Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Century SA Water Cooling

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Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 05-13-2004, 11:53 AM:

I purchased a pair of Century SA's with water cooling from a drive in and installed one in my booth. I'm using a XENEX II lamp house at 1600 watts, so I didn't figure I needed to use the water cooling. This projector head has performed flawlessly for eight years, but the aperture plate does become quite warm to the touch during use. Focus is very stable, so I don't think the film is getting too hot. Did I do the right thing, or should I rig up a cooling system?

Thanks

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 05-13-2004, 12:01 PM:

It wouldn't be that expensive to have a water recirculator and use the gate as designed. The gate will stay cooler, which can help reduce projector wear, especially of the gelatin emulsion side of the film. A print with high moisture content ("green" freshly processed, or in high humidity areas) has a softer gelatin emulsion which will tend to build up more on a really hot surface.

A water-cooled gate does NOT affect the radiant energy absorbed by the film, which is the usual cause of "focus flutter" at really high levels of power or "hot spotting".

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 05-13-2004, 03:20 PM:

If you feel more comfortable with the water cooler running, it's not hard to connect. If you can't get a commercial recirculator (though they're not very expensive), you can make one with a 5 gallon Home Depot-type bucket and a small fountain pump. Get some plastic hose & clamps, cut some holes in the bucket lid & that's about it.

There are various "favorites" as to what to put in the bucket. Some like distilled water. Others like a mix of 50/50 antifreeze (I use that method). DON'T use tap water. If you can't find distilled or filtered water at your local Safeway, rob the nearest 5 gallon water cooler.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 05-13-2004, 04:13 PM:

The main reason to use at least some antifreeze is for the corrosion inhibitor and to retard the growth of algae or bacteria in the warm water.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 05-13-2004, 06:23 PM:

The century is one projector that doesn't like not haveing water flowing throught the waterjacket if fitted
In the aircooled there is an asbestoes plate to protect the apperture block from the heat of the cone of light
In the water cooled that is replaced with a brass hollow block that the water flows through
With out water the machine gets very hot I have seen 1K xenex1's warp the trap without water

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-13-2004, 08:25 PM:

Or you could get a used air cooled dovetail amd live happily ever after and without any water coolings headaches. There have been quite a few Centorys converted to KElmar Trretts by many dealers so a few calls around and you should rummage one up for way less than a new one.

Mark

Posted by Robert Golding (Member # 746) on 05-13-2004, 11:27 PM:

I've used cuting oil in my resurculator for years. It keeps everything oiled.

Posted by Lindsay Morris (Member # 1430) on 05-14-2004, 01:21 AM:

Gordon is spot on re Centurys fitted with water cooling assemblies not liking them NOT being used.
I burnt my fingers on the aperture plate one night on my CC and decided that things were far too hot for a 2k lamp setup so got the water cooling going.
There are quite few mains powered washing machine water pumps used now and I grabbed one of those and adapted it do the recirculation on the Century.
A few bits of plastic piping, a couple of taps so I could disconnect and drain the head if ever needed and a water barrel and away it went. I used a 100L barrel which is far too big so am about to come back to a 20L barrel as there really is not a lot of heat energy to disperse... only a small amount but very concentrated.
Now on the hottest of nights (35c or hotter) the gate runs very cool and the film just rustles thru whereas before I could hear the intermittent really pounding as the gate got hotter and hotter.
Just make sure that you set the water tank up higher than the machine head so that the poor little pump is able to move the water as they are very basic pumps and have no suction lift whatsoever.
I also run standard automotive radiator additive (glycol based) just to head off any corrosion problems that may happen.
Lindsay

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 05-14-2004, 08:46 AM:

Seven of our 18 SAs have water cooling, but they're only the ones with 3kW or more XCN consoles. Other theaters in our chain use Xenex lamphouses, but the same standard in wattage is applied to them too. Never had a problem going without water cooling in the XCN 2kW models that I run either.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 05-14-2004, 09:27 AM:

Scott if the projector is fitted with a water jacket then it needs water if it is not fitted with one then it does not If the gate isn't hot in your machines without water circulation that is because they have the aircooled dovetail as it should be the point I was making that if a cenutry has the water jacke installed then it has to be used

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-14-2004, 07:11 PM:

"I was making that if a cenutry has the water jacke installed then it has to be used"
_________________________________________________________________

There's still no reason not to change it out to the air cooled dovetail.... and get rid of the water cooling hassles. 1600 watts is like a candle behind the air cooled dovetail which is rated for up to 3kw. A used Air colled dovetail will not be any more expensive than a decent water pump.... A Silent Giant based water circulator doesn't classify as a decent water cooling system by my standards!! They are absolute crap with very short life spans.

Mark

Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 05-15-2004, 10:08 AM:

Thank you all for your input and advice. I think that for simplicity's sake, I will take Mark's suggestion and try to find an air-cooled dovetail assembly for my machine.