I was told to go back in and back off on the tightness of something and get some gear lash? I don't know how I am going to accomplish this task.

So I am waiting for them to hang Bjork so I can rip in to the beast again.

I come in this morning and fire off a letter to my cinema supplier and he tells me that I should adjust the vertical shaft.

I loosen the 5 allen screws that hold the vertical shaft bracket to the projector and the vertical shaft practicaly jumps away from the intermittent. I tighten things up and away we go.

I have a loop in there now. I thought I might leave it running for an hour and see if there is a problem. The projector still runs louder than before, with film in it.

The new intermittent #2 works like a charm. It had nothing to do with the vertical drive shaft. New intermittent #1 just didn't like to work under load.

This problem only took a week to solve and has been a royal pain in the butt.

We are back to being a five-plex, which is good because we have 7 prints this weekend including Billy Elliot and a Hitchcock film from 1947 called Shadow of a Doubt which was filmed in Santa Rosa.

"I think that some of the problems I have been having with my Simplex XL is an unbalanced shutter blade.
The projector has a vibration problem. The vibration is causing the framing to move down. You can see the vibration when you look in the back of the machine because the shutter drive assembly is bouncing on its spring.

When I loosened the shutter to retime the shutter, I turned on the machine and the vibration was gone. When I tightened the shutter the vibration was back.

What do you think?"

I ran all weekend with a C-clamp holding the framing knob still.

My cinema supplier was dead sure that it was my gearbox and I was dead sure it was the shutter blade. He sent me both for Saturday delivery. I didn't have time to install this stuff on Saturday, as we were running an extended schedule and making money hand over fist.

On Monday I replaced the shutter which entails loosening the lamp house and pulling it back six inches, removing the back of the projector and then it's easy. It didn't solve the problem.

So I installed the Gearbox. It isn't hard but I had never done it before. After getting the new one installed, oiled and tight, I ran the motor to see if I got it in line. Then I reassembled everything and the problem was solved.

The projector is running well. It took me a week and a half and three parts but it works now.

I must admit that I have been an emotional wreak this past week. It feels good to have solved the problem.

Besides you guys, I emailed 6 different technicians. My guy is in Hong Kong this week. I received from them 6 different suggestions of things to look at. I am glad that my cinema supplier was correct but I am still mystified by this problem.

His explanation is that the lack of oil caused the intermittent to go out. It there was not enough oil in the projector then it can be argued that there wasn't enough oil in the gearbox. The strain of the intermittent going out also caused the gearbox to have a problem.

Well he gets the $1,000 and the booby prize. Thanks for all of your attention.

The Machine works!

That reminds me, it's been almost 4000 miles since I changed the oil in my van, but at least I check the level in it every few weeks. Ah! Procrastination.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

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