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8mm Film


Christopher Brims

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5 hours ago, Monica Rosselli said:

Haha thank god I just passed covid, took me 3 weeks to test negative again ?, a nuisance. Anyway the headache is gone today. Now that is cleaned I kept the bulb lighted up for a while, and while there's no smoke anymore, I still notice a strange smell near the bulb compartment, a kind of smell that reminds me of very old electronics my grandfather had in his studio, maybe it's just heated metal, I honestly don't know. Hope it's normal.

Interesting that you never seen the dark gray foam; maybe it was glued by the original owner? who knows.

Anyway, I cleaned wherever I coul reach with q-tips and isopropyl alcohol; it took off also small traces of rust which is nice; some parts under the bulb and the metallic plate that will (I guess) hold the film down & horizontal are hard to reach and I fear to force the q-tip in too much; I took particular care to clean the cylinders (you call them spools?) where the film will be in contact; the above cylinders for fast winding are brownish, kind of brass color, while the two on the bottom are chrome; the brownish stay brownish after cleaning, so I guess it's their color and not rust or anything that could possible damage the film.

 

Yes, I agree; altough, given the gray foam is arched and is clearly affected by heat, if it's not regularly present on Minettes and was added by the original owner to isolate light further, isn't it better to remove it and replace it with a little plate of wood, or metal?

Thanks everyone for assisting me with your answers and sharing your knowledge ?

Hi Monica, maybe I was wrong about that foam strip by the screen.  Perhaps it is meant to be there,  I really can't remember now.  And as Mark says, it shouldn't be affected by the heat of the bulb.  And the smell could be dust.   BUT it could also be from a cable, ie a possible electrical hazard.  So if in doubt I'd get it checked by an electrician.

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You can check it out yourself, it's very simple electrically- just a 220V transformer with a 6V output for the bulb- just make sure it's unplugged. Take the casing off and if there are any loose or burnt wires, find out why. The output is only a few watts and the transformer should not get very warm at all. Since the bulb works, it's very unlikely that there's a fault.

 

Edited by Mark Dunn
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Thanks everyone for your kind answers.

On 6/28/2022 at 3:11 PM, Mark Dunn said:

The smell could just be years of accumulated dust on the transformer getting warm, it's harmless.

 

Rollers. You're right to clean them but the only touch the film at the edges, not in the image area. I would be more concerned that the metal gate was as clean as possible. You should be able to get it out by removing the screws. I put small pieces of soft fabric on mine where the film is in contact, but if the metal is clean and well polished that may not be necessary.

I wouldn't worry about the foam. It's not a halogen bulb as I said, so doesn't get very hot.

 

 

Rollers! That's the word ?. I'm a bit reluctant to remove the metal gate as there are springs involved and I fear I wouldn't be able to put them back in place correctly; I shoved a microfiber cloth wet with isopropyl alcohol underside and moved it around, hope it's sufficient. Regarding the bulg, I read online that the orientation of the filament is very important: the tungsten filament of my bulb is almost horizontal, parallel to the gate & film: is it the right orientation?

 

On 6/28/2022 at 3:24 PM, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said:

I have lots of 8mm and 16mm Zeiss viewers. They are the best. But I've given up on them more or less. You can get a pretty good snapshot of a film with rewinds and a loupe. I inspect the beginning a few frames withing and the end. When you have thousands of films to take a quick look at, the viewer is just too time consuming.

Yes, the loupe and a led tablet are a handy quick solution for inspecting heads or tails; the problem is, like in my case, where the film have been misplaced around and you have to look at frames in the middle of a roll; figured a viewer was the quickest solution! ?

 

19 hours ago, Doug Palmer said:

Hi Monica, maybe I was wrong about that foam strip by the screen.  Perhaps it is meant to be there,  I really can't remember now.  And as Mark says, it shouldn't be affected by the heat of the bulb.  And the smell could be dust.   BUT it could also be from a cable, ie a possible electrical hazard.  So if in doubt I'd get it checked by an electrician.

As you and Mark suggested, I'll keep the gray foam for now; in fact, yes it is arched, but it's not burnt nor melted for what I can tell.

 

3 hours ago, Mark Dunn said:

You can check it out yourself, it's very simple electrically- just a 220V transformer with a 6V output for the bulb- just make sure it's unplugged. Take the casing off and if there are any loose or burnt wires, find out why. The output is only a few watts and the transformer should not get very warm at all. Since the bulb works, it's very unlikely that there's a fault.

 

The casing off-- you mean the black baseplate on the underside of the unit? I'll definitely try that, just to check it and remove dust, as you'll do nowadays with a computer case. Thanks!!

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32 minutes ago, Monica Rosselli said:

the orientation of the filament is very important:

Not for a tungsten filament. Think about it- you wouldn't be able to use a torch if the bulb couldn't be in any orientation. But as the bulb is in a fixed bayonet fitting you can't adjust it anyway.

It is important for some large halogen lamps, but not this one.

 

32 minutes ago, Monica Rosselli said:

The casing off-- you mean the black baseplate on the underside of the unit?

I don't know how it's constructed- my Muray viewer has a plastic back and side moulding which comes off vertically- but looking at the photograph I think you're right. The transformer will probably be attached to the base so take care.

I see it has only a twin-core cable which means it's not electrically earthed. I would want to check that the 220V wires are well away from the metal case. You would be unlikely to get a bad shock- if your house has modern wiring the circuit breakers would protect you- but I would want to make sure. Modern appliances tend to have plastic casings and extra insulation but this is a 60-year-old machine made when safety standards were different.

Don't be concerned, however- most likely it will be fine.

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