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Author Topic: Strong, Simplex, Millennium, and Century Projectors Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-07-2009 01:05 PM                     quote: Steve Guttag I've changed many an eccentric pad roller shaft... True, and have been there and done that a bunch of times as well. My project is to find a spring that is half as strong as the stock springs that the pad roller arm assemblies uses for two reasons: 1)-to open the pad arm easier so these eccentric shafts quit breaking, 2)-that lower pad assembly loves to break that spring retaining shaft off that is used also as a stop against the limit stud on the frame boss due to the spring forcing the two together. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Carey Barber Expert Film Handler Posts: 143 From: Newport News, VA, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 02-07-2009 01:39 PM                     So, a lot of you guys actually really like the Century projector? The reason I ask is that, when I told some people we would be using Century projectors, they were kinda shocked and indicated that these were really old. So, have I actually lucked out by getting these projectors?  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-07-2009 02:31 PM                     Monte, The P-1447 stud used as a stop is just plain bad design. A weaker spring will do nothing to stop it from dying. Where does it break? Why at the score line, EVERYTIME. Simplex should never have used the same stud that the fork rides in as a stop. A weaker spring would do nothing to help the eccentric shaft...it is the over-zealous operator that slams the pad roller open that breaks it. I have never personally had either break on me and I've run MANY Simplexes in my time. Carey...you will find fans and haters of EVERY brand of projector. The Century line is no exception. It certainly has its virtues and things that one can pick at. Like any projector, keep it clean. On a Century, also ensure that you properly lubricate the gears REGULARLY as well as maintain the oil in the intermittent, sprocket shafts and end bearing...doing so will yield a very long lasting machine that will put out a very respectable image. Steve  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 02-07-2009 02:45 PM                     (Refering to Monty's pictures of the lens turret) There is a replacement knurled knob for the pad roller to clear a lens. It is short like in the photo, but it also has a 45' flat milled on the outside to provide just a little bit more clearance. It is actually a Century part, but it fits on the Simplex shaft.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-07-2009 02:56 PM                     ..even Christie, when designing their P35GPS - and even their early units - borrowed ideas from the Century machine. The independent intermittent shoe assembly and lower constant feed's pad roller assembly were obviously borrowed ideas.. Even Strong's Mil projector uses the Century gate idea. ..Centurys are wonderful machines.. - Monte  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 02-07-2009 03:50 PM                        I am OK with old XL, and most any Century. Other machines are odd, obsolete, foreign, one-of-a-kind and otherwise unsuitable for a McDonalds kind of theatre operation. To be sure there are many other really great machines (Kinoton and AAII, for example) that, while technically excellent, would be beaten to death without proper care and attention. Old Simplex and Centurys will "take a beating and keep on ticking." Louis  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-07-2009 07:02 PM                     A Kinoton is not a delicate machine, as some seem to think. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-07-2009 10:35 PM                     quote: Steve Guttag A Kinoton is not a delicate machine, as some seem to think. You'd have an impossible time convincing the Cinemark uppers and the projectionists at the Cinemark in Park City that they are not. They have said that installing the Kinotons(for Sundances benefit) was the biggest mistake they ever made!! This theater is what I would call "the real world" for booth operators and working conditions, its nothing really good and nothing really bad, just mainstream. Mark  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-08-2009 02:27 AM                     Yet my hidden favorite is the Cinemeccania V-8 .. hanging on the front of a V-18 setup.  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 02-08-2009 05:06 AM                     Our Vic-8s, (mid 60's vintage) just keep on truckin'. These units mean business.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-08-2009 06:57 AM                     And yet my PK60s....the ones in "mainstream" theatres are the most reliable of the bunch...ZERO failures. Not that the other types have been problematic but the PK60s...just plain and simple projection. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-08-2009 08:31 AM                     quote: Damien Taylor Our Vic-8s, (mid 60's vintage) just keep on truckin'. These units mean business. That is exactly what I see out in this area. There are still a pair of Vic 8's that I service.. but very rarely. The last failure a couple of years ago was the contactor. About 5 years before that it was the shutter bearings. I was the first to ever pull the back cover off the one machine! These are also 1960 Vic 8's. The thing that kills em is the parts pricing... the gate plate is well over $1200.00 now which is quite rediclous. It may in fact be less expensive to have LaVezzi or Wolk manufacture them for you in small quantity. I also service one pair of VIC 4's. Never cared for them at all but these machines just keep on going and going in spite of the bad leaks and they produce a decent picture. I never cared for Cinemecaniccas sound head but it does work when set up correctly and it doesn't contact any of the image area. Steve, I don't service the Cinemark in Park City but I do know the folks at Cinemark and the folks that run the booth there... I can only relay their feelings/experiences about the Kinotons they have there. As I have mentioned in another thread a long time back different people that run the electronic projectors at Sundance proper also feel the same way. The general feeling is that they are way over-rated. As I don't service the Cinemark booth nor do I care to run film at Sundance I neither agree nor disagree with them. Mark  |  IP: Logged Ken Lackner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1907 From: Atlanta, GA, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 02-08-2009 10:16 AM                     Years ago, I worked at an old theater that had FP-23Cs, along with a bunch of other old equipment. Everyone there hated the booth equipment. At first, I did, too. But that's only because it was so different from everything I was used to. (Every theater I had stepped foot in up until then had Strong equipment of some flavor, and they all had Simplex projectors.) But in time, I really warmed up to these projectors, and grew to love them. I also worked at a theater for about three months that ran PK-60Ds. Loved them. Kinoton is now one of my favorite projectors. At least from an operator and presentation standpoint. Never serviced one. Probably never will, although I would love the chance to. My, how we digress.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-08-2009 10:49 AM                     I agree that the FP series and current Kinoton stuff is not the norm to most people. I've owned some of it myself and had no personal complaints. Like the Italian machines... if you ever need serious parts brace yourself! Mark  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 02-08-2009 02:17 PM                        There are manygood old strange machines that work very well with Mark, Steve and me They do not fare so well with the average 16 year old. Louis  |  IP: Logged

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