Dave, you have a wonderful wife if she would buy you a splicer!
 

Gotta love spliers like the CIR that have a spring loaded cutter blade that always returns to the UP position. Safety at it's finest!
 

Nice present to have from your wife Dave. A few years ago my wife gave me a nice surprise, I turned up at the cinema at 9am and on the office desk there was a box with happy birthday on it containing a Cat No. 222SR/A card. Within the next hour Sound Associates modified the CP55 unit and installed Dolby SR. What a present, a birthday I shall never forget.

For something that is _really_ built like a tank, check out the Maier-Hancock (aka B&H) hot splicers. They come in 8/16 and 16/35 models and will outlast their owners. They are cement splicers, though, so each splice results in lost frames and they also won't work on polyester-base film.
 

The only problem I have with my CIR, and it probably needs to be cleaned, is sometimes it leaves hanging chads. The "economy splicers" I used to use (no-name knockoffs of the CIR) left hanging chads even after I cleaned them.
 

They are top heavy, but I have not found anything that will make a splice as good as they do. (Atta boy, Bob Maar )
 

We don't need "real" projectionists, any high school kid can learn the job in a half day. The popcorn kid can fill in if the booth kid doesn't show, the half day training he had 2 months ago (the last time he was in the booth) was plenty. And there really is a Santa Claus.
 

What is the anvil?

My tech told me that tape across the splicer bed isn't necessary. How would it reduce the amount of hanging chads?
 

Ken, just guessing, but I assume tape across the bed gives a slightly
soft surface for whatever punches the "chads" to sink into and thus,
cleanly through the tape.....

Gee, maybe they need a little zebra-tape behind the cards on those 50-year old voting machines!!
 

Steve

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"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"
 

J & R Film Company always called it Ciro and it was part of J&R as Ciro Equipment. Anyway I call as I've always known it: CIRO.

 

Here in Europe you will find CIR splicers in every booth and everyone is happy with it, I know booths where the splicer is more than 30 years old and still doing its job perfectly.
Joe's point of view is partial and stupid. He must find a perverse pleasure in calling some items "piece of crap".
Unfortunately a lot of people will take his opinion as gospel.

Philippe

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Also, you might see chads still attached to the perfs. In addition to that, the tape might climb on the registration pins. I never had a splice like this derail itself in the projector, but those splices are annoying if you look at the screen when it passes through the gate.

If you buy a good expensive splicer, they will substantially outlast and out-perform any $200,00 POS available today. My Neumade SS35 I bought was a rebuilt, perfect shape, and makes perfect splices. I paid 275.00 for it, and I would sooner have that one than one of those 200.00 cheapies...

They key is....take care of your equipment. A 200.00 POS will last about 6 months if you take care of it. Then it is worn out. A good quality splicer as many have mentioned above will last 10 years before it wears out if it is taken care of properly.

So, if one elects to spend a dollar to save a nickel, have a ball.

There is an old saying:

"Quality is like buying oats. If you want good clean oats, you have to pay the fair market price. But, if you are satisfied with the oats that have already been through the horse, well, those are a little cheaper."

Paul

I think many people are perfectly happy with the various junk splicers on the market (and for that matter, misaligned good ones). So long as it makes a splice that runs through the projector, many people are happy. Unfortunately a quality splice is somewhat like a projectionist who has been running a booth for 10+ years who gets to see what a film cleaner can do for his presentation for the first time. Most are shocked and suddenly realize just how dirty their "perfect presentation" they went around boasting about really was. I feel this is the same thing happening here with the splicers. It all just depends on how picky you are and how willing you are to try other pieces of equipment and change your ways when a better method comes along. I noticed you said that a 30 year old splicer is still functioning "perfectly". I have a hard time believing that regardless of manufacturer. I think you are just not as picky as Joe is.

As far as Joe's review, I'll sign my name beside his on every word he wrote in it right here.
CIR splicers are crap.

I'm sorry I am not smart enough for you. As you pointed out, my views are stupid. Of course I'd like to hear exactly what you thought was stupid that was written in the review. Was the fact that the CIR splicer does not punch out 100% of the perferations 100% of the time despite repeated cleaning my fault? Am I supposed to clean the splicer and sharpen the blades between each and every splice? My CIR splicers saw A LOT of use. Four of them existed in a 16-plex assembling many many prints. If they were so orgasmically incredible, why did we fight to get Neumade splicers? You can't say we weren't using them correctly... despite what you say I am a very smart guy and the others in the booth weren't exactly morons either. The splicers were cleaned about every 1 to 1 and a half weeks. Did CIR just choose to ship me 4 (four) bad ones for no reason?

I stand by my review.

But, that usually does not happen in the real world. I would get excellent splices from the CIR for about three months; after that, the quality went way down. I would have to adjust and clean it.

On the other hand, the Nuemade made good splices, consistently, for a about a year. A better trade-off, I feel.
 

Also, if you look in the TIPS section of this site, you'll see a splicer modification for the Neumade that works wonders. It would be difficult to modify the CIRs in this manner. It could be done, but it would be a pain in the ass.

I know you will think that it would be hard for me to be objective.....but when it comes to "splicers" I'm a Neumade man.
 

I broke 2 splicers once by leaving them on an engaged platter.
I forgot to start movies.
I started the wrong movies.
I started the wrong projector.
I dropped a print because I thought i could movie it by myself to another platter three feet away even though it didnt have a center ring.
I put the fifth reel of CITY HALL on backwards.

I should add these things to the MOST PAINFULL MISTAKE thread.

These things didnt happen often, but most of them happened when I was new, and I learned from them.
Thats the important thing.

 

Actually, you can accomplish that modification with a CIR quite easily. In fact, you don't really need to modify anything. Between the cutter and the base of the splicer is a compression spring type thingy. (Sorry, I forget what it's called; check CPI's site for the part name.) You can loosen the screws that hold the cutter onto the splicer just ever so slightly to creat the amount of overlap you want. Simple. And it works quite well.
 

I've worked in a Regal booh for about a year and a half, i'm now at a Harkins 20-plex working my way back to projectionist from supervisor. Thanks, I admit i have done some stupid crap and i just submitted some of it to the painful mistakes page, and I sure did learn from it.
 

I guess another stupid thing I did was call you jake, sorry bout that, add that to the list :-)
 

Philippe

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To be truthful, I prefer Japanese automobiles 10 to 1 over American automobiles for the most part. I certainly prefer Japanese programmed videogames compared to US or British programmed games (we are awful at programming anything fun). Perhaps something was lost in the translation of my review? Trust me, if it was made in the US, I would have given it the same review.
 

I've used both the Catazzo and the Neumade extensively, and find that they both perform well. It just depends on what you prefer. I like the handle on the Neumade, but have found that I can also easily carry the Catazzo with one hand.

I think Philippe Laude is exactly correct when he says, "Besides I think there is a confusion between the genuine CIR splicer and three times cheaper knock-offs."

The negative comments I'm seeing here all relate to the crappy knock-offs that look superficially like a Catazzo, but are really cheap garbage. I highly recommend the genuine Italian made splicer, manufactured by Officine Meccaniche. I like the Model 3 Special. This is not a cheap splicer. It sells for about as much as the Neumade.

The $200 knock-offs have bad alignment, and unforgivably, plastic handles which can break and cause injury. Stay away from those!

quote:

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Speaking of rubber feet, there is only one thing I don't like about my CIR splicers. No rubber feet. The "economy splicers" I sued had a cover on the bottom to catch the chads and rubber feet on the bottom of the cover. The CIR is open on the bottom. Anyone have any ideas on how to correct that?

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The splicer should have come with a skid plate that covers the bottom. It also has 5 rubber feet. I imagine you can get one from a place that deals in replacement parts.
 

Keep in mind that splicers are precision punch dies that need to be handled with care no matter how "rugged" they are built. Dropping them, banging them around and not keeping them cleaned and approperiate parts sharpened will result in less than ultimate performance.

I am used to the Nuemade splicers and really do not have a problem with them. They are a rugged machine. My only complaint is that they can be a bear to adjust is they come out of alignment. Occasionally I would need to use an Exacto blade to clean up excess tape off of a splice. But I think that the alignment problems were probably a result of rough handling.

I have examined but not used the Strong splicer. This too seems to be a very well built and rugged machine!