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Author Topic: 35mm rollers for ORC platter Tristan Lane Master Film Handler Posts: 444 From: Nampa, Idaho Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-18-2009 12:30 AM                     Weren't the later model brown tree models equipped with potentiometers in the feed control to regulate speed? I seem to remember refreshing a few of those at one point. I also recall some sort of linear rheostat device in the tree for take up speed. Another thing I remember is that they had a larger than normal tree, like a triangle with the corners cut off. Somewhat unrefined platters, but I was impressed with the variable speed control of the feed units.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-18-2009 12:22 PM                     The last brown ones had a movable plate on the side to select the takeup deck and they used a belt driven servopot in the base of the column to control the takeup speed both the orange and brown ones with the 3 toggle switchs and the rotary switch were really the same just a colour issue  |  IP: Logged David Zylstra Master Film Handler Posts: 432 From: Novi, MI, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-18-2009 02:07 PM                     The brown ones I serviced (and ran) were circa 1989/1990 and had a variac in the bottem connected via linkage to the dancer rollers, takeup selected by where the deck roller was clipped on and 3 feed out control cards inside the tree - the feed plates had a custom Spectrol potentiometer to govern the speed (we bought 50-100 replacements at a time to give us a few years worth of spares for 46 units . . . . I called Spectrol once trying to buy them directly and was told the design was owned by ORC and could only be sourced through them). Biggest thing I remember is they wrapped film tight enough to move without clamps - using clamps was just insurance against the center ring popping loose or the person moving the print stressing the disk of film the wrong way. I never saw the ones with the belt driven servopot for takeup - must have been after 1990 and before Strong took over?  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-18-2009 04:15 PM                     Only the last vintage had a pot rather than a variac Vishey can supply the pots in quantities of 25  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-18-2009 08:20 PM                     (Vishay purchased Sprague in the "early 1990s". Vishay Sprague) --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Brian Jupp Film Handler Posts: 22 From: Victoria, BC, Canada Registered: Nov 2004 posted 10-19-2009 01:24 PM                        Thanks for the replies. I'll try to get some Speco rollers. The platters here are neither orange, nor brown. They are burgundy (they match our ORC Optimax II-S consoles) and were installed in 1989. Model number for the platters is MP303E3. I'll attach a picture. It would be a shame to get rid of these platters just because of the inability to get rollers for them. They work flawlessly and I have not had any issues getting replacement parts ("fridge door switch" for the takeup plate/roller was easily sourced from a local electronics parts store) or getting parts repaired (control card for the MUT). It does help having spare parts - On hand we have a spare board for the MUT, spare belts for the takeup servopots, and a complete spare brain for each platter.  |  IP: Logged David Zylstra Master Film Handler Posts: 432 From: Novi, MI, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-19-2009 07:27 PM                     That is pretty much the platters I had installed around 89/90, except mine had the variac and linkage instead of the belt for the take up . . . . color looks similar, from the picture I could say brown or burgundy. Do yours still have the plastic covers on the lights for the middle and lower deck? we replaced ours within the first 3 months with off the shelf covers (with a metal collar and glass - it ended the occasional shattered plastic covers and subsequent shattered lamps from a clumsy operator bumping the ring into the lamps). If SPECO has not changed their rollers too much you should have no trouble getting them to fit - just get the right spacers to keep them from sliding around too much.  |  IP: Logged Brian Jupp Film Handler Posts: 22 From: Victoria, BC, Canada Registered: Nov 2004 posted 10-21-2009 02:03 AM                        No, the lights/covers weren't there when I started in 1994. I imagine they didn't last long, just like yours.  |  IP: Logged Tony Gallimore Expert Film Handler Posts: 108 From: Willis, Virginia, USA Registered: Jul 2009 posted 10-21-2009 11:22 PM                     David, You said you had replaced the lights on the middle and lower disks with glass covers. Was this the whole light fixture or just diffuser? I have a couple ORC 302 platters... the bulbs with the T-2 base hang down so far that I've even caught my shirt sleeve on them when switching the feed head to another disk. A shorter bulb that didn't hang down so far would be a good improvement or even a new fixture if necessary. Otherwise, I'm VERY satisfied with the ORC's. I like them better than the Superplatters and Strongs I've run in the past. The ORC's just run a lot smoother with their variable speed feed head. I also have two ORC consoles I rebuilt and am still using the original automation, sound and power supplies.  |  IP: Logged David Zylstra Master Film Handler Posts: 432 From: Novi, MI, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-23-2009 05:11 PM                     Tony - we actually found a replacement cover that fit the original threads. I think we did a clear or yellow smooth lens for the decks and a green faceted one on the tree. I forget where we bought them from, but I know the covers were readily available by themselves without needing to buy a whole new fixture - if memory serves they were very inexpensive (i.e. maybe a dollar or two each).  |  IP: Logged Tony Gallimore Expert Film Handler Posts: 108 From: Willis, Virginia, USA Registered: Jul 2009 posted 10-26-2009 11:25 PM                     Thanks David, That's one improvement I would like to make. As long as I can get brushes for the motors and other miscellaneous components that occasionally give up the ghost, I'm going to stick with the ORC's. I'll do a little searching on some of the military surplus sites, etc for the lenses.  |  IP: Logged

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