Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: BX100 onWestrex R6 (Century R3) soundhead

This is topic BX100 onWestrex R6 (Century R3) soundhead in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Luciano Brigite (Member # 1104) on 02-17-2006, 07:32 PM:

Hello,
last week while on a work trip I ended visiting an old theatre and ended finding there a few RCA projectors, most incomplete with lots of parts missing however two were in somewhat complete condition and I ended bring them with me, along with the parts from the other two head that were worth saving and a MI9030 soundhead.
Now I have a BX100 head without it's original soundhead, however I have a Westrex R6 (looks the same as the Century R3) and was thinking about putting them together,but to do it, I need the running speed of the BX100 head, or better, the running speed of the intermediate gear of it ( the phenolic gear that links the large,steel gear from soundhead to the rest of projector)with this information I'll be able to find out the righttimming pulley ratio to run them together.

Thanks.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-18-2006, 09:24 AM:

Hi Luciano,

The Brenkert head requires the same drive speed as all other makes of US built projectors that accept the large phenolic drive gear. The Simplex X-L is the only exception to that. So all you need is the same timming gear that you would have on the main drive on a Century Projector head. It will run but I don't think this is going to be a good combination... the Brenkert is a VERY heavy load on any sound head or drive system. If this Century sound head has the older timming chain drive then all the better!

P.S. Why not use that MI9030 that you brought back?

Mark

Posted by Luciano Brigite (Member # 1104) on 02-18-2006, 10:00 AM:

Hello Mark,

The MI9030 will run with a BX80 that also came together with the BX100 head ( there was a pair of each mechanism, but only one MI head and a ,ugh,ballantine soundmaster soundhead wich I traded for some parts for the BX80.the MI head is missing the gearbox and the entire guide roller assy)Since I have this R6 head laying around for over a year without a use for it,putting it together with the BX100 was the use I found for it . it however works with "L" type rubber timming belts to drive both, the soundhead and the projector mech., not the timming chain seen on many Century heads.

Luciano

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-18-2006, 11:32 AM:

Yes, then all U need is the same size timming pulley which is "L" size from a Century projector to run the BX-100. You will have to get yourself some timming pulley bar stock with the correct number of teeth and machine one with the correct diameter hole to fit the BX-100 hub and drill tot hat hole pattern... thats pretty easy though....

Good Luck with the project!

Mark

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 02-18-2006, 11:55 AM:

quote: Luciano Brigite
it however works with "L" type rubber timming belts to drive both, the soundhead and the projector mech

Humm... I'd be surprised if this worked without going through a lot of belts. Like Mark said, Brenkerts present a heavy load to the drive system; it takes a lot of torque to make them run.

Will be interesting to hear your results, though. [Smile]

Posted by Luciano Brigite (Member # 1104) on 02-18-2006, 09:23 PM:

I'll give it a try with the "L" type belts, if they fail, I'll switch to the timming chain ( I believe I still have at least one somewhere ,but not sure about the pulleys for it)the only one I won't be able to change will be the motor to soundhead belt,I don't recall seeing it being driven by that kind of chain.
Timming pulleys are easy to get here ,there are a few specialized places that deals only with belts and pulleys of all kinds, the only work will be machinning the pulley to fit the shaft or hub, or almost none if you ask them to machine it for you.

Will show what comes out of it all [Smile]

Posted by John Eickhof (Member # 323) on 02-20-2006, 02:20 PM:

This sounds a little funny..the Century R-6 is a gear drive soundhead that was made for use with the century projector only ( does not have standard mounting holes for other makes of projectors ) It's twin the R-2 was made to fit Century and other makes, as it had the two standard mounting hole for american makes as well as the four for Century. This soundhead does not have belts unless it has a drive kit for the particular machine. I would assume by his description, he is talking about the R-3, or R-4 soundheads, thus they would work with the BX-100 The R-5 will not because it has no mounting holes for standard machines. Otherwise the same belt pulley will attach to the RCA / Brenkert pinion and work just fine. I have seen BX-60s on centurys in many installations and they operated very well.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 02-20-2006, 04:17 PM:

BX-60 is less hernia to drive [Razz]

Posted by Luciano Brigite (Member # 1104) on 02-20-2006, 06:55 PM:

ahh.. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later... [Embarrassed]

different names and models for the same piece of equipment causes just this [Smile]

John, the soundhead I have is a Westrex R6, it's belt driven and looks exactly the same as the Century R3( judjing by the drawings on it's manual). putting them side by side, the only thing that'll tell one is a Westrex and the other is a Century will be the glass plate on the door,

Richard, I'm trying to have a small collection of Brenkert/RCA projectors here,the BX60 is the only one I still don't have [Smile]

and the BX40..but never saw that model..

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 02-20-2006, 07:18 PM:

The 60 had a single shutter and was more mechanically simple. This was considered their economy machine even though it proved to be more reliable than the more expensive models. One location we had this projector running 22 years with a platter...the platter gave us more service problems than the projector [Wink]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-20-2006, 07:44 PM:

I believe Luciano's R-6 was the export version of the R-3. The BX-690 was by far the best of all the BRenkerts. there are still at least a half dozen of them running on the mountain states.

Mark

Posted by Luciano Brigite (Member # 1104) on 06-19-2006, 08:43 PM:

Bringing this back to the top..
It's been 4 months since I posted about putting toguether a BX100 Head and a westrex soundreader and only recently ( the past two weeks) I had chance to put them on the bench and have fun ( and some annoyance too!) then it finnaly came out today , the head didn't seem all that heavy to turn and the whole thing worked ok.
the pulleys used all the "L" (3/8" step) type as follows : motor: 12 teeth,soundhead (in) 59 teeth (original from soundhead), soundhead (out) 22 teeth ( also original) projector: 17 teeth coupled to the hub once was attached to the phenolic gear. it required a bit of machining and a new shaft for the assembly. and the belts 3/4" width, wich are : motor to soundhead: 285L075, soundhead to projector: 225L075. hte soundhead rear cover still can be used as long as a small bit of it is cut out to clear the space for the last external gear of the BX head. ( the one with the safety pin).
Pictures will follow as soon as I figure out why the computer isn't recognising the camera [Embarrassed]