop one. Jerry -----Original Message----- From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Shannon Stoney Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 1:55 PM To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [pure-silver] loading med format steel reels I have a collection of four assorted steel reels for medium format film. I got them used at a camera store at different times. Sometimes the film goes onto them perfectly, but sometimes it's really hard and I have to back up and start over several times. When this happens, frequently little crescent moon shapes appear on the film after it's processed. Am I doing something wrong, or do I need to get new reels? --shannon ======================================================================== ===================================== To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there. ============================================================================================================To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.