DP70 Head Serial # 806 - History Questions

[Henry Atkinson]

It either went to Essaness, whom had a large rental place in town... They also made the change overs there... Or it went to the Loft James was living in. You could also still contact him at Full Aperture Systems and see if he remembers the route it followed for it to end up at your place. He should remember where it landed after Borealis if nothing else.

Thanks for the insight! I'll reach out and ask, it would be interesting to have the full timeline of where this head was.

man...that lensholder makes the integrated anamorphic look like a small camera viewfinder lens!! Its sad that Randy never set up for 70mm! he had a few screens worthy of it!

They're small, but they're wonderfully sharp and very clear. We finally replaced our 60s-vintage Bausch & Lomb anamorphic adapters with these a few months ago, and the difference is profound. Noticeably brighter (B&L lenses have a lot more elements, and the glue disintegrating inside probably didn't help), and far superior corner sharpness. Its pretty wild how good "modern" (90s) optics are, these things are like 1/3 the volume and mass, and produce a better image while also being a lot easier to get dialed in (astigmatism adjust on these is a lot more forgiving). The last movie we ran on the old ones was The Dark Knight, back in April. I kind of wish we had the new ones by then, that print was pristine, and I would have loved to see it through some nicer glass.

[John Eickhof]

for sure, i sold dozens of integrated lenses through the years, still have some left. the air gapped lenses were far superior to the glued lenses, but an AA looks way better with a 4" diameter D-150 fisheye lens!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

for sure, i sold dozens of integrated lenses through the years, still have some left. the air gapped lenses were far superior to the glued lenses, but an AA looks way better with a 4" diameter D-150 fisheye lens!

I have a D-150 and a 70mm Cinerama lens here if anyone happens to want to do a showing. Only a DP-70, or perhaps a Bauer U-2 can hold those two lenses unless you add a floor jack and steel support column.

[John Eickhof]

Mark, I have a D-150 lens in the JJ I pulled from a D-150 house in Sacramento many years ago its a pretty nice lens! is the 70 cinerama lens a standard or anamorphic?

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Mark, I have a D-150 lens in the JJ I pulled from a D-150 house in Sacramento many years ago its a pretty nice lens! is the 70 cinerama lens a standard or anamorphic?

The 70mm Cinerama lens is spherical, but it does slightly pre-distort the image for the deep curve. It also weighs almost 35 pounds! I forgot that I also have an Ultra Panavision anamorphic which is strictly a 1.25 anamorphic.

Here is a pix of my 70mm projection lend display...

[Henry Atkinson]

Anyone know if this difference in casting is indicative of anything? Didn't notice until I was doing a thorough cleaning of both machines, but our first head (873) has a lip before the takeup slot before the rollers on the takeup-side, whereas our second head (mystery serial number) is flat inside the head with the takeup slot at an angle. Would this help narrow down a serial range for the second machine?

I'll take a look at 806, but I'm willing to bet its the same as 873.

20231209_224624.jpg
873
20231209_224612.jpgmystery head

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Anyone know if this difference in casting is indicative of anything? Didn't notice until I was doing a thorough cleaning of both machines, but our first head (873) has a lip before the takeup slot before the rollers on the takeup-side, whereas our second head (mystery serial number) is flat inside the head with the takeup slot at an angle. Would this help narrow down a serial range for the second machine?

I'll take a look at 806, but I'm willing to bet its the same as 873.

20231209_224624.jpg
873
20231209_224612.jpg806

Earlier castings have that little extra lip where the film passes through The later castings are like your bottom picture. The later casting are generally called AA-2 here in the States. Earlier is DP-70. Both also have the black and silver EL number stamped into that tag located above the lamp opening on the rear shutter cover. Never tracked those though. I had all the original Phillips sales brochures on DP-70 and AA-2.

[Henry Atkinson]

Earlier castings have that little extra lip where the film passes through The later castings are like your bottom picture. The later casting are generally called AA-2 here in the States. Earlier is DP-70. Both also have the black and silver EL number stamped into that tag located above the lamp opening on the rear shutter cover. Never tracked those though. I had all the original Phillips sales brochures on DP-70 and AA-2.

This is about what I expected, thanks for the confirmation. Sadly its missing the silver/black serial plate (rivets are there, and there's no space, so its almost like it never had one?), and I've been unable to make contact with James Bond, so I'm doubtful that I'll ever really know what this head is... but I guess its an AA-II. Save for the cracked casting over the shutter, its in great shape.

It being an AA-II probably isn't ideal for us since it has (and had when we got it) an original DP70 driveshaft etc. inside. I'm wondering if there's some different tolerances with the motor mount and the driveshaft in terms of axial play, since it has substantially more than 873 does. I know the driveshafts and motor mounts themselves are different, just not sure if they changed how they milled the castings for the heads or not. I think in my perfect world, where I have infinite time, I'd swap the 806 head back on and completely rebuild it all, but I doubt I'll get to do that, this being the real world .

My biggest question here is just why my predecessors, when 806's driveshaft went, swapped the heads instead of just the driveshafts. All I know is they got the whole head for the quoted cost of a driveshaft... you'd think that they would just pull the part and change it. Yet another thing I'll probably never know...

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Here's a flow chart...
It left BL&S, went to Paul M's shop in El Cerrito, CA.
Paul M traded me 806 for some rare Western Electric gear. Paul brought projector to me and took Western gear. I traded or sold it to 007 because I had gotten another pair out of a UA Cinema in Milwaukee. Those had sequential SN's.

[Henry Atkinson]

Makes sense as a complete timeline for 806. Between Bond and us, it may have passed through National Amusements in Worcester. We have a document stating that 2 projectors were donated in 1989.

We apparently also got our mystery head from Bond back in 2014 when 806's driveshaft went, and I'd love to get in touch with him about it since we didn't document any serial number at the time. Any thoughts on how to get in contact with him? Linkedin is a dead-end.

[Kyle Mikolajczyk]

Makes sense as a complete timeline for 806. Between Bond and us, it may have passed through National Amusements in Worcester. We have a document stating that 2 projectors were donated in 1989.

We apparently also got our mystery head from Bond back in 2014 when 806's driveshaft went, and I'd love to get in touch with him about it since we didn't document any serial number at the time. Any thoughts on how to get in contact with him? Linkedin is a dead-end.

At one point I found him on Facebook, but I never got a response (reached out to him for same reasons)

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Call Full Aperature Systems. (773) 394-3510... One link says he's at 5339 W. Lake St in Chicago.

[Paul H. Rayton]

Another contact possibility: james@fullaperturesystems.com. I've heard he's still around and active, but maybe just kinda busy. Keep on trying.

[Henry Atkinson]

Thank you both! I'll try reaching out this week. I'd seen the number on his website but didn't want to bother them with a call over something so out of the blue. I'll likely start by reaching out via eMail. I appreciate you passing that contact info along, as I'd been unable to find it anywhere.

[Benjamin Ruder]

Another contact possibility: james@fullaperturesystems.com. I've heard he's still around and active, but maybe just kinda busy. Keep on trying.

He is both active and very busy. He just serviced some of our rooms and is floating around the country. You might have better luck in reaching him after the new year.