Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Reel Arms and Reels?

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Film Handlers' Forum » Reel Arms and Reels? (Page 2)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Author

Topic: Reel Arms and Reels?

Dan Lyons
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 698
From: Seal Beach, CA
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 10-04-2004 04:41 PM

quote: Scott Norwood
If you are buying used house reels, it's generally easier to find 2000' reels with 5/16" shafts and 6000' reels with 1/2" shafts.

Must be an East Coast thing; never seen a 6k with 1/2" around here.

quote: Scott Norwood
In what way are the Ballantyne arms better than the Kelmars? I've never seen them.

I have several of these that whoever buys my Pro35 gets to have. You can't adjust their angle, yuck!

| IP: Logged

Gordon Bachlund
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 696
From: Monrovia, CA, USA
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 10-04-2004 06:25 PM

Dan, 6k reels with 1/2" hubs seem to be the most common. I have a supply of them with 1/2" hubs, as well as a supply of them with 5/16" hubs, and these latter were much more difficult to find.

| IP: Logged

Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 10-04-2004 07:14 PM

quote: Chris Trainor
Typicially 2000' reels have 5/16" shafts, and 6000' reels tend to mostly have 1/2" shafts... however I have a few 6000's that have 5/16"ths.

quote: Scott Norwood
If you are buying used house reels, it's generally easier to find 2000' reels with 5/16" shafts and 6000' reels with 1/2" shafts.

quote: Gordon Bachlund
6k reels with 1/2" hubs seem to be the most common. I have a supply of them with 1/2" hubs, as well as a supply of them with 5/16" hubs, and these latter were much more difficult to find.

The overwhelming majority of 6K's I've worked with have 5/16" shafts. I've only seen 2 or 3 with 1/2" shafts. Just my $.02, FWIF.

BTW, is TECO even still around?

| IP: Logged

Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 10-04-2004 09:32 PM

Wow, $1000 for a set of Ballantyne reel arms? Those suckers had better have their own motors driving them for that price! [Wink]

Anyone have a pic of them?

| IP: Logged

Ken Layton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1452
From: Olympia, Wash. USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 10-04-2004 11:06 PM

Yes, TECO is still around. They are listed in the latest Boxoffice Magazine Buyer's Guide issue.

Brad:

Yes they have one long ass slot to adjust the length of the arm. I think we've got a set of those arms running at Daryl Lund's Chehalis Theater. The Tom Moyer chain here in the Pacific Northwest had tons of these adjustable Teco reel arms (most had 1/2" shaft diameter). I bet Scott Hicks probably has a bunch in his Portland warehouse. I think there's an ad brochure with a picture of the Teco reel arms in the manuals section with the TECO film rewinder manuals.

[ 10-05-2004, 09:43 AM: Message edited by: Ken Layton ]

| IP: Logged

Ian Joseph Parfrey
Film Handler

Posts: 56
From: Bollier Queensland Australia
Registered: Sep 2004

posted 10-05-2004 02:16 AM

Would anyone know why Bauer, in their infinite wisdom would bring out a totally non-standard 9mm shaft with two drive dogs on their U3 & U4 projectors?

| IP: Logged

Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-05-2004 06:18 AM

quote: Ian Joseph Parfrey
Would anyone know why Bauer, in their infinite wisdom would bring out a totally non-standard 9mm shaft with two drive dogs on their U3 & U4 projectors?

9mm shafts are quite common in mainland Europe, and on machines made there. I haven't seen a Bauer 35mm machine, so I don't know if they are using the standard 9mm ones, or something slightly different.

These are close in size, but not identical, to the 3/8" shafts which are common in Britain; a 3/8 spool will usually fit on a 9mm shaft, but is slightly loose. I've seen both of these sizes with one or two drive pins, (one is more common) but since all the 2k and 6k spools I've seen in these sizes have four holes, it makes no difference. I have seen a few large tower spools for 1/2" shafts, which have only three drive holes, at 120 degrees, and these would obviously not fit on a shaft with two drive pins, which some 1/2" rewinders have.

Kinoton list both American and European 1/2" shafts for their machines; I don't know what the difference is.

I know of at least nine different shaft types on 35mm:

5/16" with key
5/16" with drive pin (rare, only seen it on a few very old machines)
9mm with drive pin
3/8" with drive pin
1/2" with one drive pin
1/2" with two drive pins

With 1/2" the difference does matter, because of the three hole tower spools.

Some machines have their own, non-standard shafts:

Fedi machine with very large spools mounted on the base. about 1"
GBN portable. 1/2" with smaller, closer, drive pin, like 3/8"
BTH Mk.1 SUPA. Weird, never seen anything else like it.

There is also 5/16" with square one end, like 16mm, not normally used for motion picture film, but is used for things like document microfilm,and so might be used on some types of equipment, like a film cleaning machine for example.

One reason I prefer to receive film on cores, at least they seem to be standard worldwide, even the very old wooden ones.

There are some spools which have a removable centre which can be swapped for running on different machines.

Most British cinemas probably couldn't handle a 5/16" American shipping reel, as they don't use anything that size.

| IP: Logged

Cody Martin
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 214
From: Edinburgh, IN, USA
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 10-05-2004 06:31 AM

Hello-

Thank you again for all of your posts. The 6000' reel arms i'm going to purchase have 1/2" shaft holes. Thank you all again for your help. I appreciate it a lot.

Thanks,
Cody

| IP: Logged

Don Furr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 509
From: Sun City, Ca USA
Registered: Nov 2002

posted 10-05-2004 07:25 AM

Seems to me most of the 1/2" 6000' reels came as the result of 35/70 booths. Since all 70mm have 1/2" centers, one size fit all. I even had a load of 2000' Goldberg house reels with 1/2" centers. [Razz]

Don

| IP: Logged

Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 10-05-2004 08:40 AM

All cores are standard eh? In Europe, some of the cores do NOT have the customary 1" hole (male or female) but instead have a 9mm hole with a drive-dog pin hole too. The trick is, how do you get the film off or on the core if you don't have 9mm spindles with plates? You can't use your trusty split reel since it needs the 1" hole to be there.

For reference, Kelmar does make 9mm spindles (green bases)for their rewinder so you can often get your 9mm origin reels to domestic reels...unless they are of the core variety and Kinoton fully supports 9mm spindles too (as I would suspect all Euro-origin equipment).

As to the Ballantyne reel-arms...they articulate now though the non-articulated ones were more rigid.

While I must agree that $1K is a bit pricey for what they are (compared to the price of reels today they are a bargin) they are substaintially better than Kelmars in their construction, stability, and quality of clutch.

Pictures of Strong accessories

Steve

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 10-05-2004 08:48 AM

Cores are specified by standard SMPTE 37M. The inside diameter of the hub (Dimension C) is specified as 25.70 millimeters (+0.40, -0.00) or 1.012 inches (+ 0.016, -0.000).

| IP: Logged

Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-05-2004 10:09 AM

quote: Steve Guttag
All cores are standard eh? In Europe, some of the cores do NOT have the customary 1" hole (male or female) but instead have a 9mm hole with a drive-dog pin hole too.

I've never seen cores like that, and I've run a lot of prints that have been brought in from strange places. Do you know who uses them?

The Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley has three hand rewind benches, a 9mm or 3/8" one for projector spools mainly used for adverts and trailers, a 1/2" one for 6k spools, used for making up prints for transfer to tower spools, and a 5/16" one for 16mm, not much used now, but can also be used with a plate to spool off a 35mm print from American transit reels onto cores, from which they can then be put on one of the other benches to be spooled up.

| IP: Logged

Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 10-05-2004 04:48 PM

Nope...I've got no idea where they originated from...they just showed up one day at the AFI/Silver and the guys had a hard time explaining to me why they couldn't just use their split reels to unmount the cores (I had never seen the little buggers either).

They now have plates with 9mm spindles to deal with such things. Just when you thought you've seen most everything...something else crops up.

Steve

| IP: Logged

Don Furr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 509
From: Sun City, Ca USA
Registered: Nov 2002

posted 06-23-2005 12:44 PM

Post removed due to failure to follow the site policies on posting email addresses as detailed on the FAQ page.

[ 06-23-2005, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: Brad Miller ]

| IP: Logged

Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 06-23-2005 05:05 PM

The standard flip latches on 5/16 shafts aren't even close to keeping a 6000' reel on, especially if the hole is worn and a little wobbly. Try slipping a 3/8 keyless drill chuck on the shaft over the flip latch and snugging it. The cheapo chucks available from Harbor Freight for around $7.00 work well, I've been using them for 2 years. If the shaft is a little long you might have to drill out the threaded hole in the chuck where it normally would screw onto the drill shaft.

As for bushings to adapt 1/2 to 5/16, drill a 5/16 hole thru a 3/8" rod, using a lathe for a more steady cut, then cut the o.d. down to a size that will firmly press into t he hole, clean all the residual oil and gunk out and apply epoxy and insert it. I made some of these a good while ago and they have performed well. Oh yeah, cut the key slot in the ends of the bushing at some point before the epoxy.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.