Have a fellow booth projectionist who is working a second theater along with the one I work at.

He said they have all Centry projectors and that they are harder to keep clean. He was needing info on how to best clean these projectors.

I have never seen these types of projectors and all that I know is that they are different than the Christies we have at my theater.

Can anyone help out with this problem.

Pictures would be very helpful also.

Thanks,
 

Remove the trap and gate and wipe the tension straps and gate pressure pads with 99% alcohol to remove the emulsion and dirt. Then brush all the film bearing areas with the toothbrush to get off the stubborn dirt. Use the toothbrush to get into all the nooks and crannies like behind the lens turret, under the pad roller arms and behind the upper idler roller on the soundhead. Fold the rag over the toothbrush to wipe up tight areas; wipe the rest of the surfaces with the rag especially under the feeding and holdback sprockets and under the intermittent assembly since they are prone to leaking. Replace the gate then the trap and use the paint brush to sweep away any remaing dirt from the sprockets, pad rollers or painted surfaces. Make sure to wipe the area in front of the projector where the projector and sound head meet because used grease tends to seep out there.

Once in a while it would be beneficial to remove the heat shield from behind the trap and use a CO2 bottle and gun to really clean that area, but don't use the CO2 for everday cleaning beacuse it can break your seals and drive dirt into your bearings.

This picture was taken from the picture page of "Williamsburg Theater" here on the site. Go there for other angles.

Century SA Manual

Page 9 outlines maintenance. As noted, a stiff toothbrush works fine for cleaning sprockets, pad rollers, gate, trap, and intermittent shoe. The gate and trap are easily removed for cleaning, as is the lens. Wipe-down interior with a clean shop cloth. Don't use harsh solvents, and don't get solvents into bearings. Use a vacuum cleaner and brush to pick up loose dirt. Compressed air will just blow dirt into inaccessable areas. NEVER try to clean a running projector.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Here is a picture of how that machine currently looks (unfortunetly, the door is closed so you can't see it's brand spankin' new gate/trap.)

Steve

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"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"

Since no one else has mentioned this, I will: be sure to leave the gate closed at night to avoid wearing out the spring. This is an annoyingly difficult part to replace if you haven't done it before.

(As a side note, the Centurys at Williamsburg were indeed weird. The model number was/is "MSA/2" and the serials were 150 and 151 [can anyone date them?]. They were originally installed in a drive-in and were bought for the theatre when the DI closed at some point in the 1970s.)
 

I do like Gordon's idea though. I may start doing that.

If you're applying XeKote II in your film traps at night then you should leave them open overnight anyway.
 

I too am with Gordon, I was brought up to do that very thing!
 

Jim Alexander
Zedex Theatre
Greenwood, Nova Scotia
 

However, I do recall that a not-so-cool theatre supply house (now bankrupt) in the midwest was selling tubes of Lubri-Plate with a Century Gear Grease label. I thought it was kind of sleazy, personally.

Jason, I question the the theatre supply house's thoughts. I do not think you were getting official Century Gear grease. You might want to look for another supplier that will sell you the correct stuff.

Vasoline works, but not quite as well. However, I will use it in a pinch if needed. It doesn't adhere to the gears as well as Genuine Century Gear Lube.

As for the grease (here we go again)...I'm being a good little boy by using the Lubriplate as per the (Westar) manufacturer's instruction. At this point, it is mainly because I have so much of it around.

I have heard that Vaseline® is okay and I've used it in an emergency. The machine survived just fine, but it's no fun cleaning that stuff off the gears.

Whatever I'm using, I remove the gears about every 3-6 months so I can clean away the old grease before adding fresh lube. It's become a very Zen experience for me.

~Manny (Over 1 billion served.)

We carry spares for Westrex and Century gates and traps, so why would we complicate matters by carrying another line for these machines? Not that there's anything wrong with Kelmar stuff, I just don't see the need. Probably in the US there's a cost benefit, but by the time it reaches 'rip off Britain' there's likely little or no difference.

Kelmar stuff is easy enough to get here, we carry some items. We stock a hell of a lot more Strong/Westrex lines though.
 

Use either Century Gear grease(which is Now Superlube with the Century label slapped on the tube), or just buy Superlube itself. I think its about a buck more than a tube of Lubriplate. Available at any Industral or bearing supply outlet. You won't be removing your gear train every 3 to 6 months to clean it off either. It will wipe right off even after 5 years.
Mark

I was also taught to keep the gate open because doing so would keep the bands in a relaxed state. I was also taught to keep the pressure roller disengaged in the soundhead so that the drum doesn't form a "dent" in the rubber. In reality, I doubt that either of these issues have much basis in fact -- especially the spring thing. Do springs loose their flex tension by being kept in the taut position? Think about it. If they did, it probably isn't enough to be significant. Think of all the springs that remain flexed for years and years -- they don't somehow become less "springy;" it would seem this idea doesn't hold much merit. If it were true, we would be swapping out and replacing springs in everything.....continually. You can think of 100 things that have springs which are almost always in their flexed position -- they don't go bad and become unreliable with time.

As for the rubber "dent" thing, I would assume that if this were really a problem, these rollers would be the most replaced part ever, given how many times projectionists accidentally leave the roller in the closed position, pressing on the drum. I myself have done that and the projectors weren't used in months -- no dents, no thumping sound on the soundtrack as was the supposed result of such a transgression.

Maybe some projectionist decades ago thought up these ideas and they stuck and got propagated over and over until it became these mythical "facts."

I say, keep the gate any way you like, in either position a spring is going to be kept flexed; either the bands or the spring that keeps the gate closed will be taut. According to the theory, one or the other will eventually have no spring left. And keep the pressure roller against the drum -- it's not going to get a dent in it.

But I must say, it's kind of cool when you think about it -- some guy maybe almost a century ago thought up this stuff with nothing much really to test the theories yet they become the way all the projectionists around the world now do it.

Frank
 

What the heck is Lubriplate? It is not mentioned in any of the three vintages of Westar manual I've got sat in front of me here (admittedly all London Westrex). The Westrex 'bible' only mentions the various Westrex supplied lubricants, all of which have Westrex part Nº's, which of course are obsolete and meaningless now.
 

As far as cleaning is concerned, n my experience as well as a toothbrush, a small paint brush is useful (i.e ½” size) for those hard to reach spots (if compressed air is not available). A Chief Projectionist in Wales also introduced me to that the best tool for cleaning gate runners/traps, pressure bands etc, which is a glass fiber brush (usually used for the leaning of circuit board tracks).

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Martin Dean

martinidean@charter.net
 

As for Westrex, I don't think that is the same as Westar...or is it?

~Manny (on time, everytime).

In the 80's ICECO bought Westrex's UK division and shortly afterwards moved it to the US

Now most of the US built Westar is made from Monee and other parts
 

Pete, I don't use that stuff in Century, or Century knock-off's. I only use genuine Century Gear Lube in those machines, or Vasoline in an emergency pinch.

I might add this: If you have been using other crap (including Lubriplate) and you want to change to Century gear lube, you better clean all that old crap off the gears. Some of that stuff will not be happy with other types of lubricants.

The old Century "C" was using Century gear lube for a billion years, and it kept them happy. Need I say more?

I've heard of the Latham loop, but what is the Davis loop?

I'm also curious...are there essential differences between genuine Century parts and parts from the copycat models? I'm refering to quality as well as interchangeability of the parts.

As for interchangablity that is a difficult question
ICECO sells the westar with century pitched gears or the original westar pitch that was actually superior in design
Also some parts are made as assemblies (upper and ower sprocket assemblies) So not all parts are interchangeable

I cannot use anything else in one of my booths in the summer (no air conditioning). It will not sling off.

MARTIN: If you find a Century with removable traps that is really difficult to remove then the machine is either damaged, or the removable part has been swapped with another machine. The dovetail joint of the removable trap was rumored to have been customized for each machine and hence should not be swapped.

Manny, stick to real Century parts (ie Strong). I've found that some of the knock offs can be real garbage. Also I've found that often the screw threads on the real thing and the knock off either don't match or are drilled in the wrong place.
 

When I rebuild a Century I run the gears in dry until a very slight fiber trace shows up on the steel gears. After cleaning the fibre off I use Century oil on thr gears for the rest of the run in which is 10 to 20+ hours with and without film. The machine is shipped to the user so that he/she can use whatever gear grease they want after installation.

Of course my favorite projector the XL doesn't have this grease problem no matter which part of the world you live in.
 

Thanks for all the very helpful info guys.This should help out the person I mentioned who is in need.

I do have one more question though. Can you manually turn over the motor to clean the sprokets the same as you can with the christies?