Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Project booth in southeast US theatre

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Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 06-23-2003, 02:19 AM:

A nearby-ish theater-turned-PAC has an interest in reviving ITS booth. From the description, it seems to have a booth that has been wildly raped & pillaged, containing 2 DP70s without lamphouses. This would likely have been appropriate just as a post to Equipment Wanted & For Sale, but I'm unfamiliar with the DP70. Would it accommodate an Ultra 80 lamphouse?

I'm hoping to present them with the costs of

used 35/70mm platter
used Christie Miniwind platter
Strong Ultra-80 lamphouse (hopefully used!)
new bulb approx. 4500 watts
some inexpensive sound processor just for SR run in mono

and sufficient idiocy to become involved as a volunteer with another project that will likely become the tarbaby.

e-mail me privately or berate me publicly here!

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 06-23-2003, 10:21 AM:

Just a note it would be better to install 2 lamphouses and no platter since it would be most likely that films will be run once only and make up and tear down is a waste of time
Also many archival prints have the cavet on them not splicing reels togather

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-23-2003, 02:28 PM:

Why not take Barry up on his offer for the free Ashcraft lamphouses and rectifiers? Sure, it's not a long-term solution given the current carbon situation, but it will only cost them the shipping charge. That way, they can get set up and start running film quickly and cheaply and get some idea of whether there is enough of a market to justify investing in further upgrades (xenon, sound, platter, etc.).

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-23-2003, 07:30 PM:

William, The DP-70's should be fine. If they've been sitting for years they should be throughly be gone through before they are put back into service. If you do this they will probably never give you any troouble. Be careful of getting the gate bands on corectly and switch the intermittent sprocket to a 35mm only steel type. These are available from Kinoton. With properly setting up the gate and having Kinoton re-surface the 35mm runers the pictures can be rock steady.

You can pretty much use any lamphouse, but if you have the older huge arc lamp tables then you will need to make up an adjustable platform that will go on top to accomodate and allow correct adjustment of any xenon lamphouse you decide to use. If you go that route let me know and I can send dimensions,and photos of the platform we build so you could hvae a local welder fabricate it for you.
Mark @ CLACO

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 06-24-2003, 12:55 AM:

Gordon wrote:

quote:
Just a note it would be better to install 2 lamphouses and no platter since it would be most likely that films will be run once only and make up and tear down is a waste of time

Agreed, but this is going for the lowest cost on getting it up & running film again. At this point, the cost being looked at is installation, & an extra hour of labor per show isn't condsiderable from that viewpoint. The idea will be to get the other projector up when possible.

quote:
Also many archival prints have the cavet on them not splicing reels togather

Agreed again, but odds are that for a while they'll just be running rep prints & new prints of popular classics that seem to always have hit platter houses already.

Scott wrote:

quote:
Why not take Barry up on his offer for the free Ashcraft lamphouses and rectifiers?

Holy mackerel, what kinda luck is this? Can I light a 45-50ft. wide scope image acceptably with these Core-Lites? Barry, are they Core-Lites or Super Core-Lites? And I think carbons are better than xenon for a PAC that shows films only occasionally. You come in, & wonder if someone has licked the xenon bulb or something since the last time you were there, & just hope that it doesn't pop. You don't have that problem with carbons! Thanks for being on your toes, Scott!

Mark: Thanks for the tips. I'll know more later when I look at the booth.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-24-2003, 06:36 AM:

Ashcraft Core-Lites should be capable of at least 15,000 lumens in the scope format with a 50% efficient shutter and modern lens. More than enough to light a 20 x 48 foot screen to meet the SMPTE 196M standard.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 06-24-2003, 08:37 AM:

Guys, my lamphouses out in the storage barn are "Core-Lites". Great big behemoth looking things!! I almost converted one to a really cool looking gas grill, but I didn't... too much work. [Big Grin]

quote:
Can I light a 45-50ft. wide scope image acceptably with these Core-Lites?

These were used at the Woodzo Drive-In Theatre in Newport, Tennessee to light a 104' wide concrete block outdoor screen. I think they'd do fine on your 45' wide indoor screen.

I have no idea if they work or not... I'm assuming they do. One of them still has the ash and the carbon stubs in it from the last time they were used. If I understand correctly, they were "loaned out" by the previous owner to an indoor theatre to use for about a year, and when they were returned, haven't been used since.

Your welcome to come get them if you want.

quote:

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-24-2003, 09:23 AM:

Ashcrafts also put out the nicest brightest light I've ever seen come fomr a lamphouse! but they might put out too much light.... Depends on the size of your screen and other factors. Both the Ashcrafts AND the Norelcos HAVE TO BE WATER COOLED!!! The Norelcos still need water even if you only use 2kw as the cooling plate is only soft copper...
Mark @ CLACO

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-24-2003, 09:57 AM:

Mark wrote:

quote:
Both the Ashcrafts AND the Norelcos HAVE TO BE WATER COOLED!!!

Are the Ashcraft water-cooled silver contact "jaws" for the rotating positive carbon still available as replacement parts? I still remember the night our water system failed at the drive-in over 35 years ago. Steam and melted silver --- not a pretty sight. [Eek!]

Even then, replacement ones were very expensive.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 06-24-2003, 10:04 AM:

These machines are in fact water cooled. At least the red hoses coming from the fitings on the side would lead me to believe that. I had the original Ashcraft water circulators with the coiled copper tubing and fan below, but of the 3 I got, only one was useable. I went to Grainger, got a new motor and rebuilt the pump and fan assembly. I'll be using it to cool the gate on my XL at the drive-in.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 06-24-2003, 02:48 PM:

John asked:

quote:
Are the Ashcraft water-cooled silver contact "jaws" for the rotating positive carbon still available as replacement parts? I still remember the night our water system failed at the drive-in over 35 years ago. Steam and melted silver --- not a pretty sight. Even then, replacement ones were very expensive.

I seem to remember reading that the Loew's Jersey installed new silver jaws in their Super Core-Lites, but I've no idea where they came from, or what they cost. Bernie Anderson, are you there?

The Ashcrafts are nice lamps, and the rectifiers are good too, They were often used on DP-70s, the Empire Leicester Square, London being one example which springs to mind. They were installed there for 'Ben Hur'.

I would love to hear of this pair being put to work again, but I fear there would be problems.

Both lamps and rectifiers are extremely heavy, I can't remember the figures, but they are in the manual, (available in the manuals section of, guess where [Smile]

) The cost of transporting these things would be considerable.

Unlike the En-arcs being discussed elsewhere, the carbons for these are not going to be easy to obtain, unless you know of a good supply of them. The positives are something like 13.6mm, if I remember correctly, and non copper coated. They used to make joinable ones, which just twisted together, so you could just burn through the join without waste. The negatives are coppered, but are described in the manual as being 'special', in what way I don't know. The only makers listed for these carbons were National and Lorraine, both of whom have ceased production.

As has been said, the lamps need water cooling. I think the original Ashcraft coolers were passive, just blowing air at ambient tempreture over a coil. The new Kinoton coolers are better, with an active cooling unit, but would be expensive.

This is a very sad day for me to have to recommend not using them. [Frown]

Posted by Robert Throop (Member # 61) on 06-24-2003, 03:29 PM:

The Core Lite actually used 11mmx17&3/4" positives. We're using Core lite 135's at the Stanley in Utica, NY. We can get away with using 20" long positives with the XL's. The Capitol in Rome has a pair of Core Lites waiting to be installed.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 06-25-2003, 12:35 AM:

Thanks, everybody.
We'll see what they say...