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Author Topic: Century Projector Lower Gears Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-13-2003 11:16 PM                     Matt, Yes, have done many of them in our shop. Christie(more likely LaVezzi) recently discontinued supplying the rebuild kits, or any parts at all. Perhaps its cause they've gone digital now... or perhaps they have LaVezzi working up a new replacement Digimittent . I know of other dealers that also did their own rebuilds and they now wait months for a repaired movement from Christie. Very sad indeed and another good reason not to by any P35's! The most common failure I see out here in the dry climate is the outer cam ball bearing...hint hint... its an off the slelf ABEC 9 bearing as is the outer star bearing. Best to replace both of them if the cam bearing is shot. Ya can get em from Barden Bearing. The crapo made in Thailand bearing that comes in the Ultramittent also has crapo fibre covers on it that don't keep the crapo grease from drying out and moisture from getting in. I've seen outer cam bearings that were solid rust!! The inner bushings were both brass, possibly bronze, and the use of the inner ball bearings was discontinued a long time ago as they didn't last very long. If you get a movement and it is still full of lube...hint hint.... LaVezzi Oil, then the star and cam are probably in good shape. Hint hint....If your fussy and like to do rebuilds the right way, then installing a new P360BB cam pin is a nice touch. Both seals in there are also off the shelf seals. Ah, you inherited a pile of them ha??? I just left 4 of the first generation P35GP's a few days ago...real strange machine that has super critical belt tensioning. If they are too tight and you frame once too often the belt snaps! Oddly these 10 year old machines have the original movements in them and they run great. Tommrrow I'm off to another location that has 4 more P35GP's... the final version. I have my box load of belts, pulleys, bearings, and a few other parts plus my arbor press already loaded in the van. If you replace bearings in the pulleys, jack shaft bearings, or the shutter shaft bearings (R-4's and R-6's) buy the bearings that have the red rubber seals on them...they last ALOT longer in the black particle and gunk environment of a P35GP. Other than that I'd reccomend taking your load of Christie projectors to the nearest scrap yard. Due to the alumnium pulleys they use in them they are actually require more technical maintainance than any other machine I've encountered. I'm looking into making my own steel timming pulleys for the Christie. Using pre hobbed steel timming pulley bar stock they would be easy to make and the use of both steel pulleys and Kevlar belts might acutally make it nearly maintainance free for at least a few years. I'm getting sick of working on Christies and continually feeding them parts !! Mark  |  IP: Logged Matt Zeiner Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Windsor, CT USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 12-15-2003 08:45 AM                     Hey thanks, Mark. Much appreciated info. I sure wish I could get rid of them - not looking forward to the emergency repair calls, but I guess an account is an account in these dark days! I hear you are also the AAII man out there in SLC. Would like to speak with you about your experiences with VR upgrades if you have a minute. Thanks mzeiner@netheatre.com  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-15-2003 09:01 AM                     With good timming pulleys you should get a year out of a set of belts... don't go any longer than that though. The main thing is to get people at the locations to leave em alone and only you change belts, any worn pulleys, and set belt tension correctly. The last year has been quieter for P-35's but its taken several visits at each site and many, many new parts to get them there. Before this it was three times a year for belts, more at some locations, most of the problem was caused by the projectionists thinking they knew how to fix them.. they were changing the bad belts out and the rest of the machine was not getting the atention it needed. Let me know whatever questions you might have with your Norelcos. Mark  |  IP: Logged

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