Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Christie AW3R Drive Wheel Deterioration

This is topic Christie AW3R Drive Wheel Deterioration in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Thomas Dieter (Member # 2507) on 07-30-2005, 12:42 AM:

With this being my first time dealing with Christie AW platters at all, in the six months that I've been using them a number of the Drive Wheels have gone bad. Now I know that the wheels should be replaced every so often so to help with proper take up and feed out. But, I've been having problems with them breaking down and having the break down of the wheel on the platter.

What would be the best way to clean this off, and how can I prevent this?

This evening, I was cleaning one of the platters and I had to use a razor blade to scrape off the excess rubber. The rubber was so sticky, like a Glue Rat Trap, that I had to use Denatured Alcohol to aid in cleaning the razor blade. I also used the denatured alcohol and a green scrub pad to get the residue off. I can't say that that was the best way to clean it, but with what I had to work with to get the job done, it worked nicely. Now I just need to go through and put the motor back on, and clean the residue off the motor.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 07-30-2005, 02:56 AM:

The best way to clean the mess off? Graffiti remover.

How can you prevent this? Kinoton platters.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-30-2005, 03:59 AM:

Return them to Christie. They have had a bazillion bad ones over the last 5 years and they are aware of it. I've never known them to not take care of their customers, so I doubt it's any big issue to get them swapped out.

Or you could buy the ones from Wolk that have no record of turning into silly putty.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 07-30-2005, 04:21 AM:

Magic answer machien to the rescue!

I HATE those bad rollers. They were a nightmare.
The good news is that you can get the goop off with some FilmGuard and a scotch-brite pad.
Happy scrubbing.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-30-2005, 04:56 AM:

..just make sure that you have a good stock of "motor pucks" on store. Just don't mess with them - they get gooey, change them out.

True, CHR did have a bad batch of pucks at one time, but last I heard that they have made, or bought a better material to make their pucks out of, not get gooey and "thump-thump-thump" quite so often.

-Monte

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-30-2005, 08:11 AM:

In the past several years...there have been more bad batches than good ones. The Wolk rubber rollers seem to be doing the trick. I would not say that Christie only had a batch of bad ones.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-30-2005, 08:34 AM:

I agree with Steve completely.... over the years there have been MANY batches of bad rollers with some literally turning to goo in a short period of time. I don't even mess with Christies rollers any more I just use the Wolk rollers, even for in warranty situations. A warranty service call costs a dealer alot more time and money than what the rollers cost, same goes when the customer is paying for the call. Never had a bad Wolk roller nor have I had one deteriorate. Never having problems and not having to keep spares around makes for happy customers!

Mark

Posted by Thomas Dieter (Member # 2507) on 07-30-2005, 10:36 AM:

Thanks Guys. I'll be sure to mention this to my GM and make sure that we get some good ones, that's if she doesn't read this before hand.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 07-30-2005, 10:48 AM:

The Wolk rollers are the black ones. The last batch of Christie rollers that I've seen were white (which were also good).

The orange-y Christies are the worst ones--you can tell that they are starting to deteriorate by looking at the center, where the rubber-like material meets the metal core. If you can see the material starting to ooze there, the roller should be replaced.

I don't understand why Christie has so much trouble with these things. The ones that they were making in the 1980s were fine and many are still in daily use. By contrast, I know of a theatre built new in 1998, where all of the original drive pucks have been changed out with either newer Christies or Wolk rollers.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 07-30-2005, 12:28 PM:

The biggest problem we've had at our theater with the Christie rollers is that they develop a flat spot.
We've only had a couple turn to mush meanwhile about 10 of them have developed flat spots and require changing.

Posted by Matthew Bailey (Member # 601) on 07-30-2005, 07:42 PM:

I was thinking about the Christie drive wheels. Figure out how to remove the rubber part from the metal center of the wheel & use sections of rubber hose usually found at hardware stores.

Posted by Thomas Dieter (Member # 2507) on 07-31-2005, 12:02 AM:

Hey Guys, Thanks for the tips, the vandel remover worked wonders on the platters. Makes the platters look like they just came from the factory.

Posted by Carey Barber (Member # 1586) on 08-09-2005, 07:11 PM:

I also have had a lot of problems with the whitish colored drive wheels for the AW3R. The sticky residue that they leave on the platter is an even bigger problem than the mishapen-ness that is caused to the drive wheel itself.

Strangely enough, when I received two platter motors to replace two that had gone bad, they both had the black drive wheels attached. They are clearly made of a better material.

I will be calling NCS or Christie to see if I can get these black drive wheels instead of the ones I normally get when I place an order for replacement drive wheels - which is very frequently thanks to their poor quality!!!

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-09-2005, 07:16 PM:

I just replaced 18 drive wheels in a theatre today in which 5 had turned to goo. Tye best bet is to remove ANY white drove rollers and replace with Wolks rollers. Cleaning that goo off the rim is a pain in the you know what.

Mark

Posted by Carey Barber (Member # 1586) on 09-07-2005, 02:08 PM:

I just received my first batch of the superior black drive wheels.

For anyone interested, these are the item numbers:

Old, whitish drive wheels - 192826-001
Avoid these at all costs!!!

New, black drive wheels - 598931-923
These are far superior (and cheaper I believe)

Posted by Michael Elam (Member # 788) on 09-07-2005, 02:17 PM:

I have had really good success with GOO GONE, you can buy it at
Home Depot and Lowes and doesn't require any ventilation. Stay away from GOOF OFF. It has become part of my PM visits to automatically clean the sticky goo off as the problem doesn't seem to be coming to the end.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-07-2005, 06:00 PM:

quote: Michael Elam
It has become part of my PM visits to automatically clean the sticky goo off as the problem doesn't seem to be coming to the end.

Actually the problem can easily be brought to a screeching halt just by installing the drive rollers from Wolk.... Problem gone! I wouldn't be surprised if Christie is getting their new black rollers from Wolk, but at any rate the Wolk rollers are also less $$. I just plain don't trust ANY rollers bought from Christie any longer... they have had good ones and bad ones now for way to many years and the problem shouda been solved by the third try! Three strikes and you're out..... but I want to say they are at about strike 9 by now.

Mark @ CLACO