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Author Topic: A Simplex Shaky Picture Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 02-22-2005 08:12 AM                        About when and with which model did they start the stopping screw?  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-22-2005 08:47 AM                     I called Strong one time to ask them about that screw. They told me that there is no specific way to adjust it. You just carefully turn it until you get enough gate tension. Also, in my experience, the 1050s with the flip-up gate are finicky about adjustment of the lateral guide wheels. Once it passes the wheels, there's not much to support the film going through the trap but the gate bands and shoe rails. If those wheels aren't perfectly aligned with the intermittent sprocket and if they don't spin freely, there will be trouble. If I remember correctly, those 1050s also acted like a bitch if they weren't kept spotlessly clean. (Thus my question above.) I had a theater full of 1050s with the flip-up gate. It was one of my least favorite places to go. They would call me up, whining about a problem, and the first words out of my mouth were, "Did you clean the projector? Give it a good cleaning and call me back." About a half hour later later they'd call back, still whining. When I got there (2 hour drive) I would find all the projectors just caked with dirt like they hadn't been cleaned since the last time *I* did it. This was, in fact, true. They hadn't been cleaned since I did it last. The last time I visited that theater I took one look at the machines and went into the office. I sat down in the manager's chair and said, "When you get somebody to clean those projectors I'll go out there and start working on them." The guy looked at me like I had just killed a puppy! It was about an hour later when some pimple-faced kid knocked on the door and told me they were clean. All he had done was quickly hit them with a paint brush. It was better but not good enough. I gave him an "E" for effort, at least. I took this kid aside and handed him a red shop towel. I showed him how to clean a projector, top to bottom. When I finished, I threaded it up and started the movie. The thing ran PERFECTLY! I made a point of telling him, "These projectors will NOT work right if you don't keep them SPOTLESSLY clean!" I then told him to keep a rag in his back pocket and wipe out every projector BEFORE he threaded it. The next day when I came in, the same kid came up to me and told me that the same projector we had worked on the day before was acting up again. "Did you clean it like I told you?", I asked. I got that "dead puppy look" I mentioned above. I walked over to the projector to find the shop towel I handed him on the floor about two feet from the spot where I handed it to him! I just walked out. I went back to my motel room and turned on the TV. I came back later that evening when there was nobody else around. I finished my work and left. I don't think I ever went back to that theater, except for an odd emergency call.  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 02-22-2005 10:25 AM                     My advice is to call the factory, ask for tech advice.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-22-2005 12:43 PM                     quote: Randy Stankey the 1050s with the flip-up gate ..those be called the 1060's - they didn't last very long. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-22-2005 12:47 PM                     Michael, The stopper screw appeared with the introduction of the curved gate..... Its easy to minstall the stopper screw on other machines that don't have it and its a good idea to do it. Flat gates included!! MArk  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-22-2005 01:05 PM                     Okey..since we're here talking about our favorite machine from Omaha, I'm going to swing the topic over to gate bands for a bit for us curve gate owners: With "poly" film, gate bands will wear faster due to "poly" film being more abrasive than the acetate stock. Wolk has "blue steel" gate bands that are more harder being spring steel than the rolled steel that Simplex uses. ..little help to the forum (thx for Mark in telling me about this so I can share to the 'bretheren') -Monte  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 02-22-2005 04:52 PM                        quote: Richard Hamilton My advice is to call the factory, ask for tech advice. Richard, you are at the factory! Maybe you could just stroll over to the 35mm colleagues and ask them. However, I don't think this is so massively complicated. The important thing is that the pad shoe does not press down on the intermittent sprocket too much. It is just there to keep the film from jumping off. If you can achieve this with the "light touch" and still have enough tension on the trap to keep the film from jumping, then that is all you need.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 02-22-2005 06:20 PM                    quote: Monte L Fullmer ..those be called the 1060's - they didn't last very long. How long did they last? The ones I use at my theatre are 10 years old. Installed in 1995. I don't remember another model until the milleniums.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-22-2005 09:41 PM                     1060's were the ones with the flip-up gate?! Damn! I thought it was the 1050! I stand corrected! With all of the other Simplexes that don't have the flip-up gate I used to use a 1/4 inch Allen wrench to set the trap/shoe spacing. It's hard to describe in writing but, suffice it to say, you trap the wrench in the trap then set the stopper screw till you can just barely pull the wrench out of the trap. You've also got to watch out for the torsion spring adjustment that holds the gate shut. It can be a bitch to get that one right!  |  IP: Logged Ian Bailey Master Film Handler Posts: 317 From: Nambucca Heads, Australia Registered: Jun 2003 posted 02-22-2005 11:27 PM                     Hi Mark I am very interested in installing the stopper screw to my 1050's(with flat gates).Where would I get the information from that would show me where this screw is located and how it sets the gate position?Is it a Simplex part for another projector that is adapted to the 1050?  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-23-2005 12:15 AM                     quote: Darryl Spicer I don't remember another model until the milleniums. 1060's popped out in early 1997, but what I heard that the flip up gate, being a one piece gate, was the worst design being that it still contained both the curved rail assembly and the intermittent shoe assembly from the earlier XL/1050's, yet now being swung on an upper hinge, for I've never worked on a 1060, but seen a few of them. Bad design there. If you read the Simplex 1060 operations manual in the "Manual" section of FT for the 1060, the comment of constant cleaning after each performance is quoted. The 1060's were designed so the TU2000 turret assembly can rotate with the turret closed, instead of having the turret being opened for lens changeovers. Just by redesigning the gate and trap assembly from the XL/1050s, made this function to be finally allowed -to have the turret rotate without having all of the complicated mechanisms to swing open the turret just to thread and to change lenses with the older 1050's. Some cinemas removed the automatic lens/turret rotating devices, just to make the turret be a manual turret function. The Christie 35 took to this and massively perfected this swinging gate to where the trap and gate assembly became one piece, but was smart to have the intermittent movement have it's own shoe assembly, and thus came out the P35GPS later on that year. - one of the best designed heads to be placed in cinemas Strong took the 1060 turret concept, lengthened the XL case about an inch, added the Century trap and gate, finally caught on that the intermittent movement needs its own shoe assembly (which they also "stole" from the Century), and out popped the Mils as the result. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-23-2005 02:28 AM                     always felt that Strong should go back and replace every POS swinging gate assy they made..... they at least owe each of us a couple of beers for that mistake! MArk  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-23-2005 06:47 AM                     The PR-1060 gate is quite adjustable, actually. In many ways, I prefer it to the current gates on the PR-2000s. One can certainly precisely set the PR-1060's gate and have it hold there for some time. It is also easier to thread and clean. As for the intermittent shoe, it is independantly adjustable (at least on all of the ones I've laid hands on) so setting the gate height, depth can be done and then the shoe set for precise contact. The PR-1060's biggest weak point is if the gate is left opened and the turret is slam closed on it. As for separate intermittent shoes...totally unnecessary...Show me a tech that needs a separate intermittent shoe, I'll show you a tech that doesn't know what they are doing. You'll be happy to know that the PR-1014 now has a separately adjustable shoe though still attached to the gate assembly so one can again set proper gate depth and then adjust the shoe for perfect contact. Note though...if you knew how to form the tang on the older style, you could achieve the same results with less stuff to come out of alignment or rattle off. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-23-2005 07:51 AM                     quote: Steve Guttag I'll show you a tech that doesn't know what they are doing. Thank you! I woulda said that Strong hasn't a clue as to what they design but you've said it for me . The 1060's have way to much slop in the pin and bushing of that swing out gate. You can actually move the bottom of the gate back and forth about 3/16" on some of them! I've seen the sides of teeth chewed off the sprocket because its impossible to keep the pad centered. We stock and use a special regular tooth sprocket just for that machine, they are just narrow enough that they clear that "slop".  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 02-23-2005 09:23 AM                    quote: Monte L Fullmer 1060's popped out in early 1997 Like I said ours were installed in early 1995. I agree the gate design sucks. Keeping those set screws locked down on the pivot shaft can be an issue on some of them. I havn't ran into any issues with the shoes or the teeth on the intermittent being chewed up and thes have been in operation for 10 years now. The turrets on those do tend to have a lot of issues at times bit I do like them better than the ones that were on the 1050's.  |  IP: Logged

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