I have an old Super 8/Regular 8 movie projector that hasn’t
worked for so long I don’t remember when it stopped working. I decided to see
if I could get it to work again.
I transferred some old home movies to video 28 years ago,
but I’m not happy with the quality of the video bow. I think I can do better
now. I also want to transfer some of the super 8 film I shot for
Weekend in
Calgary,
Who Shot
the President,
If I Knew . . .
and a couple abandoned projects. I think I could reuse them. The CSIF does have
a Super transfer system, so I could use that too.
I investigated on-line to see if I could get any information
about the projector, a Sankyo Dualux 1000. I was surprised to find out that
replacement parts are for sale on the internet. In fact, some people have “new
in the box” projectors. I found a copy of the manual that I downloaded. It is
in Spanish or French, but it helps a little. Apparently it is still a popular
projector because it is good for video transfers. Sanko hasn’t made any for
over 30 years.
The problem with the projector is that the drive belt has disintegrated.
Replacements are available, but expensive. Some people suggested using an
O-ring, which is much cheaper and easier to find. I tried an elastic band, and
that didn’t work. I also worry about the bulb going. Fortunately, the bulbs are
still available. The bulb seems to be working OK now, but I wonder if I should
get a replacement one, just in case.
I looked to O-rings in Rona and Canadian Tire. They both had
O-rings, but they were all too small. I asked my brother for advice and he said
that an auto parts dealer should have what I’m looking for. He gave me the
names of a couple of places in town that he thought would the best to try. I
went out searching and visited several places before I found one that I thought
would work.
I tried to install the O-ring a few weeks ago. The ring
itself seemed to be the right size, but in order to install it I have to get it
through some thin gaps, and the O-ring was just too thick. I suppose that if I
more completely disassembled the projector that I could make more room, but I
didn’t have that much confidence in my ability to put it back together again.
I decided that if I cut the O-ring in half lengthwise that I
could get it to fit. It took a long time to cut it in half. I tried to install
the cut O-ring last Monday. It worked! It was easy to install and it was just
the right length. The projector seemed to operate well enough. Unfortunately,
the next day when I tried to use the projector to screen a Super 8 film, the
O-ring broke. When I cut it in half I must have weakened it.
I was at a loss as what to try next. I couldn’t see myself
getting back out to buy another O-ring again for a long while. Even then, I
couldn’t be sure I could get one skinny enough to fit through the thin slots.
Although an elastic band didn’t work when I tried it before,
I decide to try again. This time I picked one that was thicker and shorter. I
thought that would keep it from stretching too much, which was the problem last
time. That seemed to do the trick. I’ve used it a few times, the project has
worked well, and the elastic band looks like it is in good shape. We have
several more elastic bands of a similar size, so if this one breaks after a
while, it will be fairly easy to replace.
One of the joys of filmmaking is the struggle to keep the
old equipment alive. On the other hand, the old film equipment does hold up
better than newer video and digital equipment.
This post is a mirror from my main blog
http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog
