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Topic: Centry Projectors

Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-18-2002 03:48 PM

Ah, thanks Gordon.

I've heard of the Latham loop, but what is the Davis loop?

I'm also curious...are there essential differences between genuine Century parts and parts from the copycat models? I'm refering to quality as well as interchangeability of the parts.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 08-18-2002 03:53 PM

The Davis tight loop is the basis of the century soundhead in that a pair of rollers are tensioned against the film that is in contact with a scanner attached to a flywheel
The two rollers are on arms that are spring loaded against each other and the lower one is damped in a fluid to create a kinetic loss

As for interchangablity that is a difficult question
ICECO sells the westar with century pitched gears or the original westar pitch that was actually superior in design
Also some parts are made as assemblies (upper and ower sprocket assemblies) So not all parts are interchangeable

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Wes Hughes
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 175
From: Raleigh, NC, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 08-18-2002 03:58 PM

I like CSS (cinema sales and service of Boston) Century Plus Lube. It comes one pound tubs and has teflon mixed in.

I cannot use anything else in one of my booths in the summer (no air conditioning). It will not sling off.

MARTIN: If you find a Century with removable traps that is really difficult to remove then the machine is either damaged, or the removable part has been swapped with another machine. The dovetail joint of the removable trap was rumored to have been customized for each machine and hence should not be swapped.

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Pete Naples
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1565
From: Dunfermline, Scotland
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 08-18-2002 04:10 PM

If the Century trap assembly is really tight to remove, even with lubricant, I'd suggest that the block assembly which the trap is mounted on needs adjusted (the bottom 'V' block can be adjusted), never found the curved gate assembly to be tight on any of them though.

Manny, stick to real Century parts (ie Strong). I've found that some of the knock offs can be real garbage. Also I've found that often the screw threads on the real thing and the knock off either don't match or are drilled in the wrong place.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 08-18-2002 04:21 PM

I would contact ICECO with the serical numbers to confirm if you can use century parts before purchaseing them as there are many differences in pitch

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Dick Prather
Master Film Handler

Posts: 259
From: Portland, OR, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-18-2002 04:32 PM

I have heard all kinds of openions on using lubriplate. In the northwest we have had Century's running using it for over 20 years in 7 day a week service with out any gear problems or dried up grease. I have also heard the dry up problems but mostly from hotter areas of the country. I don't think it is crap but may not be the best gear lube for all settings. I have also used a red lithium grease, AMS synthetic grease, two or three types of Century grease, and had success with all. The object is to keep the fiber gears lubricated. Excess thrown off grease should always be wiped up (NEVER while the machine is running). Vasoline is a last resort and needs to be replaced quickly with a quality lube. Origional Century manuals stated using only Century oil on gear train.

When I rebuild a Century I run the gears in dry until a very slight fiber trace shows up on the steel gears. After cleaning the fibre off I use Century oil on thr gears for the rest of the run in which is 10 to 20+ hours with and without film. The machine is shipped to the user so that he/she can use whatever gear grease they want after installation.

Of course my favorite projector the XL doesn't have this grease problem no matter which part of the world you live in.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 08-18-2002 04:41 PM

I favor the black Molybidinum disulphide greeese myself that was the original spec in many of the Westrex notes

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Pete Naples
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1565
From: Dunfermline, Scotland
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 08-18-2002 05:07 PM

In a pub full of projection engineers, you'll spot the Westrex guy a mile off, he's the one with the filthy looking hands!

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 08-18-2002 07:05 PM

In Latin America I have seen them use a stiff red axle grease which they put on in such excessive amounts that you could call it a grease filled chamber. One machine that had lost the mounting screw to the shutter gear on the vertical shaft I found embedded in the layer of grease on the inside of the door.
The best source for Century parts in addition to Strong is Lavezzi.
Richard Fowler
TVP-Theatre & Video Products Inc. www.tvpmiami.com

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Justin McLeod
Film Handler

Posts: 93
From: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 08-19-2002 12:09 AM

Thanks for all the very helpful info guys.This should help out the person I mentioned who is in need.

I do have one more question though. Can you manually turn over the motor to clean the sprokets the same as you can with the christies?

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-19-2002 12:11 AM

Advancing the projector mechanism by hand is right on par with other "standard features" such as framing and focusing.

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