Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Looking for any kind of info on Interlocking

This is topic Looking for any kind of info on Interlocking in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Daniel W. Skeen (Member # 4269) on 05-03-2007, 07:58 PM:

I want to interlock existing Christie Projectors using a TA-10 Automation. I can't find any info anywhere showing or telling how this is done.

Any info would be appreciated

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-03-2007, 09:00 PM:

http://www.film-tech.com/warehouse/wareview.php?id=492&category=2

It's the manual for the TA-10.

Essentially, any projector that is in the same interlocking zone can be interlocked. You make a leader long enough to thread all the projectors. You thread the "pulling" projector first (the one that it is going to). You press the blue interlock button on the houses you want to interlock. At the tail of your interlock leader it needs an intermission cue. When you're in interlock the TA-10 makes it by default leave the projector off and the intermission cue will turn it on and switch it into normal mode.

That's how we do it and we have TA-10's.

Of course, if it isn't wired for this it won't work.

edit: But I haven't interlocked in our theater in a long time; we're gonna have to in the morning.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 05-03-2007, 09:07 PM:

Do you have any inter-locking film guides either mounted to the wall or to suspend from the ceiling? Do you know if your TA-10's were wired for inter-locking? If not, you'll have to press the start button on all inter-locking projectors at the same time.

The basic idea is to feed the film coming out of the first projector into the second and so on via film guides mounted either on the wall or suspended from the ceiling. There should be some kind of tensioning device to keep the film from having too much slack between the projectors as well. When the film comes out of the last projector it is threaded up to the rewind deck as uusal on that last machine. There are no "set" configurations on how to inter-lock film, so I recommend that you try to get someone who has experience with interlocking to physically show you how or you could have a huge mess on your hands.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 05-03-2007, 09:12 PM:

You need to find someone who has done this before (anywhere) who can come to your theatre and figure out how your setup works. The manual will tell you how the automation system works, but it won't tell you how to thread the interlock or any special peculiarities about your setup.

In any case, you'll want to have a lot of time and junk film (preferably acetate base) to use when testing your setup. "Interlocking done wrong" can easily damage film and equipment.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-03-2007, 09:15 PM:

And if you're not wired for interlocking, you'll come into 2 issues (one minor one potentially really major):
1) When you press start on all the projectors at once, the lamps will come on, and most likely your dowser will open and on the 2nd projector give the guests a nice white screen. You'd have to close the hand dowser if you're worried about giving them that.

2) With wired interlocking, if one fails they all stop. If you're doing it without wired and projector 1 fails, projector 2 will keep going and pull on the first projector. VERY BAD.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-04-2007, 01:54 AM:

NOW, one of the most important thing you need for interlocking is the basic..."do we have sync motors on our projectors?" If you got the induction type...forget about interlocking since the induction motors are voltage sensitive whereas the sync motors are 60hz sensitive..

You can interlock if you have one variac attached to one induction motor, but planning on babysitting the thing during operation..

If your guidance hdwe is all aligned up between two machines, one can do manual interlocking, but it takes two people to hit their respective "RUN" buttons at the same time...done that one before...

Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 05-04-2007, 03:38 AM:

Daniel,

I'm somewhat familiar with your booth, but as Scott stated you need someone that knows interlocking to come in an figure out how the film path needs to be threaded, and then train you on how to properly thread the interlock without damaging film. Interlock rollers are installed on a case-by-case basis depending on booth layout, platter type, and the preference of the installer. There is no generic way to tell you how to thread it without seeing your physical roller setup.

There's a few key points in interlocking:

1: Film will bypass the takeup portion of the platter on it's way to the next screen (unless you are using the takeup mechanism as an accumulator for slack film.

2: You must thread the last machine in the chain first, and work your way back to the house that the print is originating from to allow for pulling of slack.

3: After all machines are threaded and triple-checked for threading errors, set the accumulators to the proper level for proper tension/slack to allow for minor differences in startup speed.

4: Cue the print accordingly. In the TA-10 case, you must put a "show close" cue at the beginning of the first trailer in order to initiate the show when the TA-10's are in interlock mode.

Bottom line: Contact a former employee familiar with the interlock setup, or get in touch with American Cinema Equipment in Portland, OR (who did your install) to provide assistance with the interlock threading procedure. Your system is fully capable of interlock, but without proper training, you will risk damaging film. Worst case scenario is that you will bring down multiple houses due to one mistake, and then have to deal with MANY angry customers.