Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ballantyne Mod.7 cleaning/rebuild, help needed

This is topic Ballantyne Mod.7 cleaning/rebuild, help needed in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 10-17-2002, 10:48 PM:

Ok, time to get to it. Pedastal is painted, now time for the good parts.

First off, let me say that I hate the manual for this thing. It provides no help at all. I need to know about repair and maintence, and all it has is part numbers. booo and hiss !!

Questions are listed going from the entry of the film path to the end. Mainly about cleaning things.

1. Lateral guide rollers around the sound drum: How do I clean these? The upper one has bearing on the ends the roller. Old oil is found on the shaft and inside roller.
Lower roller, traces of oil as well, however this roller has numerous 'rod shaped' smaller rollers inside. Is this an "oilite bearing" that i've read about on here? How to clean? what type of oil to lube with?
One more thing about the upper roller, its assembly it attatched to something on the back of the soundhead. When the roller it moved up and down, the shaft rotates in this thing. It's round, with a clear glass cover and has traces of oil in it. What is it? It's not shown in the manual. But the place where it is located is labeled the Damper assembly.

2. Sensor roller assembly: turn freely, no sticking, held on with snap rings. Should these just be oiled? if i pried off the snap ring, i think it would be ruined.

3. Sprocket and pad roller: Plain nylon roller, old oil on shaft. Should this just be cleaned up and run dry?
Also, the sprocket shaft has 1/4" horizontal play, that can't be very good! what should be done about that?

Any advise about the other bearings will be appreciated.
Total newbie here. (though I have read the archives extensively)

Thanks
Danny

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-17-2002, 11:31 PM:

Very few manuals have maintainance data in them Kinoton/Norelco is an exception to that though. Reading older Brenkert, Motiograph, Simplex, Century, and the like manuals that do have this sort of data in them can increase your knowledge, and is applicable to alot of other equipment. Increase your knowledge of all projection equipment...how it comes apart, and how to re-assemble it. Its all in those older manuals.

The best thig to do with the lateral guide roller is to replace it with a new Century lateral guide roller which is ball bearing and metal. Those Ballantyne plastic lateral guides are really crap! Unless yours was replaced recently its probably worn out. Check the inside width between flangs with a dial caliper. The Century roller will fit right in place of the plastic one. Clean up things good and install all new ball bearings anyway. These are cheap and will make for less trouble in the long run. Use ONLY rubber sealed ball bearings on the soundhead shaft, usually about a buck more than metal shield type. With these the grease is sealed in and dirt generated by the timming belt is kept out. So is moisture. On the sound drum use only bearings that have a metal shield on one side. NO SEAL allowed as it will introduce too much drag on thre stabilizer. Other than cleaning it up and painting if ya want. Thats about it. Install a nice BACP reverse scanner in there while you're at it!!
Mark @ CLACO

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 10-18-2002, 02:09 AM:

I think Mark covered it very well.

As far as the end play is concerned in the sprocket shaft, make sure the "C" clips are not broken or missing, and check to make sure the sprocket shaft pully is adjusted properly.

The last Model VII soundhead I had to work on extensively was about 15 years ago, so I have forgotten alot about it unless I had one sitting in my face to fix. They are very straight forward, but in some areas (especially the damper shafts of the lateral guide assys) they can be a real pain.

That cue detector - take it off. Aside from Eprad's, Ballentyne's cue detector you have on yours is practically worthless.