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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Timing the Christie M35GP. It flickers unless its perfect. (Page 2)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Timing the Christie M35GP. It flickers unless its perfect. Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-01-2006 08:34 PM                     quote: Frank Dubrois Are you a GOD? No, I just prefer to remain very mysterious like Howard Hughes! Like Howard Hughes did I also have the right tools for the right job..... Makes the job go alot faster. Also having a stool handy to set the motor on for those hingless motors is handy. Having the hinged mounts let you shave off another 3 minuites of that 15. quote: Steve Guttag I find that the Simplexes just need less work period... We deal with far more Simplex problems than Christie in this neck of the woods. Grind houses will wear out new ones in 5 years! We do have quite a few more Simplex's to be fair but we also have customers that have run Christies for 5 plus years without ever touching them. BYU Varsity Teatre was a good example. The new Christie P35 gives by far the most bang for the least buck. Mark  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 01-01-2006 11:00 PM                     I dont have access to a manual, and i dont have Adobe so I dont want to download it. Does the manual really say to time it with the intermittent advanced 3 sprocket teeth? quote: Mark Gulbrandsen 5. Turn the machine over by hand several cycles and double check that the setting is correct. If its still correct there's no need to run a test film Mark, I just said I run test film to sound good . I always do what you said and just cycle the projector by hand and recheck the timing.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-01-2006 11:15 PM                     Here's a little tip. Assuming you have the belt a little looser than it should be, take a small allen wrench and as you are carefully turning the projector over by hand, stick it in between the belt and the upper pulley. This will knock the belt off by one notch depending on which direction you are rotating the machine and is a huge timesaver in case you are only one notch on the belt off from perfect. At that point tighten up the tension just enough so when you are holding the inching knob still, you cannot spin the shutter by hand. Any more tension and you will see premature belt and pulley wear. To tell if you are properly timed without running film, just look at the intermittent sprocket as the shutter passes behind the aperture. So long as the aperture is covered when the intermittent sprocket starts to turn...and the intermittent sprocket comes back to a stop before the shutter finishes passing behind the aperture, you are in time. Hence, no need to actually run a test film. Make sense?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-02-2006 09:47 AM                     I always set the shutter belt tension so that I can just barely pinch both sides of the belt together in the center of its length. If they can't just barely meet together in the moddle then its too tight and although the belt may last a long time it will cause premature wear on the shutter pulleys. Yes, even the new hardened shutter pulleys wear out if there's too much tension! Shutter belts tensioned this way will not skip a tooth. Assuming there are good clean shutter pulleys 2 years of shutter belt life is reasonable on a machine with 3kw or less lamp size. Larger lamp sizes are going to require once a year belt replacement since the heat does affect the belt material. Mark  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-02-2006 11:31 AM                     Hi Mark The way you described to adjust belt tension is exactly what Christie recommends; 1/4 inch deflection ~ the belt barely touching at midpoint when squeezed. However, I would love to know what you did to get that long of a life out of a belt? Christie recommends annual belt replacement or when they start to show signs of excessive wear. Now, I was lucky to get 3-6 months wear out of a shutter belt, even with the steel pulleys and a weekly cleaning including a few drops of Christie Belt Lube. I remember making a recommendation to the G.M. at my old theatre to replace the shutter belt at least every 6 months. He took my advice under consideration, but the "Booth Manager"...a kid with absolutly 0.00% mechanical ability, apitude or interest was dead set against my recommendation. So, it came to pass that on opening day of a major bluckbuster in the largest auditorium and a packed house the belt broke during the feature. I had the feature back up within about 5 mnutes or so. Now this theatre chains policy was no refunds if the film goes down during the trailers, but if it goes down during the feature, then refunds. And guess when the belt broke! Well, the G.M. tried to chew my ass and blame me for the problem, blaming me for not changing belts like I told him I would. I told him to hold on...that I gave him my recommendation, had yet to hear back...and that his "Booth Manager" had shot the recommendation down. Talk about tension in the workplace...  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-02-2006 06:25 PM                     I don't know what to say Will, With good pulleys in there and the correct tension 2 years is not a problem around here. Of course these are not grind houses but they do put a fair amount of time on them yearly. The main thing is to have clean pulleys that are in excellent condition... meaning no wear at all allowed. So you may find yourself replacing the shutter pulleys every 3 to 4 years as well. It would be interesting to see how a TIN coating would hold up on those pulleys! Your reccomendation was a good one to go by in a busy plex. Its not worth loosing a show or even upsetting customers for a $3.00 belt. In a bisy plex I would go with 1 year on all 2kw houses and every three months on 3kw and up. Or over a time period calculate how many operating hours that is and go by the hours like the aircraft industry does. P.S. ya got to have the correct tension in the workplace as well in order to last ! Mark  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-03-2006 02:50 AM                     I've never used the technique of squeezing the belt together like Mark mentioned above, but a 2 year changeout on the belts was no problem for me at all and if upon inspection there was not a noticeable wear, I would commonly end up running many for 3 years.  |  IP: Logged Frank Dubrois Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 896 From: Cleveland, OH Registered: Mar 2005 posted 01-03-2006 04:33 PM                    What are your thoughts on the shutter blade no longer being able to either be loosened on the shaft, or a new shutter blade that is almost impossible to mount on a shaft? Does the metal of the shaft expand? I have attempted to time one projector when it was cold in the morning and just after a show thinking one of the two times might give me a workable solution. No such luck. The shutter blade cannot be loosened to freely spin on the shaft thus making timing VERY difficult.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-03-2006 05:47 PM                     Mark and Brad The belt I recommended changing every 3-6 months was the shutter/jackshaft belt only. They just undergo lots of wear due to that twist, which I believe to be an inappropriate engineering design. The other belts do last for several years. But cleaning and occasional belt dressing also helps. K.  |  IP: Logged Joseph Pandolfi Expert Film Handler Posts: 213 From: Milford, CT. Registered: Nov 1999 posted 01-03-2006 06:00 PM                     We check our belts & pulleys weekly for tension and wear. This is part of our preventive maintainence we do here. Once they hit 9 to 11 months we replace all three belts regardless.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-03-2006 07:20 PM                     quote: Will Kutler The belt I recommended changing every 3-6 months was the shutter/jackshaft belt only. They just undergo lots of wear due to that twist, which I believe to be an inappropriate engineering design. Well originally there was a gear-box and that was a very unpredictable piece and cost about 450.00 when it blew... as is typical of Christie it was not field repairable. The gears in one were about the diameter of my little toe! So a 1/2 twist in a belts about the only engineering choice left to choose from and in reality is cheap and works well as long as your pulleys are in like new shape. The big mistake they made was not doing all the belts in kevlar. Some of the other belts are available o0ff the shelf in kevlar versions and they don't cost all that much more. My general feeling is that if your shutter belt(on a 2kw machine) needs attention more often than every 2 years then something else is wrong and needs attention but belts are also cheap, alot cheaper than refunding a show. I am off to maintain 4 Christies whose belts have not been touched in 1.5 years. I will post photos of them so you can see what the wear looks like after that long. Another note: Personally I like to go by hours rather than weeks or months when a maintainance schedule is set up. This is most true of oil changes where alot of people think they can go for a year and then change the oil, but they also run 120 hours a week when in fact the oil's properties have deterioated badly by the end of the 2nd month! Mark  |  IP: Logged Frank Dubrois Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 896 From: Cleveland, OH Registered: Mar 2005 posted 01-03-2006 07:22 PM                    We have some inner and outer belts going on 2+ years. Preventative maintenence...whats that?? Our motto is, if it aint broke, dont screw with it. I've tried to change that line of thinking, but alas, I failed. This is why I am leaving. It was either "Dont rock our boat" or "were gonna push you overboard". I'm jumping ship. Here's my 2 weeks  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-03-2006 07:27 PM                     quote: Frank Dubrois It was either "Dont rock our boat" or "were gonna push you overboard". Frank, These people are obviously belligerent. Please print this thread out and hand it to them........ Remember if you enjoy the work there is always another theatre somewhere nearby that IS being run by professionals. Theatre managers/owners that think that way yours do are stupid-stupid- stupid ! Remember..... "stupid is as stupid does"  |  IP: Logged Frank Dubrois Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 896 From: Cleveland, OH Registered: Mar 2005 posted 01-03-2006 10:53 PM                    I couldnt agree more. Whats worse is being asked for advice, then they don't take it, then when it breaks, I get the phone call saying, "yup, you were right, come fix it now." Uh huh... be right there I hope my job search goes well. There's gotta be something else out there somewhere.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

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.