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Topic: What do you know about Victoria?

Stefan Scholz
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 223
From: Schoenberg, Germany
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 01-13-2001 10:12 AM

As I remember the Bauer U3/4/5 was issued before the Vic 5, so I assume theywere the first "neoprene belt gear" projectors, even though Vic5 is probably the most famous one.
I am not atotal fan of theese, but I have to admit the quality is generally oK. Even though I had to set up machines which had labels "Sorry, optical not aligned, Sorry, film path not aligned, etc", it was an oK job to do, and not really complicated. Of course Kinotones can just be set up, plugged into the wall outlet, and you're in business without fiddling.
With the minimum maintainance and care required, even Vic 5's are likely to produce steady and brilliant images reliably.
And the mentioned problems with gatetraps and A chain setup have been overcome with the current design. (Your cars don't have 6 Volt systems anymore, and if you own one, it's vintage.)
Only rewmainig problem is the nickel mirror with wattages up to 1k. It burns fingers and film, and should not be ordered.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-13-2001 03:14 PM

I think the Westrex 7000 was the first timing belt drive projector

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-13-2001 05:04 PM

Actually there were a hundred prototypes of an all integrated Simplex X-L-II that was all belt driven. This was a decade or so before the V-5. It also had two gearboxes thrown in just for the heck of it that had Super Simplex shutter drive gears in oil.
For those that think the Christie is bad, think again, it is wonderful compared to this contraption that Uncle Rube surely had a hand in designing. I had gotten one of these as a curiosity piece from Charlie Wolk a few years back and went through it and rebuilt it. I think it had 9 belts plus the two gear boxes!
Mark

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Ben Stephenson
Film Handler

Posts: 29
From: Manchester, England
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 01-22-2001 04:33 PM

I work with two vic 8s, two vic 4 and a vic 5 and yes I have had some problems but never anything serious, I have also spent a year working with 9 Century Strongs and had more problems in that year than the three years with the vic's and thay are 15 years older. Spare parts are sometimes hard to get hold of and normally cost the earth but the quality is worth it ( Not what my boss thinks when she gets the bill for the parts .. ). Trying to maintain them is something of a challenge and the smallest job often takes hours but is worth it in the end.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 01-22-2001 05:46 PM

I work at an entirely Vic-5 cinema (five of the little darlings in total) - I've known better, I've known worse. Spares ain't cheap, but compared to the cost of the Kinoton equivalents they're a positive bargain.

As for Antonio Marcheselli's query about keeping the picture wobble to a minimum, there's no easy answer. In my experience, increasing the pressure on the main drive belt will give a slight improvement in picture stability, but at the cost of extra pressure on the shutter gearbox. Previous contributors to this thread have pointed out that they are prone to seizing, so for that reason high belt tension is not a good idea (not to mention the extra pressure on the intermittent unit). About a centimetre of play is the belt tension I usually set.

One suggestion I would make is to change the belts every six months rather than annually, which is the manufacturer's recommendation. Throw the secondary belt away, change the primary to secondary and put in a new primary. As an experiment I ran two mechs in the same screen, changing one belt at six months and letting the other go on. The machine with the older belt produced a visibly more unstable picture, even with the tension increased to allow for expansion and wear.

Incidentally, the small shutter blades might be fiddly to time but they're wonderful for anyone who shows silent prints. You can go down to 19fps with hardly any visible flicker, and even 17-18 looks acceptable.

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