Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Simplex alignment problem

This is topic Simplex alignment problem in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Robert Throop (Member # 61) on 09-16-2004, 04:44 PM:

I'm stumped! I went into a booth today to "line up the projector with the screen". With RP40 running, the sprocket holes were showing on the right side of the screen and the .825" line was not visible on the left. This happens with flat lens and scope lens both with and without apertures. I tried various settings of the lateral guide roller and was able to improve things slightly but not completely. I spoke to Rick Saltz at he Strong factory and he had no answer. He said the inside of the outboard (guide) flange should align with the face of the feed sprocket which I did. The problem remains. The projector is a Simplex XL with curved gate installed in 1960. Any ideas?

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-16-2004, 04:48 PM:

Did you get the floor waxed recently? Sound like the hole pedestal/lamphouse/projector is off.

Or... do you have left-right adjustable tables? Someone might have adjusted that to 'correct' a dark side of the screen, instead of adjusting the mirror.

edit: I totally misread the post, ignore these useless suggestions

Posted by Paul Vollmers (Member # 927) on 09-16-2004, 04:50 PM:

Maybe the film is reversed.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 09-16-2004, 04:56 PM:

Daryl's floor waxing thing is a definite possibility, however, no matter how far out of kilter the projector got the sprockets should still be blocked by the apeture plate. Sounds like a gate alignment issue.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-16-2004, 05:14 PM:

I totally misread Bob's post. Disregard what I said before. So as long as the sprockets are showing up where they should, it's not likey that the whole setup is off alignment.

Is there something preventing the gate assembly from going all the way into the machine (laterally).

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-16-2004, 05:40 PM:

This is a pretty wierd one considering that the bands on the X-L pretty much cover the perfs in the first place. Double and triple check everything on this one VERY carefully to be sure that the open close mechanism is seated all the way on the main frame and that the trap is seated all the way onto the open-close mechanism. It would be obvious if the trap were misaligned even slightly with the film path but if the open-close mechanism were off a tad that might not be as obvious since the gate would drop into the trap as normal. Since the curved trap uses the edge of the trap casting as a stop for the aperature plate I doubt that the plate is off alignment but be sure that it is seating IN all the way and there is no gunk in there.

Mark @ CLACO

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-16-2004, 09:20 PM:

Is there a horizontal lens shift lever on your machine?

I've got an old PR-1003. Right above the lens is a lever which shifts the lens from side to side, thus causing the image to shift.

I believe it is there for running mag prints with no optical soundtrack. I'm not really sure. That's just what I was told many moons ago.

Anyhow, since there's virtually nobody who uses that lens shifter anymore, it's possible that your projector was set up with the lever in one position but, for some reason that lever has been moved.

This has happened to me a couple times until I locked that puppy down tight.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 09-16-2004, 09:27 PM:

Then why would the sprockets show?

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-16-2004, 10:04 PM:

The intermittent sprocket is out of alignment, and the lateral guides were aligned to it... making the whole thing off.

That's my guess.