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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » What problems do you have with 5 star sound heads? (Page 2)

This topic comprises 4 pages: 1  2  3  4

Author Topic: What problems do you have with 5 star sound heads? Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 04-07-2006 02:51 PM                     No I didn't, that was Phil.  |  IP: Logged John Eickhof Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 588 From: Wendell, ID USA Registered: Jan 2000 posted 04-07-2006 05:42 PM                        Mark hit it on dead center!! All the items listed ar NO NOs! Misty, tri-flow, etc ARE SOLVENTS! The amount of 'teflon' found in Tri-Flow is too light of a concentration for continuous lubrication, it is meant as an aid in moving stuck parts one time! LUBRI-SHIT is probably the worst product ever introduced into moving picture machines! Especially in the dry western US! It was designed as a fine composite lubricant for temporary use when assembling engines and other large scale mechanical devices that would be started and operated within a few weeks of assembly! It was for initial lubrication untill the proper type oil reached the friction points and washed it OUT! In projectors , platters and other 'open air' machines it will eventually dry up to form a substance as hard as concrete! It also picks up dirt and debris easily while wet and is a very BAD thing for use in our industry! I have had to literally 'chisel' it off gears and shafts in Century and other heads! It also will coat nice shafts and retain moisture resulting in the famous 'brown scale' found on centurys and the AW platter bearing spindles! Unfortunately years ago someone at Christie got a good deal on tubes of it and recommended it's use, of course it is the primary cause of worn out oilite bushings in the AW platters! A good quality SHORT FIBRE grease is the BEST for long term use on platters and gears that require a lubricant. SO THERE!! My $.10 worth!! Ha ha!  |  IP: Logged Bob Koch Expert Film Handler Posts: 183 From: williams ca Registered: Nov 2001 posted 04-07-2006 08:09 PM                     John; thats the damndest thing I ever heard of, a Brenkert on top of a 7500. I`d certainly like to see that,hear that and watch that. Brenkerts shear pin worked a hell of a lot better on Evinrudes than on the projector. The unintended shear pin was most always the fibre shutter gear.I was guilty, early on, of using resistors on the Motio 7500 and RCA 1040`s to cure that jackrabbit start. When I was a boy I used screw in conical heater elements in various combos. Had to be careful though, it cut down the torque severely.  |  IP: Logged Eric Robinson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 538 From: Santa Rosa, CA Registered: Jan 2005 posted 04-07-2006 10:13 PM                     Thanks for the input on TriFlo. This product was recommended to me by a highly skilled tech. As a point of clarification, I use the bottle of TriFlo with the long skinny tube to squeeze drops. I think I will abandon it though as I have just ordered a bottle of Lavezzi synthetic oil. Any opinions about Century grease? I use this on all Century gears and on the AW3 platter shaft rings and bearings. I also find it helpful on some of the interior parts on those crappy electric changeovers from Strong.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-07-2006 11:43 PM                     Present Century gear grease like the stuff Wolk provides is re-labeled Super Lube, its also available alot less expensivley at bearing supply houses in tubs. Its an excellent general purpose synthetic lube that works great for alot of things, it never turns into a cement like substance that has to be chisled off. I don't reccomend it on AW-3 platter bearings or spindles though... its a bit too heavy for that. Mobil-1 or Slick 50 synthetic wheel bearing grease is the best for that purpose. The color of the Slick 50 grease even matches the Christie light blue . By now you have gathered that I prefer to use synthetic lubes where ever I can... makes for less frequent re-lube and parts running with synthetics just plain last alot longer and give you less headaches. Mark  |  IP: Logged Eric Robinson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 538 From: Santa Rosa, CA Registered: Jan 2005 posted 04-08-2006 12:29 PM                     In Summary then, Century gear grease aka Super Lube: excellent general purpose synthetic lube that works great for alot of things. Slick 50 synthetic wheel bearing grease(light blue): great on AW3 platter bearings and spindles. Lavezzi synthetic oil: use on parts which should slide or turn easily without becoming bound such as the lateral and friction rollers in the 5 Star sound head sound arm assembly. Mobil-1 10W30: As a substitute for Lavezzi oil (in a pinch) TriFlo: Solvent, good for cleaning only Mr. Misty: Solvent, good for cleaning only WD-40: Solvent, good for cleaning only Lubri-Plate: = Lubri-Shit Carburator Cleaner: Solvent, good for cleaning only Liquid Wrench: if you got a stuck and rusted nut on a bolt Looks like this is off topic a bit, but very helpful - to me.  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-09-2006 10:11 PM                     I like that ancient Lubriplate tube, my dad used to have one in his toolbox. He was wise enough to rarely use it, I think it was reserved for coating his car's battery studs. Lubriplate now comes in spray cans too. The problem is that it turns hard fairly quickly. I expect that the yellowish ring of "grease" around the cap on the pictured tube is about as hard as glass. If you use it on a Century, you'll see that it's too thin (at first) to stay on the gears, so it flings off and hardens into interesting sculptures on the covers and all around the main drive gears.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-09-2006 11:19 PM                     Eric, Your list is dead right! Dave, I like your description of how it forms sculptures! Funny thing is that it also takes a hammer and chisel to get rid of the stuff. Mark  |  IP: Logged Eric Robinson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 538 From: Santa Rosa, CA Registered: Jan 2005 posted 04-10-2006 11:14 AM                     I have had quite a few problems with the 5 Star pad roller arm. The most common problem is the shoulder bolt bending or shearing off. I was surprised to find a theatre which had removed the pad roller arm completely on four of their projectors and were running them without. Does anyone know an easy way to install one of the new (P10015) shoulder bolts which protrude through the casting and are fastened on the belt side with a nylock? I found that I have to remove all of the parts on the belt side that are in the way to get the nylock on. On one projector I removed the (P7614) projector drive timing belt pulley and the (P9837) sound head drive timing belt pulley to gain access to the shoulder bolt. After reassembling I noted that there was rotational play between these two pulleys which are mounted on the same shaft. I then proceeded to disassemble and reassemble about three more times with no success. Wouldn't this type of play cause vertical jitter? Also, is there some way to eliminate this play? ERIC  |  IP: Logged Cory Isemann Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: White Plains, MD, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 04-10-2006 11:22 AM                        Besides the usual lateral guide roller issues, I've broken off the screw that holds the pad roller arm to the casting.. that was no fun getting out either.  |  IP: Logged Eric Robinson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 538 From: Santa Rosa, CA Registered: Jan 2005 posted 04-14-2006 11:02 AM                     Sorry guys I'm going to keep posting in this thread for a while. I have a problem trying to figure out which belt I need for my 5 Star. Everytime I order a belt, the belt doesnt seem to match the belt pulley. Here are all the belts available: RPM Teeth Motor Pulley Drive Belt Soundhead Pulley 1800 18 52-00120 51-05014 52-20268 1750 18 52-00120 51-05014 52-00071 1500 18 52-00120 51-05015 52-20550 1500 24 52-40127 51-05016 52-20558 1200 24 52-40127 51-05014 52-20147 1000 36 52-20559 51-05016 52-20558 It would seem that if I could identify the soundhead pulley, then I could use the table above to select the appropriate drive belt, but I'm not sure how to do this. Is there perhaps a simpler way to figure out which drive belt you need?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-14-2006 11:35 AM                     First off there are Square Tooth Belts and Round Tooth Belts. Be sure which one you have... The round tooth belts which are metric and will not fit a US standard pulley are much heavier than the older lighter weight square tooth XL US standard belt type. Secondly look on the Outer Diameter of the belt for the belt number.... if it is still visible. Numbers like 280XL050 or something to that effect.... The round tooth belts will also have a number on them as well but it is somewhat different. If there is no visible number left on the belt, and assuming that you may have a non-standard type belt for some odd reason I reccomend taking it to your nearest bearing house and have them measure it for you. Obtaining belts this way is also ALOT less expensive than from Strong whose prices are about triple!! Mark  |  IP: Logged Sean R. Custer Film Handler Posts: 35 From: San Francisco, CA, USA Registered: Dec 2005 posted 04-14-2006 05:47 PM                        John: I'll keep that in mind about the shear pins if we ever bolt up those Brenkerts again. The other huge problem with those I'm told was the oil viscosity that was recommended for them was incorrect -as supplied- from Wolk. It's hard for me to believe that went on so long... Right now we're running XL's w/SH-100's. I'm a happy guy. (Except for the jaxlights). The "Brenkert Fleet / Brenkert boneyard" has been sidelined, but not forgotten. I trip over them all the time. It's kind of nice knowing I can reasseble an entire functioning c/o booth from parts if I had to. Hell, we could do a couple! All I can do to further the thread in. re. the 5-stars is emphasize what people have already said about the lubricants. I made the egregious mistake once of spraying Misty in there to de-gunk 14 machines, which in all seriousness hadn't been cleaned in probably 9 months. A few months down the road and all lubed-up, came upon a lot of stiff and/or rusted bearings. In 3 years I think we ended up replacing them all, and thensome, as others came along and screwed it up too. So it goes. I think they're a fine soundhead. Aside from the sound drum bearing seizing or moving slow, they don't really get cantankerous until the belt starts to go, but they give plenty of warning beforehand. And yeah, you can run happily with that pad roller clamp off, plenty of tension at that point. Peace of mind shouldn't be ignored though if it nags at you. -SRC  |  IP: Logged Eric Robinson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 538 From: Santa Rosa, CA Registered: Jan 2005 posted 04-18-2006 07:55 PM                     Alright I think I have met an evil of my past. I just worked on a soundarm which I worked on perhaps a year ago (using TriFlo.) This thing was gunked up horribly. This time I used TriFlo to clean all the parts. I followed it up with a rubbing alchohol cleaning. Afterwhich, I used LAVESSI INTERMITTENT OIL HPO-3 to lube all the moving parts ie. casting pivot, friction roller, lateral guide rollers, and main sound arm pivot rod. Is LAVESSI INTERMITTENT OIL HPO-3 the correct oil to use for trouble free lubrication of sound arm components?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-18-2006 10:27 PM                     quote: Eric Robinson Is LAVESSI INTERMITTENT OIL HPO-3 the correct oil to use for trouble free lubrication of sound arm components? YES! Guttag calls it "Magic Oil" for some reason or other. There's not much magic on it though. Mark  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 4 pages: 1  2  3  4

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.