Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What are the major differences between all the Century Projector Versions?

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Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 08-06-2009, 09:34 PM:

All,

I am trying to help a couple of friends out with an 8 screen theatre in Portland, TX. They have all rebuilt Century projectors and soundheads, however they have no manuals for any of them. I was wondering what the major diferences would be between these and which manuals from the library could be used for parts numbers. The list is as follows:

> Auditorium 1:
>
> Projector: Century DAW #1993
> Soundhead: Century TR4B #6053
> -----------------------------
> Auditorium 2:
>
> Projector: Century MSA #1503
> Soundhead Century TR3 #4535
> -----------------------------
> Auditorium 3:
>
> Projector: Century SA #5170
> Soundhead: Century R3E #7947
> -----------------------------
> Auditorium 4:
>
> Projector: Century SAW #3314
> Soundhead: Century TR4 #5119
> -----------------------------
> Auditorium 5:
>
> Projector: Century MSAW #182
> Soundhead: Century TR3 #4088
> -----------------------------
> Auditorium 6:
>
> Projector: Century SA #4945
> Soundhead: Century TR3 #3967
> -----------------------------
> Auditorium 7:
>
> Projector: Century DAW2 #2649
> Soundhead: Century MTR3 #133
> ----------------------------
> Auditorium 8:
>
> Projector: Century DAW #1278
> Soundhead: Century TR4 #5527
> ----------------------------

Thanks in advance for the help.

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 08-07-2009, 02:41 AM:

William:

You'll probably find the manuals for those machines on this site. But couldn't your friends email Strong to get copies? They are the ones who manufactured them. There's a Portland, Texas?

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 08-07-2009, 08:24 AM:

Yes, Portland Texas is across the bay from Corpus Christi. A mere 10 minute drive to the theatre from Downtown. I will try giving Strong a e mail to an see if they have copies of the manuals for these machines for sale.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-07-2009, 08:37 AM:

Something is not right here. An "M" series picture head should mate with an "M" series soundhead ("M" is the direct-drive variant). Different people seem to have different opinions as to which is better.

It is also curious that the serial numbers between the picture heads and soundheads are way off. Usually, they either match or are close. Presumably, yours were interchanged at some point.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-07-2009, 08:42 AM:

All the manuals you need are here on F-T! It is possible the direct drive soundheads were converted to belt drive but retained theor original serial number plates. You can more or less use one service manual for the projector head with the variations that the difference is direct drive vs. belt drive. Belt drive is much better from my experience over the years... lower flutter in the sound, easier to maintain, and the main fiber drive gear has much larger teeth and lasts alot longer. The belts have about a 5 year maximum life.

You will need both sound head manuals as they are quite different.

Mark

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 08-07-2009, 10:09 AM:

Remember that some are easily converted to other modes.

"M" always means direct drive as Mark noted.
"W" always means water cooling
"D" means drive in machine (2 shutter blades.
"SA" is the basic machine ("DA" the drive in model

R3 is the basic soundhead model
MR3 is the drive model Louis

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 08-07-2009, 11:20 AM:

Scott to answer your question these were all purchased second hand from a dealer in San Antonio that rebuilt them all to be close to indentical, that being said I am not really sure they are and do not want to presume that all the parts or part numbers will be the same between all of them. This is why I hate walking into to booths that have no manuals for the equipment they have running.

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 08-07-2009, 05:49 PM:

As Louis says, these machines can be easily altered from their original configuration into another.

For instance, the TR4 was originally a reverse scan sound head if memory serves and gave reverse scan a bad name for many years.

I modified a number of these back in the '70's back to front scan with a new slit lens and mono or stereo solar cell.

Most have now been converted back to reverse scan red readers but done correctly this time.

Is the San Antonio dealer Cliff Anderson by chance?

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 08-07-2009, 06:02 PM:

quote: Sam D. Chavez
Is the San Antonio dealer Cliff Anderson by chance

Yes Sam it is.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-08-2009, 08:39 AM:

Here's how I understand Century nomenclature:

Base projector models: A, C, H, J

Variations of the "A" model:
S=Single shutter
D=Double shutter
W=Water-cooled aperture
TA=turret and aperture changer

Double shutters are denoted in the C, H, and J models by double letters (e..g., CC, HH, JJ). No special designation for water-cooling (although, I have seen a handful marked, "CCW").

Reproducers (R=reproducer), most-common base models: 3,4,5
R3=foward scan
R4=reverse scan (many were converted to fwd scan in the field, as Sam said)
R5=forward scan, paired with JJ projector
T=transistorized
M=Direct Drive

I don't remember what the "E" and "B" suffixes indicate.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 08-08-2009, 10:16 AM:

"E" was FET (I'm pretty sure), B = Blower (Cinefocus) and the R50 was paired with the JJ not the R5. I've also seen an R20 paired with a JJ in a Standard-Drive configuration.

Steve

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-08-2009, 12:44 PM:

Yes! R50, that's the JJ reproducer. Thanks.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 08-08-2009, 04:43 PM:

How many f/ter's does it take to answer it completely? 3-5 lately. We are all getting older! Louis