Quote:
Originally Posted by vidjoman
That's repairable. Parts are easy to get but it's a dirty job with all that old grease around.
Pity to scrap a repairable vintage item.
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Yes, I agree that it is a pity to scrap it, but that is actually what I was considering, as it's a heavy old lump and really shouldn't go back in the loft now it's been brought down. As I was up there clambering about ducking under rafters with it, I was thinking to myself whether I would still be able to be doing this when I'm in my 80s and heaving it down the ladder. Heavy items like this I do place where there's a supporting wall below so as not to cause bowing and cracking of ceilings in rooms below. A few years ago when a former work colleague died suddenly, his wife got three large skips and several helpers in to clear all the old TVs etc., that he had accumulated in the loft of his house. I got to hear about it too late, but I was told by someone that had been there, that some of the doors upstairs in the house couldn't be closed due to the weight of stuff in the loft deforming the tops of the frames - ruin your house with your collection!
Replacing the worm on one of these projectors does look like a mucky job, but probably not as mucky as replacing gramophone springs. I already have another 16mm Bell & Howell projector which I've had for decades and is much older and has manual lacing and dating from the early 40s, which works and doesn't have this type of worm drive to go wrong. As regards to the later projector, although I used to operate this same type in the mid 70s as an evening job showing films to various organisations, I've never actually used the one that I've got, as I never did like the look of that worm drive, and just like the 'vintageness' of the big old black square one that I've got. There's some useful components in this more recent one that I've got that's similar, but older to the one under discussion in this thread, such as valves, output transformer, internal speaker etc. so I probably wouldn't sell it, but I would consider swapping it for some more old films to play on the other projector - any offers? The reality is that I shall chew it over as regards to the future of this projector, then after I've fallen over it several times it'll either get broken up and scrapped for its useful parts or it'll end up back in the loft for another time, another day - probably the latter if I'm totally honest. It's in fairly nice condition and has its original padded protective slip on cover, plus there's the large matching extension speaker that goes with it still buried somewhere in the loft. The mains lead with the special plug socket is rather perished and needs dissecting at the projector end and re-wiring with a new cable and insulating for safety, but I see that new ones of these are available on-line for a reasonable price.
Getting back to the OPs projector under discussion in this thread, I've spotted a new replacement part that is possibly a substitute for that speed control module. It says in the advert that it replaces the aluminium block that is now obsolete. I've posted below a picture of the control taken from the on-line advert, also for interest a snap of the innards of my projector for comparison. The last picture is the perished mains connector just to shock everyone (no, not really, I'm sure we've all seen worse in regular use over the years). Yes, I did power it up with it like that, I had to get it in just the right position as all three conductors were bare and I found that the 13 amp fuse in the plug top was already blown, so I replaced it with a 10 amp fuse for possible damage limitation as a temporary measure!
I'll also post a link to the advert for the replacement speed control module. if it turns out to be not applicable to this projector, then perhaps the moderators could eventually remove it....
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Speed...4AAMXQQQZR4Yq6