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Author
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Topic: What is the value of a Simplex Standard?
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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 07-02-2004 10:39 PM
My money...if I had any, is definately with Paul!
As a machinist, I have forgotten how many times I have encountered kids today who INSIST that this or that cannot be done without a computer. And then when you show them what was done 100 years ago (in mass production) they have their faces up their asses trying to figure out how it was done. Too many kids today cannot wipe their asses w/o a computer to direct their every move!
What is a projectionist?!:
A SHOWMAN...meaning they can run both change-overs and platters, who is capable of making a print look just as good after months of shows, as it did on the first pass through the projector.
A SHOWMAN who consistantly insures perfect presentations (preventing overshoots and shadows, bulb focus, sound, focus, etc, etc!)
A mechanic and electrician who is capable of all of fixing just about anything that can and does go wrong...and if something can't be immediately for lack of tools or parts, can perhaps come up with some type of innoviative fix to prevent a dark screen...and by innovative fix, I DO NOT MEAN HALF-ASSED JURY RIGGING!
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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man
Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 07-02-2004 10:46 PM
Danny, absolutely. In order to run a 35mm carbon arc booth reel-to-reel system in the military establishments, a license was required. The school was in San Diego, California. The course was 80 hours of intensive training, including theory, maintenance, running the equipment, and a final performance test on several types of equipment.
The class sizes were 12 people....and the the wash-out rate was quite high. Out of 12 trainees, only 4 would qualify for the license.
The wash-out'ees could have been subject to disipline action for flunking. Usually, that never happened, but it was possible.
My score was 96.25 out of 99.
I missed one question on the final. That question was, "How many minutes is the reel alarm supposed to sound before the end of the reel?" The correct answer was at that time, 1 minute. I said 2 minutes. That was the only question I missed.
The performance test, I was gigged a couple of points because I used the rewind too fast and didn't adjust the clutch as often as the instructor thought I should have during the film inspection phase of the test. Other than that, the performance test went perfect.
The instructor also pulled a few mean things on me....He knew I was going to be the best there, so he went a few steps further. During changeover time, he started to slither his skinney ass in front of the rectifier intake to shut down the airflow which in turn would shut down the rectifier and my arc. I was watching him out of the corner of my eye, and bellowed out, "Get your ass away from my rectifier!!." He did and laughed. Then he went around to the other side of the machine and slammed the CO douser closed. It took be about 1/2 a second to open it, and I flipped him off. Then, he laughed again and broke the arc with the knife switch. Oh, well.....we had fun. But he gave me a perfect score with the exception of the rewind gig.
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Lindsay Morris
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 233
From: Darlington, WA, Australia
Registered: Sep 2002
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posted 07-02-2004 10:59 PM
Could be an interesting "Film Off" between Paul and whoever Brad decides to utilise... would love to be there.
And I am probably what Phil would call an "old geezer" at 64 but can still find my way around many bio boxes so be careful of Paul he may just surprise you all!
I got back into movies about 12 years ago and had NEVER seen a platter going when I was asked to take on some shifts at a cinema in Perth.
Went in one night and watched what went on with the Christie platters and then observed the breakdown process of the print that night and made lotsa notes to myself.
The following week I was in there doing 2 nights 6pm to midnight and on the second night had to breakdown one of the prints that was coming off that week.
Never seen automation or interlocking etc but some time skulking about, notebook in hand, and many questions later I think I would have a fair idea of what to do. Bound to be some stuff ups as with anything new and with any process it is a matter of finding out what the box layout is all about and then working that info into how you run the show.
To Tim Reed... would have grabbed you with glee Tim as some of those who did front up were not even prepared to give it a try and the thought of having to be around the machines for the whole show was just too much for them.
I was well trained in not only doing a good show but also being resourceful and keeping the pix up on the sheet come what may .....even down to carrying out most major maintenance. The owners of the place I started built their own BIG outdoor cinema with a big brick screen (55 feet wide)and later on built their own DI from the ground up.. They were resourceful people and took immense pride in what they were doing and the standard of the shows they put on.
Things have indeed moved on and if it were not for automation etc the cinema industry would not be where it is today.. TV would have killed it totally. But ways were found to run booths more cost effectively and although I do not agree with the very minimal training most new kids get in a box it probably has to be
to survive.
Since I got back into the biz I have drifted into an arthouse setup over winter time in a quite nicely appointed box (16, 35 & dare I say it VIDEO)and in that environment have honed my skills making up and breaking down one and sometimes two prints each Sunday night. Some prints are nightmares to handle due to their age and previous handlings or should I say "butcherings" when you are peeling splices apart which are on the LAST cue mark of the reels as previous prats have simply chopped and chopped and chopped and in many cases been too lazy to peel apart a splice with tape on one side only ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
Now down to a stage when I can build a print onto the platter going from cores to 6000 footers to platter and it takes me about 8 minutes per reel to build a print and about the same time to break down... most time is spent waiting for the 6000 to load or come off.
But fellas we are bit of topic here as we were talking about Simplex units and their relative worth... quite fascinating to watch how strands dart off.
The Simplexes that I have handled had quite astonishing machining tolerances for their day and age and very simple tried and proven techniques for keeping the oil where it should be with spirals in shafts spreading the oil about but winding it back so it did not overload the quite simple cord type seals on the ends of most of the casting borings.
There was never any real need to splatter oil everywhere in the innards and my first encounter with a Simplex Standard was at the DI my friends built. There he had overhauled each machine and had them spotless and rarely did any oil ever find its way onto the floor and even though they had something like 120 amps on the lamphouse with 16" mirrors the water jacket did its job and the machines purred on for years throwing that huge image up onto the big DI screen which was about 90 feet wide,if my memory is correct.
The pair I have recently pulled out I had line bored on the top feed sprocket by a machinist mate of mine... which was a total strip down to ZILCH on the casting so he could do it. He is a first rate machinist and his accuracy and precision is something he takes intense pride in and he was quite impressed by the engineering principles utilised in the Simplex head.
The wear on most shafts was almost non existant and given the number of feet of film these these old girls had pulled through in their lifetime/s it was quite amazing. (To measure the wear we looked at the shaft diams on unused sections to those in the actual bearing housings and in most cases very little wear at all was to be found.)
Odd looking things and a bit butt ugly and an awkward thread path but OK once you had done it a few times no real worries ![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif) .
Where ever else I encountered these things in various single screen locations and many DI's they all just kept on grinding on. Some were noisy and some leaked oil like a sieve thru shot seals in the intermittent and others that formed puddles were just over oiled and never cleaned up ![[Confused]](confused.gif) .
My two virtually never dripped anything onto the carpet tiles and were always kept clean and wiped down. Take the lens out at the end of summer, spray them with some CRC and then cover them for winter.
Next season, a spot or two of oil here and there, wind them over by hand and then power them up and let them run a bit and then ready for another summer after being idle for 7 months.
Never missed a beat and even though the sound heads had NO rotary stabiliser the big flywheel kept the sound clean of any wow or flutter and my only criticsm would be THAT flywheel.
IF you ever had a film pile up the machine kept on running for quite a few seconds after switching off munching much more film than I ever liked to see... maybe it needed a "panic brake" like the RCA 1050 series and upwards.
Never tangled with Brenkerts, Motiographs or anything else apart from the Aussie made stuff like Raycophone, C&W and Super Standards etc. Later exposure has been on VIC 8's and Ballantyne Pro 35 etc and more recently the shift to Century/Westrex for my own setup.
Simplex might be worth nothing on S/H market but a well maintained unit will last one hell of a long time and have been used with a platter so could sustain long periods of running but realisticly not an option in a modern box as the mech really needs to be oil bath operation for ultimate reliability.
Look forward to seeing how Paul Thompson copes ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Lindsay
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Brad Miller
Administrator
Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 07-02-2004 10:59 PM
Mark, the booth is completely logical, but we do things most other booths simply do not do. This is what the owners of the cinema have ordered, and they do pay properly for having qualified people to run it. By no means can the typical multiplex guy walk in and run it.
By the way, Paul would be in a battle against the booth itself and the requirements put forth to him on the schedule. Putting him up against another operator isn't necessary.
Paul's first day will be to run a single print in 3 auditoriums with the start times staggered 20 minutes, then reset in 5 minute's time for another round. Again, this is with one print, not three, with 20 minutes in between each show start. That's 4000 feet of film that is not on the platter at any given point in time. (I am fairly certain that these are the only theaters in the world who can run delayed interlocks.) Will and Paul, you guys getting it yet? To run this place you have to throw out just about everything you have learned about normal booth operation, whether it was in the military or not. Think I'm kidding? Just what do you think is behind Darren Crimmins in his member picture? Out of respect for Paul I am telling you that he WILL fail if he thinks he can walk into this place and just pick it up the crazy things that are done there without some fairly serious training. Most theaters out there, sure I've no doubt he could go in and do at bare minimum an acceptable job, and in all probability a superb job...just not here. He would have to go through the same extended training all of the other guys have had to go through to operate it properly, and "properly" is the key word to prevent having a clusterfuck of a disaster on your hands.
Be careful with those bets, Paul. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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