Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Platter LP-270

This is topic Platter LP-270 in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bruk Mogos (Member # 2043) on 11-25-2003, 03:40 AM:

I have a problem with this platter. The thing is any time you thread the film and it takes up the side roller rises up all the way to the top causing the rollers to bend, so to prevent this I have to run and stop the take up platter manually. This problem i have only with the older LP-270 Platters only. Any suggestion, oh by the way I am new to this forum but it really interested me and I decided to be a member.thankx for having me.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-25-2003, 03:52 AM:

Yeah, when you pull tension during threading, don't baby the platter so much.

What you are doing is barely tugging on the film to initiate the takeup (or accidentally tripping it during threading) just a tad bit so that you are effectively putting the takeup elevator roller within the bottom couple of inches of it's travel. That translates into the motor kicking on at full speed and slamming into the top of the elevator.

The solution is that when you are ready to trigger the takeup, grab and quickly pull 2 feet of film, hold for about 2 seconds, then release. That way before the motor can get spinning, you have pulled the elevator roller (which determines speed) a solid foot above it's resting spot and as such the motor will not kick on full throttle...meaning no more crash.

BTW, there is an upgrade kit available from SPECO to add a second roller to the takeup elevator and a third roller at the top. All new LP-270s have this and it was implemented as a way to guarantee that the elevator would not crash, but I am not a big fan of them, as it screws up the wind of the film (too loose) and the 3 rollers at the top are close together which makes threading more difficult and slows you down. The better solution is just to learn how to pull tension properly like I explained above.

Posted by Bruk Mogos (Member # 2043) on 11-26-2003, 04:38 AM:

Thankx Brad, yes that's what I been doing since I started using those old platters, I have some of the new platters to already upgraded, but I was trying to find some kind of modification with out the upgrade roller.

Posted by Kevin Wale (Member # 1851) on 11-30-2003, 12:51 AM:

LP270s rock.

I feel the best thing is to thread from the soundhead up so that the tention is kept up, and when all threaded up, I go to the platter and pull on the platter to take up the tention. This way, I have total control of the elevator with the deck. This also makes it easier to keep the film off the floor(most people tend to pull from the top down which leaves all the slack on the floor.)

All the same, once I got used to giving a firm tug on the film, I never had a "take off" problem again. It's against people's natural tendancies to give it that firm tug. It was certainly against mine so it took a while to get used to.