Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Rebuilding Simplex E-7's

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Posted by John Westlund (Member # 913) on 07-03-2003, 01:57 AM:

I have 2 E-7's that im going to be getting running again (as soon as I get a soundhead or two). I was wondering what are common problems on these machines and what to look out for. One is missing a shutter drive gear but aside from that they are complete. They seem to turn over freely by hand and the castings are in excellent shape.
John

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 07-03-2003, 02:30 AM:

If they are oblique shaft machines, setting up the shutter gear can be a big pain in the ass!!!

Dick Prather would be probably the guy to talk to when it comes to setting those up correctly.

After I have installed them, I only got about 5 years of service out of them. I thought I should get more than that.

Also, there might be a shim behind the oblique shaft bracket. Be sure to re-use it.

The spiral gear on the shutter shaft has a collar that locks the bearing in its place. The coller is pinned to the gear by a goofy-looking set screw. If you get a new gear, (I don't think you can anymore) the hole will probably not match the position of the collar.

When you dismantle the fire shutter assembly, be sure you keep track of what you are doing. If not (when you get it all back together) you'll probably have an extra part. [Big Grin]

When you remove the front shutter shaft casting that sticks out in front of the projector, you will find a very long spring that is held in place with a retainer and a pin. This spring is the return spring for the spiral shuttershaft gear. Push the spring back so the retainer can clear the pin and the pin will probably fall out and land on the floor - never to be found again.

All bearings that I know of in that machine (with exception of the bearing on the oblique shaft) are nominal sizes...they can be purchased at your local bearing shop very cheaply. The oblique shaft bearing may be a little more difficult to obtain.

I don't know who stocks that bearing anymore.

Posted by John Westlund (Member # 913) on 07-03-2003, 02:34 AM:

huh?

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 07-03-2003, 02:47 AM:

John, I hit a wrong key and it really screwed up my post. Had to go back and do it again. [Big Grin]

Rebuilding an E-7 is basically easy...and tricky!!! Getting the shutter gear, shutter shaft, oblique shaft bracket, and the position of the shutter gear "just right" is what separates the hammer mechanics from the true overhaul professionals. [Wink]

Posted by Dick Prather (Member # 1136) on 07-03-2003, 05:23 PM:

John,
The E-7 probably had one of the steadiest pictures I ever saw. Operators either loved or hated them. They will give you a great picture.

The first thing I would recommend is download the parts and instruction manuals form Film-Tech. E-7's came in 2 flavors oblique and vertical shaft. If yours are vertical shaft version you will need to download an extra supplement to the regular manual for that version. Unless you want to I would not tear down any more then you have to.

Wolk still sells the oblique gear (G-297) and it is not too hard to change.

Some problems:

Oblique gears wore out quickly. Needs to be oiled seperately and proper gear mesh set. ( I think I only changed a couple in all the years I ran them.

One shot oiler needs to be looked at to make sure all tubes are oiling properly.

Extra oil holes such as the lamp end of the shutter shaft and a couple of others I forget.

Ball bearings are the very same as a Century CC. Wolk, myself, stock them all and I am sure other theatre service shops do also. The 1 bearing (NDH# 88501A11) is not common and most bearing shops may not stock it.

Feel free to e-mail or if you want call with any questions. May not know it off the top of my head but can probably find out for you.

Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 07-03-2003, 07:57 PM:

Dick, I have an oblique shaft E-7 that I rescued from a defunct theather in Southern Indiana last fall. I dis-assembled it and cleaned and polished it up, and it is working fine. My question, though --- there is absolutely no oil hole in the lamp end of the shutter shaft! I know there is supposed to be one , but all there is is a slight conical shaped indentation in the end of the shaft. I've inspected it with a magnifying loop, poked at it with sharp instruments, and there's no oil hole! I'm at a loss, do you think it had it's shaft replaced with some non-Simplex shaft earlier in its lifetime? [Confused]

Jeff

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 07-03-2003, 08:53 PM:

OK

Simplex E-7

Oblique shaft version:

Although an excellent machine, the upper sprocket and oblique shaft gears, and the shutter shaft and its mating oblique shaft gear were subject to higher than normal wear.But taken care of properly, you can get many years use out of them.

Wolk still sells the Shutter Shaft Oblique gear @ $65.00 I believe. The Shutter Shaft gear, both upper sprocket gears and the lower sprocket gear are not available.

Jeff S. asked about the shutter shaft w/the oil gallies. Jeff...that is the origonal version. The later versions w/o the gallies were made by Wolk.

Paul T. mentioned the shims behind the oblique shaft bracket. Actually, there were many different thickness shims as listed in the parts manual in F.T. All the shims are available...or you can use an existing one as a template and cut them out of approperiate thickness K & S sheetmetal which any good Ace Hardware or hobby shop will carry. When changing or adjusting the oblique shaft gear, use the existing shims as a beginning and, like a feeler guage, go from there.

For safety sake, do pay attention to the mercury switch in the spot sight box...it could be old and worn out. Thes are available from Wolk. But the little plastic insulating bushings are not...but these are easily made in 5 minutes on a lathe...thats what I did out of nylon.

Always check that the Bijur one-shot oil system is working. Remember that the plugs comming off of the oil distribution block are in fact check-valves with different part numbers....these are all still available.

The vertical shaft versions were introduced to help correct the gear wear problems of the oblique shaft versions. These were very few in number, hard to find, and the gears, to my knowledge, not available.

Also, Wolk still stocks items such as the upper sprocket shoe and some gate/trap parts. But they are not cheap! $120.00 for the upper sprocket shoe. Their excuse for such high costs: they are trying to compensate for the cost of storing the parts on their warehouse shelves over the years.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-03-2003, 09:07 PM:

will said"The vertical shaft versions were introduced to help correct the gear wear problems of the oblique shaft versions. These were very few in number, hard to find, and the gears, to my knowledge, not available."
Almost all the E7's in canada were verticle shaft or were converted to verticle shaft
A bit noisier but by far a more robust machine

Posted by Dick Prather (Member # 1136) on 07-04-2003, 01:33 AM:

Jeff,
I agree with Will. You probably have a Wolk replacement shaft. They did not have the hole in the center. That was mainly to help the shutter gear slide properly when framing. A couple of drops on both sides of that gear and rotate the framing knob in both directions. A couple of drops on the oblique gear and turn the machine by hand helps keep the gear moist and lubricated. The one shot oiler seems to oil everything else first before a drop comes out on the gear.

I never saw a vertical shaft E-7 in Portland. We had around 6 houses running them in the 70's. All sub run houses and a preview room. First ones I saw came from Spokane that I bought in Seattle and installed in a basement booth here. The shutter drive gears were shot on those and I had to replace them. The verticals were stronger but it didn't seem that way here. Our oblique versions ran and ran.

Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 07-04-2003, 07:02 AM:

Thanks, Dick and Will. That clears up an issue that's been puzzling me for some time. Jeff [Smile]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-04-2003, 08:57 AM:

Personally I'd rather have an E-7, oblique or verticle shaft version, in a screening room than any other Simplex projector.
Every projector made has its little quirks but the picture quality out of an E-7 is more like the picture quality you get from a Kinoton.
Mark