Stainless Steel Film Reel Experience

I came into a metal tank and reels and really wanted to see if they were as good as Patterson reels and tanks - the quick answer is absolutely NOT!

I tried this not once, but twice and results were similarly disappointing:  crimped film and blotches where film touched film so it didn't get processed!  But with a new loading device, thought I'd give it one more try.

At the darkroom group I discovered an Ilford device to help guide and wind film onto a stainless steel spool/reel.

Another thing I wanted to find out about was my first time using the Nikon AM-1 reusable film cassette designed for the F2, so this is the film I used for processing.  

Now with the device I only got one small splotched area on the film, the rest of the film was fine.  However the crimping along the edge was still a problem.  I don't want to have to man-handle my film and it seems to be the only way to get the film to bow and wind onto the spool.

Anyway, the device helped this one time and since I do not plan to sacrifice many more films (if any) to the metal reels, probably return the stuff to the darkroom group or figure something else out.

Now the film processed okay and I got good images, but did notice substantial scratching so perhaps I have to adjust my loading of film onto the AM-1 or just retire it as a piece of F2 memorabilia.