Storing your films..

[hobstrabbie]

That is so neat! I want to see that in person! 

[mooseman]

our storage methos sucks, stack and hunt but one thing we added seems to help when we are sorting through the liles.

We clip a corner of the film at @ 45 degrees and put a paper punch hole in that corner. the 45 degree cut allows us to insert the corner of the film deep enough into a 3 hole punch.
A single hand held punch would work better but we can't find one that is worth a damn.  Do this for each film in the job and then loop a rubberband to keep all the associated films so we can be sure if we ever find them again they will all be together. this is especially a benefit when we drop a few thousand films on the floor while searching for that one 12 shirt job file
mooseman

[Socalfmf]

after re-reading all this...I am glad we went to DTS....we are saving so much time on looking for film, reprinting film ect...now we just drop a file into the "HOT" file and we print it on the screen...perfect everytime....

just a thought..

sam

[Gilligan]

What is the ink cost on that thing anyway?  Average per screen.

Because you are correct but the flip side of that is that you are having to run your DTS more than someone that has a good filing system for storing films.  I'm sure they spend less time digging out a film than you do wasting more ink and reprinting on the DTS.

Don't get me wrong, I'd give up printing films in a heart beat if someone wanted to give me a DTS and NEVER look back.  But I'm just terrible at things like storing films so for me I'd be reprinting too much.  Though I'm trying to get better at jobs I KNOW I'll reprint at least.

[Frog]

Sam or someone else will probably be quick to point out the other advantages like time savings on both the screen imaging itself, and on set up with its consistent placement for registration.
For most, time is money.

Then again, since this is where we of lesser means are discussing film storage, he and the other proponents of this nice  newer development may discuss it at length in the Equipment or Screenmaking sections as a standalone topic.
They are definitively the way of the future, and Gilly, you or your kids may well be using one in the future, even with a small operation. (You've probably read of the prices of the first Texas Instrument and Sharp calculators) The cost will go down.

[Gilligan]

Andy, did you miss this part?

Don't get me wrong, I'd give up printing films in a heart beat if someone wanted to give me a DTS and NEVER look back.

I know very well all the advantages of the DTS and I'd LOVE to have one in my shop (well... not sure I actually have the physical room... but I'd make it work... bye bye baby's toys! LOL).

[Frog]

Didn't miss it at all. Just trying to both preemptively point out to the DTS fanboys to not get too carried away in this particular thread, and remind you, that even without someone giving you one,  wiith your youth, you'll eventually get one, for with a little luck, all things tech come down to an affordable price to those who wait. 

Me, by that time, I hope to be comfortably retired, living on the income from this very place!     

[Gilligan]

Well, I'm hoping I don't need the price to come down... that my business becomes like Brandt and Sam's and I just reach in the pocket and do like Jeff and pay CASH! 

[Frog]

I'm hoping that you will not only grow, but grow to a contract shop with a banner ad here that keeps me in beer in my golden years!

[Rockers]

Forgot to post a pic.  Here it is.

Alan, may I ask how you label your film files. My wife was real intrigued by what she saw in your photo. It's just hard to make out when you close in on it. Is it the position of the print relative to the print pallet?

[Gilligan]

I know Alan can answer for himself, but I think it's just a close up to show "detail" vs the smaller placement "full" shot.  Example, look at the end of the top row.  One of those is a left chest, so that is certainly not related to the pallet, but the full shirt shot is almost useless even if made larger to show a left chest.

I've toyed around with doing this for work orders as well... but my can't follow simple instructions, why should more complicated ones be any better.

[3Deep]

Looking at that just makes me sad, I put our films in a tote and hope for the best next time I need them.

Darryl

[alan802]

We put the design number in the top left corner and that's the number we use to organize everything on the wall.  We put the customer number underneath but it really isn't needed.  When a job is written up it's given a new design number if it's a new design or if it's a repeat job the correct design number is chosen and then put on the work order.  We get the work order and then pair up the correct file folder if it's a repeat job.  I wish I had a number on how many of our jobs are repeat but it's quite a few so we benefit by filing film away. 

[Prosperi-Tees]

I hardly ever reprint a job so the films get tossed.

[Rockers]

I have seen request for this in the past so i thought i would share how i do it. A picture speaks a thousand words.... Not only do i have all the films in each envelope i also keep the production info and a sample of the print. All my customers are assigned a number so all i have to do is file it by their assigned number. This makes it very easy to find....

Your way of filing just saved me a lot of cash. So simple and easy to set up, excellent. Thanks a lot for sharing. Now I have to get 2000 wire hangers;)